Thanksgiving: A Christian holiday of gratitude

Sometime in the autumn of 1621 in what is now Plymouth, Mass., just over 50 English settlers gathered with their native American allies and marked off a day of feasting and thanksgiving to God. The previous winter had been harsh, as only half of the 102 original members who boarded in England a year earlier survived the rough sea voyage and the cruel winter of the New World. They had left their home country, “Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first Colony in the northern Parts of Virginia.”

This three day event wasn’t called “Thanksgiving” but the ragged and surviving pilgrims did enjoy a feast that included wild turkeys and did offer thanks to God. This day of celebration and prayer became a practice in one form or another in the colonial era.

Gratitude also shaped the founding of the new America. As the constitutional congress was underway and the Founders were hammering out the new Constitution, Benjamin Franklin rebuked his colleagues:

In the beginning of the contest with G. Britain, when we were sensible of danger we had daily prayer in this room for the Divine Protection. — Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a Superintending providence in our favor. To that kind providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? Or do we imagine that we no longer need His assistance.

As one of his first acts as President, George Washington issued a proclamation suggesting a day of prayer and thanksgiving. It read in part:

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 ... 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.”

His declaration was not only one of gratitude, but also of confession and repentance, urging all Americans to join 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.” In 1863, Abraham Lincoln, in the midst of the Civil War, declared that the last Thursday in November be set aside for Thanksgiving:

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 Prayer 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.

It didn’t become an official holiday until Congress passed a law in 1941, which was signed into law in 1942 by President Franklin Roosevelt. His proclamation, like those from presidents before him and who came after him, used rich Christian language in his declaration. It’s a reminder of the original spiritual intent of the holiday and of America’s deep Christian roots.

Today, Thanksgiving has become, for many, just another day off or an awkward time with seldom-seen family. Professional football now often fills our leisure hours. There should be no shame in enjoying America’s most popular sport as sporting competitions were part of the original celebration in Plymouth. Still, we should not forget the purpose for which the brave settlers first gathered and we should not ignore the calls to gratitude and humility urged by our forefathers.

The Founders—even the least religious—possessed a healthy fear of Providence and were humble enough to invite God’s blessings on their land. Today, similar official declarations would be met by the secularists with derision and the tiresome warnings about the threat of Christianity to democracy. But while the men who made this great nation didn’t want a theocracy, they certainly didn’t envision a people who enjoy the fruits of prosperity and freedom without acknowledging their divine source.

Neither should we. So, let’s not be afraid to bow our heads today in gratitude for the many blessings we enjoy. Let’s not forget to confess our sins. And let’s pray for God to heal and renew this unique experiment in constitutional self-government.