Doubtless, we have all heard the commonly accepted secular take on Thanksgiving.  The general terminology dictates that Thanksgiving is not actually a religious holiday but, rather, an American holiday.  While the second part of that is certainly true – Thanksgiving commemorates an event from early American history – the first part of that adage is not particularly accurate. 

Now, it’s really not unique for society at large to distract from the religious meaning of a holiday with all the skill of a master illusionist.  They distract from the birth of Christ with the pleasant legend of a benevolent, jolly grandpa figure with a red suit and an army of magical unpaid laborers.   They distract from our savior’s resurrection with the bizarre tale of an omnipresent rabbit who is so self-conscious about his rare medical condition that causes him to lay eggs, that he hides said eggs throughout your house or yard.    Despite the ludicrous nature of these legends, they have, in popular culture, largely supplanted the true reason for their respective holidays. 

Although there is no magical rabbit or reindeer enthusiast to serve as a distracting  legend for Thanksgiving, it hasn’t stopped the country at large from disregarding the religious origin of the holiday.  Thanksgiving, in fact, is strongly anchored with Judeo-Christian roots.   In 1621, during what is now referred to as the “First Thanksgiving”, the Pilgrims of Massachusetts and the Native population gathered together to celebrate a harvest.   This was a common English tradition where these Pilgrims came from and also common to Jews in Jesus’ time who would celebrate the harvest around Pentecost (known as the Feast of Weeks). 

Since most of these settlers were Christians, they were most certainly giving thanks to God for a bountiful harvest.  Considering that half of the population from the Mayflower died in their first year, it is no wonder that they spent 3 consecutive days in prayer and thanksgiving for a life-sustaining harvest.  They didn’t spend 3 days just to thank Squanto or worship the almighty turkey; they obeyed Psalm 118 and gave thanks to the Lord, for He is good.  Even when Thanksgiving was finally made into a national holiday in 1863, President Lincoln declared it a day of "Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens”.  

So, as Christians, we must remember to look past the turkey, football and staggering physical task of digesting 5 days worth of food in one meal, and truly appreciate the act of giving thanks and praise to our Lord.   We shouldn’t have to face freezing cold, disease and starvation like the early settlers to take just one day for deliberate prayer and Thanksgiving to our Lord who blesses us so generously. 

In, fact, we should be thankful that we aren’t generally subject to the problems of the Pilgrims.  We should be thankful that we don’t have to face being flogged by authorities for following Jesus like Peter and John.  Or being beaten, thrown in jail repeatedly and even stoned like Paul suffered in the book of Acts (seriously, they stoned him… he walked it off).   For a more recent example we can be thankful that we as American Christians do not have to suffer life-threatening environments like Christians throughout Egypt, Northern Africa and parts of Asia.

Mostly, we should be thankful that we are the children of the all-powerful God.  A God who has plans to prosper us and not harm us (Jer. 29:11).  A God who will provide for all of our needs (Phil. 4:19).  A God who thinks we are each so special that he will leave the 99 to pursue us and rejoice when he finds us (Matt. 8:12-13).  We must be thankful that we have a savior who subjected himself to death, even death on a cross, for our sake, and only asks for our faith and love in return.   We must remember that we take off on the fourth Thursday of every November not just to watch football, visit with family and challenge the strength of our cholesterol medication.   We don’t just do it to commemorate an historic American event.  We do it to specifically dedicate time to giving praise and thanks to the one true God – from whom all blessings flow.  

As the Pilgrims showed us, one day is not enough to adequately thank our Lord.  But, at least for one Thursday in November, we should give it our best shot.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!