A man in Phoenix calls his son in New York the day before Thanksgiving and says, "I hate to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing; forty-five years of misery is enough. "Dad, what are you talking about?" the son screams. “We can't stand the sight of each other any longer," the father says. "We're sick of each other, and I'm sick of talking about this, so you call your sister in Chicago and tell her." Frantic, the son calls his sister, who explodes on the phone. "Like heck they're getting divorced," she shouts, "I'll take care of this!" She calls Phoenix immediately, and screams at her father, "You are NOT getting divorced. Don't do a single thing until I get there. I'm calling my brother back, and we'll both be there tomorrow. Until then, don't do a thing, DO YOU HEAR ME?" and hangs up. The man slowly hangs up his phone with a smile, and turns to his wife. "Okay," he says, "they're coming for Thanksgiving and paying their own way!"
Thanksgiving Day, is a day when most Americans gather together to eat too much, tell their favorite stories, and give thanks for all their blessings. The holiday is based upon a feast by the Plymouth settlers in 1621, as they collected their first harvest. They were grateful for their survival, having lost so many loved ones, as well as realizing that they could indeed cultivate food to sustain them. While this feast did in fact include Native Americans, based upon the accounts of one of the leaders of the colony, it probably wasn’t exactly like many of us learned it in school.
I’m not going to go into all the ways in which many reenactments and common lore around Thanksgiving differs from real history. I think most of us are aware of the way that early settlers and Native Americans struggled as one culture dominated another. But there are some other differences between what we assume about those Plymouth Pilgrims and today’s Thanksgiving eaters – mainly the level of thankfulness that we offer back to God. This is not to say that we aren’t legitimately thankful for the blessings we have received, but to point out that our lives are very different from those who preceded us at a harvest feast nearly four hundred years ago.
A 17th century pilgrim had to give thanks for a harvest, or for good health, or for a long life of 40 years. There were too many dangers in living on the edge of a wilderness not to give thanks for any sort of success and survival. In the modern era, we have some level of control over infections and microbes, we have refrigeration and electricity; life is not quite as difficult and dangerous as it once was. Consequently, through the gifts that we have been given via human progress and God-given ingenuity, we might be less likely to recognize a dependence upon God for life and its gifts than in centuries past.
Jesus often taught about developing an all-out dependence upon God. We hear it most clearly in his encouragement against anxiety about the basics of life. He reminds us that it is faith in God that eliminates such worry. God who takes such pride in providing for the most insignificant parts of the creation, certainly cares for us and gives us all that we need. Other parts of scripture pick up the same theme, as in the Letter of James, which reminds us that every perfect gift comes from God. It is a common theme for Christians.
Thanksgiving, at its best, is a time for us to remember all the ways in which God blesses us. We should give thanks for all the things that make our lives a blessing each and every day: blessings of health, resources, food, family, and friends. Now, offering thanks is not a new concept, it’s not even something that was created by Christians or by our Jewish ancestors. The very act of giving thanks is a part of having life. For example, the Native Americans that the pilgrims greeted upon their arrival on the shore of what they would name Plymouth, already had ceremonies to thank their gods and spirits for all they were given. In fact, there is a Native quotation recorded by Columbus describing how even plants give thanks: “The plant has its nourishment from the earth and its limbs go up this way, in praise of its Maker...like the limbs of a tree."
Prayers of thanksgiving are one of the staples in an Anglican prayer life. We offer them each time that we gather – they have their own place in each form of our prayers of the people. Sadly, our prayers of intercession often outnumber those of adoration, praise, thanksgiving, and oblation. Usually it is just a standard item or two that we lift up to God with thanksgiving. It is rare when I solicit prayers of thanksgiving for anyone to use the silence to add their own. Is it true that we don’t find it as easy to thank God as we once did in generations past? I don’t know.
The lopsided nature of our prayers is not all bad, however. If nothing else, it lets us know that we are, in fact, dependent upon God, and so it is to God that we bring our troubles, concerns, and anxieties. The next step for us, then, is to realize where prayers are answered, how we are, in fact, blessed, and then share that recognition with God and with others.
As we gather with family and friends nearly four hundred years after the settlers, to whom we trace our tradition, may we thank God again for all the gifts we are given, from our sweet potatoes, to our loved ones around us, and to Jesus himself. I’m glad that we have this opportunity to see how much we have to be thankful for. Let’s make the most of it.
Tom+
Almighty and gracious Father, we give you thanks for the fruits of the earth in their season and for the labors of those who harvest them. Make us, we pray, faithful stewards of your great bounty, for the provision of our necessities and the relief of all who are in need, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Photo Credit: Thanksgiving Table, free, via pixabay; Praying Hands, free, via pixabay.