Thanksgiving is old! It dates all the way back to the 1400s BC when God established the Feast of Tabernacles on the 15th day of the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar. Moses recorded it in Leviticus 23:33-36 as law for the Israelites to observe. It’s a joyous presentation of food offerings to the Lord celebrating the harvest season and God’s provision for His people. The first recorded Feast of Tabernacles coincided with the dedication of Solomon’s Temple in 977 BC. Today, the occasion falls on the Jewish calendar somewhere between mid-September and late October, depending on the year.
In the 3400 years since, the concept of harvest festivals has had more iterations than we can shake a turkey leg at, so let’s skip over history and focus on the holiday we call American Thanksgiving. What we consider the first feast was held with fifty-two Plymouth Pilgrims and ninety Wampanoag Native Americans in 1621. It, too, was an expression of gratitude for a successful harvest. In their staunch, Puritan way, the Pilgrims no doubt recognized the Lord for sustaining them and celebrated the Wampanoag for teaching them how to farm in this unfamiliar land.
Nothing unites like an attitude of gratitude.
Fast forward another 240 years. The US observed harvest holidays convenient to regional customs and calendars, but a pioneering, female magazine editor named Sarah Josepha Hale lobbied extensively for a national Thanksgiving Day. Whether it was her influence or his good judgment—or both—in 1863, the then-President of the United States wisely concluded that nothing unites like an attitude of gratitude. His country stood divided and threatening to collapse. A Civil War raged, with vitriol corroding the hinges that held the nation’s states together.
On October 3, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation to “…observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving” and every year to follow. In 1941, Congress established the fourth Thursday in November, rather than the last, as the federal Thanksgiving Day holiday. But we are obliged to sage Abe for fixing a permanent focus in this country on a virtue held dear by our earliest settlers and national leaders, one that builds up and so cannot tear down, one that brings peace to heart and mind despite the circumstances: the virtue of thanksgiving and praise to a sovereign creator and provider.
Thanksgiving is only as meaningful as the object of our thankfulness.
Lincoln’s edict wasn’t a call to platitudes. He didn’t just say “count your blessings.” He shifted attention away from rebellious man to righteous God. Thanksgiving is only as meaningful as the object of our thankfulness. The object is God.
The President began with, “The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies.” Really? With homes burning and land bathed in blood? But he didn’t ignore the reality of the nation’s pain. He put it in perspective of the “ever-watchful providence of an Almighty God.” Considering “a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity,” Lincoln pointed out the abundance and strength of our industrial and agricultural core. “No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.”
He closes with an invitation “as with one heart and voice by the whole American people” to a day of “Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens,” and a prayer for restoration “of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.”
Resist the world’s nudge to replace the rightful headliner!
Unfortunately, our present culture is leading us far afield of the holiday’s original intent. Because vitriol and divisiveness attempt to reign again, recent headlines encourage dis-inviting to the Thanksgiving table those who disagree with us politically. How antithetical is that to the concept of the day President Lincoln declared? Such an attitude is a frontal assault to our nation, to our fellow man, and worst of all, to our God. Rather, welcome each other with a spirit of gratitude and personal devotion expressed in polite discourse.
A more subtle undermining of the true reason for Thanksgiving is the burgeoning concept of “Friendsgiving.” That statement is sure to bring me pushback, so let me say I have little family to speak of, none with whom I’ll spend Thanksgiving, but a basket full of friendships that I cherish as family. I understand the importance of those relationships and of holidays spent in community with them. But those friends aren’t my sustainers and the originators of every good and perfect gift come down from heaven. My Lord is. He is the one who deserves the crown of our thanks.
This year, why not start a new tradition? Gather around the table, and before you dig into your dressing, have someone read out loud the transcript of President Lincoln’s short, powerful proclamation. It will redirect your thinking and your table conversation and perhaps even change your heart. It’s in the link below.
Celebrate this holiday in loving concert with both friends and family, whether you agree with them or not. Embrace Ephesians 2:14 that reminds us “[Christ] Himself is our peace,” and resist the world’s nudge to replace God as the rightful headliner of the day. He’s the oldest—and best—reason in the book for Thanksgiving.
His mercy, grace, forgiveness, and peace to every American.
Beautifully stated. 🍁
Thank you! 🧡
Wonderfully written and impactful. It’s a keeper!
Grateful for you, Marge. Happy Thanksgiving!
Forwarded this to my family. Love the history and ‘real reasons’ we are gathering privately or with a crowd tomorrow. I have asked for volunteer to read the proclamation. My 14 year old great-nephew is a historian, I have a feeling he may be the one! Hugs and healing! Elaine
Wonderful, Elaine! Can’t wait to hear about the reading. Happy feasting!