Thanksgiving might not be a biblical holiday but its reasons to celebrate are scattered throughout the Bible.
History of thanksgiving
Squanto was a Native American who became the pilgrims “trusted” friend by offering them help and wisdom to survive their first harsh winter in a new land. Please note that this is not a blog on history. The motives behind Squanto actions are not the point here. When the pilgrims celebrated their first successful harvest, they gave gratitude to God. During this feast Squanto was invited and he brought with 90 Native American friends who graciously served up plenty of wild turkey to prepare for the feast.
The 1st thanksgiving was a mingling of cultures and races. I can only pray it was a feast of mutual respect for their differences and a time to understand each other. It all centered around one idea though. Giving thanks to God. That was the intent set out by the Pilgrims. A feast of thanksgiving for his hand in helping them survive and then thrive with the harvest.
Thanksgiving for Christians
The Bible is littered with verses about thanksgiving, grateful hearts, and blessings. Do a quick 2 minutes Google search and you’ll have more verses than you need. But it’s what we do with those verses that cultivate a heart of thanksgiving, an attitude of gratitude.
Two things I love most about the thanksgiving story is the idea of community and service: usually those 2 words together aren’t a good thing but here they are. The pilgrims came together for one reason. To give thanks to God. They endured crazy hardships fleeing their homeland being persecuted as Christians, traveled the Atlantic Ocean by a simple wooden ship just to be welcomed by the chance of survival. And because of someone who doesn’t look like them, a Native American, they do. They survive. And how do they react? They don’t say well done self and pat themselves on the back. You worked hard. No. They throw a feast of thanks to God. And they invite an outsider and he comes serving and sharing his plenty. He gives what he has with an open and welcome heart and it’s a beautiful picture of what biblical service looks like.. The feast in 1621 has so much to teach us. Don’t let the intentionality of this gathering lose its meaning because greed and persecution set in later in the American history. This feast, the original thanksgiving was beautiful in God’s eyes.
A day devoted to thanking God for their blessings.
A day devoted to humbling themselves and glorifying God for his provisions and care.
A day devoted to giving of oneself so another can prosper.
A day devoted to community and service.
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