Psalm 136:1 NLT

'Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.'

Jayne and I celebrate Thanksgiving every year, which marks the start of our journey into Advent. This week we shall be putting together table decorations and planters that reflect the theme of Thanksgiving and that carry autumn hues and reminders of the fruits of the earth that sustain us.

There are many accounts of the origins of Thanksgiving. The favourite is that the Pilgrims arrived in America on the Mayflower in 1620 in search of religious freedom. They landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts and set up a colony. Struggling to survive, they were encouraged when the Wampanoag tribe shared an autumn harvest feast with them which was subsequently acknowledged as the first Thanksgiving. However, in reality the Pilgrims were religious separatists who already enjoyed religious freedom in Holland and had sailed for America in search of wealth and to establish a theocracy, which they did.

Thanksgiving may have originally been born informally following the victory of the colonists over the Pequot people in 1637. It was declared an official feast by president Abraham Lincoln following Civil War victory at Gettysburg in 1863. However, from oral accounts it is known that the Wampanoag people were farming across the brook from the Pilgrim settlers and may well have entered into a shared feast with games and prayer as a celebration of a successful harvest, a truly cross-cultural event.

However, we do not require historical precedent to celebrate Thanksgiving. It is a festival that has been celebrated for centuries throughout farming communities globally. Where winter survival and next year’s planting is dependent upon the success of the autumn harvest, it is right to pause and give thanks for God’s provision. It is a moment of joy in recognition that everything we have comes from God and therefore appropriate that we celebrate his faithfulness together. This is what forms the central part of our own Thanksgiving feast. An opportunity to declare with friends and neighbours around a feast that all we have comes from God and we are thankful.

QUESTION: For what are you grateful to God?

PRAYER: Faithful God, thank you for all your blessings. May I ever be truly grateful.