Keep Thanksgiving in Thanksgiving

This week, we will be celebrating Thanksgiving Day, a national holiday that has its origin in the first Thanksgiving observed in 1621 by English colonists at Plymouth Colony. These colonists, sometimes referred to as the Pilgrims, were a small group of separatist, religious separatists who had abandoned the Church of England altogether as a hopelessly corrupted body. They came to America to establish an English colony where they could practice their faith freely. For the Pilgrims to practice their faith freely meant to worship God without fear of being imprisoned or executed for heresy, which certainly happened back in their time. The Pilgrims' autumn Thanksgiving observance was at its core a religious observance, with colonists giving thanks to God for his acts of deliverance and mercy. But without doing some research, one might never know that the Pilgrims' Thanksgiving was based in their faith and religion. Many popular articles and websites, things we see on TV nowadays, might lead us to believe that there are no religious roots. There's no religion involved in Thanksgiving Day. Let me give you some reasons why I'm saying these things. An example of what we can find is a House Beautiful article entitled, 15 Thanksgiving Fun Facts You Want to Share on Turkey Day.

It doesn't mention Thanksgiving Day's religious roots, or even why it's called Thanksgiving. But we do learn that Benjamin Franklin wished the turkey to be the national bird.

And that Snoopy has made more appearances in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade than any other character. And that Jingle Bells was originally a Thanksgiving Day song. Those are some very interesting facts about Thanksgiving Day.

As we may suspect, the prime reason for Thanksgiving Day is being lost. As History.com notes, in many American households, the Thanksgiving celebration has lost much of its original religious significance. Instead, it now centers on cooking and sharing a bountiful meal with family and friends. According to the National Turkey Federation, 88 percent of Americans surveyed eat turkey on Thanksgiving. And 46 million turkeys are eaten each Thanksgiving. And it is good. Along with the turkey, most Americans enjoy other traditional dishes. I'm sure you may have them on your table this week. Cranberry sauce, dressing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, candied yams for sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie. And yes, we certainly do enjoy the feasting. Yet, on November 11, when Joy Reed, a political analyst in MSNBC, called Thanksgiving, one of the most beloved American food holidays, and where problematic actual history meets delicious cuisine, she received harsh criticism for her comments. Harsh condemnation. Although many did not like Reed's diminishing the significance of Thanksgiving Day down to a food holiday, she may be right. She may be voicing what that day is becoming for most Americans. Just a day to eat food, to enjoy family and friends, and to feel happy and generally thankful, though not necessarily to God.

Sadly, Americans are forgetting the religious significance of Thanksgiving Day. As many will be observing Thanksgiving holiday this week on Thursday, my purpose today is to encourage us to remember to whom we should be thankful and why. I've entitled my message, Keep Thanksgiving in Thanksgiving. Keep Thanksgiving in Thanksgiving.

As we know, God's Holy Scripture is clear as to whom all praise and thanks is owed. It's owed to God. And the reason why we owe the giving of thanks to God is also clear. It's because God is our Creator. He is our provider, our deliverer, our sovereign God. He is our King. And, well, the list gets very long, so much more. Now, to make my point, I'd like for you to turn with me to the book of Psalms. And there I'd like for us to read several, a few scriptures, a few verses from several of what can be classified as songs of Thanksgiving. And the first one I'd have us turn to is Psalm 95. Let's look at what we can see in Scripture about to whom we should be thankful. And also, why? Psalm 95, and I'd like to read with you verses 1 through 7. Psalm 95, verse 1 through 7. And here the psalmist urges us to praise and give thanks to God. And why? It's because God is our Creator and our King. Let's read Psalm 95, verse 1. O come, let us sing to the Lord, let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation, let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the Lord is the great God, and the great King above all gods. In His hand are the deep places of the earth, the heights of the hills are His also. The sea is His, for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker, for He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Very beautiful thanksgiving song. Over in Psalm 116, we find a second song of thanksgiving, Psalm 116.

Psalm 116. This song of thanksgiving implores us to thank God, for He is our provider. God provides us with every good thing. Specifically, let's read verses 12-14. Verse 12, the psalmist states, What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits toward me? I will take up the cup of salvation, he says, and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord now in the presence of all His people. Verse 17, I will offer to you, God, the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord. Psalm 34.

Here the psalmist exhorts us to praise God because He is our deliverer. There are many other psalms of thanksgiving that express similar thanks to God for what He is and does. Psalm 34, verses 3-8. Verse 3, O magnify the Lord with me, let us exalt His name together.

I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard Him, and saved Him out of all His troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them.

O taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who trusts in Him. Very beautiful. Finally, let's look at Psalm 147. Psalm 147. This psalm is very broad, and it's giving a thanks. In fact, this psalm of thanksgiving captures all four attributes of God. I mentioned earlier God is our Creator, our Provider, our Deliverer, and King. Psalm 147, verses 1-11. Praise the Lord, for it is good to sing praises to our God, for it is pleasant, and praise is beautiful. The Lord builds up Jerusalem. He gathers together the outcast of Israel.

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He counts the number of stars. He calls them by name. Great is our Lord, and mighty in power. His understanding is infinite. The Lord lifts up the humble. He casts the wicked down to the ground. Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving. Sing praises on the harp to our God, who covers the heavens with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass to grow in the mountains. He gives to the beast its food and to the young ravens at cry. He does not delight in the strength of the horse. He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man.

The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, and those who hope in His mercy. Isn't that beautiful? Very beautiful. Now the people we generally call the pilgrims, those English colonists who came to this country, well, next year it will be 400 years ago, these people we call the pilgrims, those devout men, women, and children, were likely familiar with these beautiful songs of thanksgiving. And they knew to whom we should be thankful and why. They believed that the Bible was the inspired word of Almighty God.

And as much the scripture that they understood and believed, they strove to practice. The pilgrims' first thanksgiving observance was held, scholars tell us, in late September or early October of 1621. Scholars do acknowledge that the pilgrims based their celebration on the holy days of God listed in the Old Testament, especially the Feast of Tabernacles, or in-gathering. I think we're familiar with those, aren't we? And although they did this, they did not believe and practice the same doctrines we do, such as the Seventh-day Sabbath. After arriving in America in November of 1620, the pilgrims experienced a devastating winter with half their number dying of sickness. In 1621, they numbered but 53 men, women, and children in total.

But the corn harvest had been good, and a peace treaty with the neighboring Indians had been made, and it was deemed an appropriate time to give thanks to God. And William Bradford, then Governor of Plymouth Colony, declared it time to rejoice together after a more special manner. Now, much of what we know about this first Thanksgiving comes from the eyewitness account of Edward Winslow, who in later years would also be a Governor of Plymouth Colony.

Winslow wrote the following about the first Thanksgiving. He wrote, Our harvest being gotten in, our Governor sent four men on fouling, meaning to go hunt birds, so that we might, after a special manner, rejoice together after we had gathered the fruits of our labors. They, for in one day, killed as much fowl as with a little help beside, served the company almost a week, at which time, amongst other recreations, so these would be games such as wrestling or foot races, we exercised our arms, we did target shooting.

This is how they celebrated their first Thanksgiving. And many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest, their greatest king, Massasoit, with some ninety men, ninety of his own warriors with him, whom for three days we entertained and feasted. And they went out and killed five deer, which they brought, and bestowed on our Governor, and upon the Captain, and others. And although it might be not always so plentiful, Winslow says, as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want.

Based upon the typical worship patterns of separatist groups, though, historians believe a worship service would have been held prior to festivities. Winslow doesn't mention that, but based on how separatists usually did this back on the continent, they had Thanksgiving in Europe as well, before they did here in America. Historians are quite sure there was a worship service before these festivities. Rod Gragg, a historian, author of the Pilgrim Chronicles, writes the following. He says the festival's entertainment was normally preceded by a worship service.

And although Winslow made no reference to a service in his account of the 1621 event, it was very unlikely that his omission meant that the devout pilgrims failed to worship. More likely, Winslow simply assumed that his readers understood separatist practice. With their pastor, John Robinson, still in England, the Thanksgiving service very likely would have been conducted by the pilgrim spiritual leader there, Elder William Brewster. Well, I may have read that too fast for you to realize, but I don't know if you've noticed it or not.

But their order of worship service, first followed by, well, what did I want to say? The worship service came before festivities. Does that maybe remind you of how we do our order of services during the feast?

We typically have our worship service in the morning, so we can go out and enjoy our meal and other festivities in the afternoons. I thought this was very interesting. Now, if we were to stop here and think no more about the pilgrims' first Thanksgiving, we might think that their gratitude towards God was primarily for giving them food, for giving them a good corn harvest. But that's not all Thanksgiving was about for them. We would make a wrong conclusion, if that's what we'd think. You see, then as now, a true Thanksgiving is not just about food.

Remember, Thanksgiving is not just a food holiday. It's not just a time to enjoy family and friends or to feel thankful. As we read earlier from the book of Psalms, the pilgrims had profound reasons for rejoicing and thanking God. What were their reasons? What specifically did the pilgrims have to thank God about? Well, if we go back from that Thanksgiving in 1621 and go back one year to September 1620, with the start of the crossing over the Atlantic Ocean, I think we will find many reasons the Thanksgiving was held by the pilgrims and what was in their hearts and minds in 1621 at their first Thanksgiving in America.

So I'd like to share with you some of the history, some of what they experienced on their way to America. It was on September 6, 1620, two months behind schedule, and after many delays and several false starts with its sister ship, the Speedwell, which they left behind, the Mayflower alone finally set sail for America, September 6, 1620. On board the Mayflower were 36 crewmen and 102 passengers. Half of the passengers were not affiliated with the Separatist.

They were not part of the pilgrims' congregation. Now, the Mayflower is not a large ship, either. The length of her deck was about 80 feet. That's about the width of our church building. Our church building is 85 feet wide. The deck of the Mayflower is just 80 feet. And the living space for her 102 passengers between the decks was about 58 feet long by 24 feet wide. How big is that? That's from the back wall of the classroom to this wall of the kitchen. That's 58 feet. In the kitchen, the classroom are 20 feet wide. So bump it out another 4 feet.

And you get an idea of how much space those 102 people were in for 66 days. Oh, and I need to mention, the ceiling of that space between the decks was 5.5 feet high. It was only 5.5 feet high. The crossing, as I said, took a torturous 66 days through rough seas and terrible weather. And I really mean terrible weather. Referring again to historian Rog Crag, he states that about a thousand miles into its 3,000 mile voyage, the ship was slammed by a series of furious, deadly storms.

According to William Bradford, this ship was severely shaken, and her upper works were made very leaky, he wrote. In one violent storm, the ship's main beam, supporting the deck, cracked and began to buckle. But the pilgrims happened to have what Bradford called a great iron screw. It looks like it. It's like a big iron screw. Scholars aren't sure what it was. They think it may have been a device to lift heavy wooden beams up when building homes. Others consider maybe it was part of an early printing press that they brought with them.

They're not sure. But at any rate, they used the iron screw to jack up the main beam, and then the ship carpenters made repairs. Crag writes, the Mayflower survived its brush with disaster. It survived its brush with disaster thanks to savvy seamanship, pilgrim ingenuity, and, in William Bradford's words, the will of God. As we might imagine, the passengers also suffered greatly from seasickness, and for a while at least, from the abuse and belittling of the more sea-worthy sailors.

Again, Bradford would later be Governor of Plymouth Colony, and he recorded what their journey was like many years ago. And according to his experience, here's what he said about their journey. According to the usual manner, many were afflicted with seasickness. You can imagine these land-loving pilgrims being on board this ship in a rough sea for 66 days. Many were afflicted with seasickness. Bradford says, And I may not omit here a special work of God's providence.

There was a proud and very profane young man, one of the seamen, of a lusty, meaning a strong and able body, which made him the more haughty. He would always be condemning the poor people in their sickness and cursing them daily with grievous execrations, and did not let to tell them that he hoped to help to cast half of them overboard before they came to Journey's End and to make merry with what they had.

And if he were by any gently reproved, he would curse and swear most bitterly at them. But it pleased God, Bradford wrote, Before they came half seas over, to smite this young man with a grievous disease, of which he died in a desperate manner, and so was himself the first that was thrown overboard. Thus his curses lied on his own head, and it was an astonishment to his fellows, to all his fellows, for they noted it to be the just hand of God upon him. Interesting. And though they suffered terribly some seasickness, only one passenger among them died, but one baby was born.

Records reveal that most of the adults were under age 40. Yet scholars are still amazed that the pilgrims escaped the widespread death that so often spread through passenger quarters on long voyages. That's a quote from the historian Dr. Cragg. Now, why did not many of them die as usually would happen? Some suggest, well, maybe the pilgrims practiced better hygiene than most. Some historians speculate whether the Mayflower's long service as a merchant vessel hauling French wines to England produced enough alcohol-laced spillage to somehow make the ships planking antiseptic.

But the pilgrims firmly attributed that blessing to God. They saw it as the hand of God.

Now, on the morning of November 11, 1620, the Mayflower sailed into Cape Cod, Massachusetts. They were aiming for Virginia. They missed it. The violent storms blew them far to the north, and they couldn't maneuver around the rocky shoals on the other side of Cape Cod to get there. So they landed in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Bradford later recounted their plight on that first morning in America. Here's what Bradford wrote many years later, what was in their hearts as they looked at this brand new land of America. Bradford wrote, But here I cannot stay and make a pause, and stand half amazed that this poor people's present condition. They had now no friends to welcome them. They're in a new land. There's no welcoming party. They had no friends to welcome them, or ends to entertain or refresh their weather-beaten bodies. No houses or much less towns to repair to to seek for succor. It is recorded in scriptures a mercy to the Apostle Paul and his ship-drecked company that the barbarians showed them no small kindness in refreshing them. But these savage barbarians in America were readier to fill their sides full of arrows than otherwise. And for the season it was winter, and they that know the winters of that country in America know them to be sharp and violent and subject to cruel and fierce storms, dangerous to travel to known places, and much more to such an unknown coast. Besides, he wrote, what could they see but a hideous and desolate wilderness full of wild beasts and wild men? And if they looked behind them, there was the mighty ocean which they had passed, and was now as a main bar and gulf to separate them from all the civil parts of the world. And Bradford concluded, what could now sustain them but the spirit of God and His grace? That's all they had as they looked on this new land they had come to. And then two days later, sixteen men stepped ashore, and the very first thing they did, they immediately thanked God. Bradford wrote, they fell upon their knees and blessed God of heaven, who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element. Then, in late December, a month later, spent an exploration, the Pilgrims finally chose a site for settlement and began to build houses. Of the entire coast of New England, this area of Cape Cod was strangely uninhabited, though. It was strangely uninhabited, although thousands of native people had recently lived there. Why was that? What had happened?

Well, three years prior to the Pilgrims' arrival, an epidemic had decimated the surrounding population, wiping out the Patuxent Indians on whose land the Pilgrims would now build. What the Pilgrims found was a land cleared of timber, presumably by the Indians, Cragg writes, but there were no signs of Native Americans anywhere, just empty, abandoned cornfields. Evidence of the epidemic lay all around to sea. Quoting, the skulls and bones were found in many places lying still above the ground, Bradford wrote, a very sad spectacle to behold. And though glad to have finally arrived in America during that first winter, the Pilgrims suffered terrible trials and terrible grief, which tested their faith in God. William Bradford was among the very first to suffer heavy sorrow. On December 12, Bradford arrived back from another exploration trip, only to learn that five days before Dorothy, his wife, had slipped over the side of the Mayflower and drowned. She apparently slipped on an icy deck. In the 19th century, speculation arose that she may have committed suicide. But nobody knows. No one knows. And Bradford himself never directly wrote of it again, except to say his darling wife had died. Then in January, great sickness set in. Some were struck down from exposure to the harsh cold, others to scurvy and tuberculosis or perhaps typhus. And still others, it seemed, succumbed to pneumonia. By March, half of the passengers and half of the ship's crew were dead. Crag elaborates. He says most of the women died. Of the 18 wives who had left England aboard the Mayflower, 13 died. The single men among the pilgrims did not fare much better, he writes. 19 of 29 died. Four entire families perished, and almost half the husbands and fathers died. Oddly Crag adds, the small children experienced a better survival rate. Why would the small children experience a better survival rate? Some scholars think the mortality among mothers was especially high and that of small children low, because mothers sacrificed their own health and caring to save their children. Isn't that something to think about? Bradford long remembered that time of their greatest distress. He wrote years later, but there were six or seven sound persons, meaning healthy and hail, who to their great commendations be it spoken, those six or seven spared no pains, day nor night, but with abundance of toil and hazard of their own health, fetched them wood, made them fires, dressed them meat, meaning food, made their beds, washed their loathsome clothes, clothed and unclothed them. In a word, they did all the homely and necessary offices for them which dainty and queasy stomachs cannot endure to hear named. And all this willingly and cheerfully, without any grudging in the least, showing herein their true love unto their friends and brethren, a rare example and worthy to be remembered, Bradford wrote. Bradford then concluded his remembrance of those months of these words. The spring now approaching, it pleased God, the mortality began to cease among them, and the sick and lame recovered apace, which put, as it were, new life into them. Though they had borne their sad affliction with as much patience and contentedness as I think any people could do, but it was the Lord which upheld them, Bradford wrote. And again and again we see in Bradford's account of how he and the others accepted God's sovereign will over their lives. And with gratitude, Bradford recognized that they only survived due to God's mercy.

Interestingly enough, a few weeks later, life changed. Life changed on March 16, 1621. Just as the pilgrims were regaining their health and wondering how their colony would survive with but half its members, there were now just 53 of the passengers left, suddenly arrived a native named Samoset. He disappeared unexpectedly. And he boldly walked into the settlement and said, Welcome, Englishman! In English, if you understand what I'm saying. He said, Welcome, Englishman! The pilgrims were absolutely astounded. Speaking in broken English, which he had learned from cod fishing crews from England, Samoset told them the history of the Patuxent people whose land they had now settled. He also told them a Massasoit, the great leader of the Pocahontaket people and other allied tribes, whose representative he was. The pilgrims, of their part, graciously treated Samoset as their guest. They actually housed him in one of their houses overnight, one of their homes. He put him up with one of the families. And the next day, they sent him away with many fine gifts. A few days later, Samoset returned with Squanto. Squanto is a native who spoke fluent English. Again, the pilgrims were absolutely astounded. Three thousand miles from England, and on a desolate shore, and by happenstance, they had settled in Squanto's homeland. They settled where he had been born and raised. And here was Squanto speaking to them fluently in their own English tongue.

Squanto lived but a few miles away from them. He was the last surviving member of the Patuxent people. He had learned English after being abducted years before, as a teenager, it seems, and then sold into slavery. He spent some years in Spain. He spent time in London, England.

Years later, he had made his way back to the land of the Patuxent, only to discover that all his people had perished in the epidemic. Because of slavery, he survived. He survived. And now King Massasoit, as the pilgrims called him, they called him King. King Massasoit called upon Squanto to interpret for the pilgrims. With Squanto's help as interpreter, and through the pilgrims' respect and defined diplomacy, King Massasoit agreed to a peace treaty that, according to Cragg, would be rarely duplicated in the American colonial era. Both sides, both Native Americans and pilgrims, both sides would honor that treaty for more than half a century. More than half a century. That's longer than many treaties today. Or hell, too, it seems. Now, as for Squanto, Cragg states, he became a valuable and trusted friend and teacher for the pilgrims. He trained them how to fish. He taught them how to plant corn. He served as a pilot and guide as a trapped beaver and developed the colony's fur trade. And he instructed them in the skilled tradecraft necessary to survive in the wilderness. He was, avowed William Bradford, a special instrument sent of God for their good beyond their expectation. They could understand Squanto's presence in no other way. This was intervention from God. Now, in all these truly amazing events of that year, the pilgrims perceived God's direct intervention in their lives as they worked to establish Plymouth Colony as a place where they and their families and their brethren could freely worship God. That's why they left Europe. They wanted to worship God. And so it was that their first Thanksgiving in America was not simply a harvest festival or what some today call a food festival or turkey day. After reading the accounts of these original accounts to hear people call it turkey day and a food holiday, it does not sit well with my stomach. It's not right. It was not a food festival for them. It was not turkey day. Thanksgiving was an observance of far more profound and meaningful reason. For the pilgrims, Thanksgiving was truly a time for expressing their gratitude to God and for rejoicing with great joy before God. If you turn with me, please, to Psalm 107. Let's turn back to Psalm 107.

This psalm is a song of Thanksgiving. In this song of Thanksgiving, Psalm 107, and we're going to read verses 1-8, it's a song wherein the psalmist expresses gratitude to God for a specific acts of deliverance. All the songs of Thanksgiving are very specific in thanking God for deliverance. They're not just bland, we thank you God, we praise you God, and then repetition. These songs of Thanksgiving give very specific reasons for why they're thanking God. It's a good example for us to practice in our prayers. In some ways, this psalm could summarize the pilgrims' experiences in coming to America. It's likely they knew this psalm, and it's likely that it had special reason for them. Psalm 107, verses 1-8 captures many reasons why they gave thanks to God on that first Thanksgiving. Verse 1, O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and gathered out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. They wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way. They found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses. And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city for a dwelling place. O that men would give thanks to the Lord, for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men. I'd like to think this psalm had special meaning for the pilgrims, and it should have special meaning for us.

It seems that for many Americans today, Thanksgiving has become only about food. It's mainly about spending time with family and friends, and about having fun. There's nothing wrong with that. Unless you forget where all these wonderful things come from. And if the pilgrims in their Thanksgiving observance is mentioned, Americans tend to focus on the eight. Were they the eight turkey or not? Boy, that's a big argument right now. Did they really eat turkey? Americans tend to focus on how they dressed, or how they had a feast with the native people, and whether that was politically correct or not. That's what is talked about at Thanksgiving by some. Frankly, I think the pilgrims would be very shocked and embarrassed by so much tension upon them, and yet so little thought as to whom and why they gave thanks. Their Thanksgiving was not about them. Their Thanksgiving was about God. They did not thank themselves for their many blessings. But like the psalmist, they thanked God and recognized Him as their Creator, their Provider, certainly as their Deliverer, and most assuredly as their King. Their Thanksgiving was about God, just as our Thanksgiving as a nation and as individuals should be about God as well. And so as we observe the holiday of Thanksgiving this week, I hope we will think on some of these things I've brought to our attention today, the history of that first Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving Day, and frankly, every day, should be a day of giving thanks to God. As we saw today, the pilgrims had very much to thank God for, and so do we. Happy Thanksgiving!