What is Thanksgiving For?

[Deliverd at the Dumas city-wide Thanksgiving Service]

I want to thank Jesus Rivera for being my partner in this sermon. And that’s a pretty good demonstration of how this Thanksgiving service comes about to begin with: minister from different congregations working together. Do we agree on every single issue of doctrine? Probably not. But we can come together in the name of Jesus—which we agree on—and in the name of the Father—which we also agree on—and give thanks—something we all believe in.

Thanksgiving almost becomes the forgotten holiday. Or, when we celebrate it, it’s more like the kick-off of the Christmas season than a season of its own. And speaking of kick-off, for many people the biggest part of the day is football. I will probably watch some of the games on Thanksgiving, but that’s not my only focus that day. There’s also eating.

Is that all, though?

One way to answer that would be to look at why we celebrate Thanksgiving and how it got started. I went and did some research into the holiday of Thanksgiving and found some interesting facts.

In December 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the bill that made it a Federal holiday to celebrate Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November. Since 1863, when Abraham Lincoln had called on the nation to celebrate a day of Thanksgiving to thank God for providing such bounty to the country even in the midst of war. He called on it to be celebrated on the final Thursday of November.

In the years following, each President declared a day of Thanksgiving, usually on the final Thursday of November. In 1939, Franklin Roosevelt had declared that that year’s Thanksgiving would be on the next-to-last Thursday in November, thereby giving the nation’s retailers an extra week of Christmas sales, which he hoped would bring about some relief from the Depression.

But even before Lincoln, the United States had celebrated Thanksgiving many times. Almost every President (except Jefferson) called for at least one day of Thanksgiving during their term; usually in November, that time of harvest when God’s bounty was so evident. This presidential precedent was started by George Washington who called for a national day of Thanksgiving in 1789 and wrote (and spoke) these inspiring words:

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me "to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed, to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and Us, and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Even before George, though, the Continental Congress had called for days of Thanksgiving—sometimes more than one a year, beginning back in 1777—to thank God for his blessings. See, that’s the key all the way back: thank God. I’m sure they thanked each other for the help they had received during the year, but the focus was on thanking GOD.

Someone might argue, and there may be some merit to the argument, that it was a mistake to make Thanksgiving a regular, national holiday. The problem with things that we do regularly is that we sometimes forget why we do them. Do you brush your teeth thinking every day about waging a war against plaque, or is it just because it’s a habit (a good habit, but a habit)? The same things can be said about washing our hair, eating lunch or even going to church. The importance can fade and we can just do these things out of rote.

I want to talk about some other Thanksgivings real quick. When (and where) was the first Thanksgiving? Plymouth, Massachusetts, 1621 right? Did you know that 23 years before that on April 30, 1598, a Spanish explorer named Don Juan de Onate held a feast to thank God for watching over their explorations and leading them to a glorious new land? Like the Thanksgiving feast we’re familiar with, de Onate invited the local natives—in this case, the Tarajumara Indians—to join him in the feast and join him in thanking God. And you know where this glorious land was that de Onate was thinking God for? Texas! Near present-day El Paso.

And even before that, on September 8, 1565, 600 Spanish settlers, under the leadership of Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, landed at what is now St. Augustine, Florida, and immediately held a Mass of Thanksgiving for their safe delivery to the New World.

All of these Thanksgiving celebrations were directed one direction: upward. All were called as a time to get together and praise God and thank Him for his blessings.

And while there is no Biblical holiday of Thanksgiving, giving thanks to God is definitely a Biblical concept. I looked up the word “thanksgiving” in my Bible and found that it appears anywhere from 21 to 34 times, depending on the translation I looked it up in. Add in phrases like “giving thanks” and just the word “thanks” and you’ll find that this is a concept throughout the Bible.

Many of the uses of the word “thanksgiving” in the Old Testament have to do with offering sacrifices. Men and women of God were to thank God sacrificially. In other words, to show their thanks by giving up something they might would have rather kept.

Leviticus 22:29 “And when you sacrifice a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the LORD, you shall sacrifice it so that you may be accepted.”

But there were other ways to show thanks as well. Psalm 69:30 “I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.” We’ve had some of that here this evening: thanking God with song.

Still, some would argue that Thanksgiving isn’t really a Biblical holiday and maybe we shouldn’t put so much stock in it. I wouldn’t be so sure.
When the Israelite captives were allowed back into Jerusalem, Ezra—as the chief priest—and Nehemiah—as the provincial governor—called the whole nation of Israel together. They read the Law to the people, the people confessed their sins, and there was a lot of singing going on led by a big choir and an even bigger band. Nehemiah 12:8 “ And the Levites: Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah, who with his brothers was in charge of the songs of thanksgiving.” They praised God for having led them back into the land … which sounds a lot like the praises offered by our ancestors to God for establishing us in this land, doesn’t it?

Even before that, though, God had already established a National Thanksgiving Day for the nation of Israel. Remember that? Maybe you remember it by its more common name: Passover.

Exodus 12:14 "This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.”

Exodus 12:17 “And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever.”

And we could go on and on. The Bible is full of examples of Godly men and women thanking God and of God’s leaders calling on the believers to thank God.

Acts 17:24-28, “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for 'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we are indeed his offspring.'”

Why celebrate Thanksgiving? Because, 'In him we live and move and have our being'. All that we have in this life comes from God. All we will ever have comes from God.

My challenge to you this Thanksgiving, in the midst of family and feasts and football—all good things—is direct your thoughts and prayers back to the One who makes everything possible. Think of the tradition, handed down to us by many forefathers, of bowing down before God and thanking him for carrying us through the year. It may not have been a perfect year, but he is a perfect God and had promised us perfect peace in him and that’s worth thanking him for!

Comments? Email me at npccsam@windstream.net