Thanksgiving coming up. One of my friends posted the
following on PresbyNet:(1)
I am thankful for...
- the mess to clean up after a party because it means I have
been surrounded by friends.
- the taxes I pay because it means that I'm employed.
- the clothes that fit a little too snug because it means I
have enough to eat.
- my shadow who watches me work because it means I am out in
the sunshine.
- a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning and
gutters that need fixing because it means that I have a
home.
- the spot I find at the far end of the parking lot because it
means that I am capable of walking.
- all the complaining I hear about our government because it
means we have freedom of speech.
- my huge heating bill because it means I am warm.
- the lady behind me at church who sings off key because it
means that I can hear.
- the piles of laundry and ironing because it means my loved
ones are nearby.
- weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day because
it means that I have been productive.
- the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours because
it means that I am alive.
Amen? Amen! Good stuff. There is so much for which we
have to be thankful. And I will add one more to the list. I am
exceedingly thankful this year that my Air Force Recruit son is studying
at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California rather
than basking in the sun over Afghanistan or the breezes of
Baghdad.
My heart goes out to the parents of the young men and women
who are dying over there every day with no end in sight. I
cannot imagine their grief. I cannot imagine the feeling around
the Thanksgiving tables in those homes where there is now one
extra empty chair. The Psalmist sings, "Enter his gates with
thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him,
bless his name. For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures
forever, and his faithfulness to all generations." But, for some
devastated families, those words may choke on the way out this
year.
What can we say to those folks? Or to any for whom a Day of
Thanksgiving rings hollow? Perhaps there is some comfort in
remembering the event we commemorate, that first Thanksgiving
celebrated by the pilgrims. Those folks had had an exceedingly
difficult time.
For starters, they had begun their journey full of hope for
a new life of religious freedom in a warm and welcoming land -
Virginia. Oops. Instead they landed at Plymouth Rock on
December 21, 1620, not the best time of year in Massachusetts.
Until such time as they could build houses and establish
themselves on the land, they made their home on board the
Mayflower, the vessel in which they had sailed.(2) The men went
ashore every morning to work, returning to the little ship at
night. They built a "common house" to which the sick and dying
were transferred, placed their four little cannon in a fort,
which they built on a hill close by, built two rows of houses
with a wide street between and finally landed their stores and
provisions. Then the whole company came ashore toward the last
of March, and in April the Mayflower sailed away.
The winter was hard and bitter. At one time all but six or
seven of the Pilgrims were sick. Eighteen women denied
themselves food so that their children could eat. Thirteen of
them died. Half of the 102 Pilgrims died of malnourishment,
disease, and exposure. Only about 30 of those who survived were
over the age of 16. Those who died were buried in unmarked
graves because the pilgrims did not want the natives to know how
small their numbers had become.
In the spring they planted three crops; English Peas,
Barley, and Indian Corn. The peas were planted too late - though
they came up beautifully, the hot sun parched the blossoms and
the plants died. One of the Pilgrims described their barley
crops as "indifferent." Apparently the barley was not worth
harvesting either. Only the corn survived. Of course, not the
corn we are used to with big, plump yellow kernels; this was
"Indian Corn" with ears only two to three inches long and kernels
of different colors. The Pilgrims harvested only twenty acres.
And to top it all off, a second shipload of thirty-five settlers
arrived without any provisions because they expected to live off
the crops the first settlers had raised. By the end of their
second winter in Plymouth, food had to be rationed again: five
kernels of corn for each person per day.(3)
A hard life. In fact, some proposed a Day of Mourning to
honor all those who had perished. But the others said no, a Day
of Thanksgiving would be more appropriate. After all, even
though half had died, half had NOT. Reason to give thanks. Good
for them.
As time went on, a Day of national Thanksgiving was
occasionally observed. In 1789, President George Washington
declared in the flourishing idiom of his day,
"Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign
Thursday, the twenty-sixth 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, in the course and conclusion of the late
war; for the great degree of tranquillity, 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
has been pleased to confer upon us."(4)
For whatever reason, a Thanksgiving observance in our nation
did not become an annual event until a most persistent lady,
Sarah Josepha Hale, the editor of a prominent magazine for women,
the author of the poem, "Mary Had a Little Lamb, a widow with
five children, began a campaign in 1846. It took seventeen years
for her dream to be realized, but in 1863, in the midst of the
most devastating war our nation has ever encountered, President
Abraham Lincoln issued the following:
"...I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every
part of the United States, and also those who are at
sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to
set apart and observe the last Thursday of November
next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our
beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I
recommend to them that while offering up the
ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular
deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble
penitence for our national perverseness and
disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who
have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in
the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably
engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the
Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to
restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the
divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace,
harmony, tranquillity, and union..."(5)
Now, with that as background, try to put yourself in the
place of a parent of one of those young soldiers who have died
this year. Is that what you need to hear this Thanksgiving? Be
thankful even in the midst of adversity? As the Pilgrims did,
look at the glass as half full rather than half empty? Get real.
If I were one of them, I doubt that I would be hearing much of
anything. What I would hope is that, somehow, someone, something
could cut through the fog of my grief and touch my "faith nerve."
Perhaps there is something providential in this Sunday
occurring as it does. On our national calendar, this is
Thanksgiving Sunday. Other nations have Thanksgiving Days at
other times. But all around in world, in churches everywhere,
the liturgical calendar notes this as Christ the King Sunday. It
is the climax of the church year, the culmination of all we have
learned in the birth, life, ministry, death, resurrection and
ascension to glory of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Today we remind
ourselves that JESUS IS LORD, in charge, in control, and a day
will come when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess
it. That is why Paul could write to the church at Colossae, and
through them to you and me and all those devastated by tragedy or
disaster anywhere, "Let the peace of Christ rule in your
hearts...And be THANKFUL. Let the word of Christ dwell in you
richly...sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with GRATITUDE in
your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or
deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving THANKS to
God the Father through him.(6)
Gratitude. Not for all the awfulness in the world, but for
the fact that we know in our heart of hearts that awfulness is
not the end of the story. I like the way our friend Al Winn, for
years and years one of the great souls of the Presbyterian
Church, deals with the issue.(7) He notes that at the heart of
biblical faith we do not find air-tight arguments sealed with a
"therefore" - all is right with the world, therefore, let us have
faith; therefore, let us praise God; therefore, let us give
thanks. Rather at the heart of biblical faith we find things
that do not logically follow at all, sealed with a
"nevertheless." Much is wrong with the world, the mystery of
evil is great, terrible accidents happen, NEVERTHELESS let us
have faith, NEVERTHELESS let us praise God, NEVERTHELESS, let us
give thanks. Perhaps we can better deal with the miseries of
life if we remember NEVERTHELESS.
Jesus Christ is Lord. Jesus Christ is in control. We
continue to preach it and teach it. We do well to remember it in
the face of tragedies such as we get news of every day.
Some are particularly poignant. Just three weeks ago we
heard about 16 soldiers killed when their helicopter was shot
down, 16 soldiers who were not going into combat, but rather were
leaving it - they were coming home for R & R. Ernie Bucklew had
not planned to be in that group but word had come that his Mom
had passed away suddenly in Pittsburgh - it was an aneurysm, they
said - and he had grabbed a last seat on the chopper. Her
funeral would be held when he got home. It became a double
funeral. Sgt. Bucklew is survived by a devastated wife and two
young sons - one age eight, one just four.
The helicopter pilot, 1st Lt. Brian Slavenas, a 30-year-old
National Guard officer from Illinois, also died as he landed the
flaming aircraft just seconds after the rocket hit. They say his
piloting may well have been why 20 other soldiers on board
survived the attack.
Word is that Lt. Slavenas had not been eager to fly in Iraq.
"He did not want to go on this operation," his mother said. "He
told me on the phone that he resigned his commission, and then he
wasn't allowed to resign. The last time I saw him, he said, 'I
don't want to hurt anybody.'"(8)
Unfortunately, there are hundreds of stories like these this
year despite Washington's attempts to keep them quiet. Funeral
services have been and will be held for these young men and women
struck down in the prime of life for what far too many are
convinced is a questionable purpose. So sad. So sad. But it is
in those sad moments, the "faith nerve" is touched once again.
And we remember the unshakeable truths that support us as we
travel through the valley of darkest shadows.
Thanksgiving Day, 2003, this Thursday. I am thankful for so
much; there is so much for which to be thankful. And I am
thankful most of all, in the face of all that life can throw at
us, for the faith that sustains us. I am thankful that, despite
all the evidence to the contrary and everything that would seem
to deny it...I am thankful that I know who is ultimately in
charge; I am thankful that JESUS CHRIST IS LORD! Happy
Thanksgiving.
Amen!
1. Carlos Wilton, via PresbyNet, "Bottom Drawer," #4004, 11/18/99 originally found in
Family Circle Magazine
2. "Thanksgiving in America" by May Lowe from the book, Thanksgiving, Copyright (c)
1907 by Dodd, Mead, & Company
3. Graham Fowler, sermon via PresbyNet, "In Everything Give Thanks," 11/25/92
4. Excerpt from Presidential Proclamation, October 3, 1789
5. Abraham Lincoln, October 3, 1863
6. Colossians 3:15-17
7. Albert Curry Winn, A Christian Primer, (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press,
1990), pp. 79-80
8. "For One Soldier's Family, a Double Funeral," The Washington Post, via internet,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60011-2003Nov3.html
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