THANKSGIVING 2006

First, a review of the history of this remarkable holiday.  This national holiday commemorates the celebration of the Pilgrims in 1621 after their first harvest in Plymouth.  After 1630, it was common in the New England colonies to celebrate Thanksgiving annually.  In 1789, George Washington proclaimed Thursday, 26 November, as a day of thanksgiving for the ratification of the Constitution, and called for another in 1795 for general benefits from God to the new nation.  In 1815 James Madison called for a day of thanksgiving to give thanks for the peace after the end of the War of 1812.  In 1863, Abraham Lincoln began the practice of a national proclamation, establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day.  This practice was formalized by the US Congress in 1941.  Next to Canada, the United States is one of the few nations on earth that proclaims a national holiday of Thanksgiving to God.

Second, for what should we be thankful this year of 2006?  Permit me a few suggestions:

1. Thanks for the gracious blessing of God—simply that we live in the United States of America.  I have annually shared this with my children.  Since they are both adopted, it is only God’s providence that explains that they are being raised in the US.  This nation has enormous problems but we still are blessed of God and should be thankful!


2. Thanks for our families and for our friends.  Relationships are a blessing from God, because He created us as social beings and we must be thankful to Him for each family member and each friendship.


3. Thanks for our daily sustenance.  There is no nation as blessed as the US materially.  We have more food than we need and the material bounty of this nation is truly incredible.


4. Thanks for our democratic-republic.  Although there is corruption, scandal and incompetence in government, few would want to live under any other government than this one.  Our freedoms are precious and liberty is a blessing secured from God.


5. Thanks for our military, which has preserved this freedom and liberty for over 225 years.  For many, this has meant with their lives.  Nearly 2 million men and women have died throughout the history of this nation and their deaths have secured our liberty.  We must be thankful.


6. Finally and perhaps most of all, we must be thankful for our salvation.  Living in a fallen world means that there must be a solution to our fallenness.  God has provided that in Jesus Christ.  As the 2nd person of the Trinity, He added to His deity humanity and lived among us for over 33 years.  But it was His death, burial and resurrection that secured our salvation.  Jesus was fully human to be our substitute and fully God to be our perfect substitute.  God placed the sins of the world on Him and punished Him for our sin so that we would not need to bear that punishment.  That is pure grace and it is secured by faith.  There is no greater gift from God than the gift of salvation.  For all eternity we will praise Him for what He did for us.  On this Thanksgiving weekend, please be certain that you take time to give thanks to God for the bounty of His grace, especially that grace found in Christ Jesus.