A Message From the Pastor
November is the time when we, as Americans, begin to turn our thoughts and our hearts toward the upcoming holidays. Christmas, typically the headliner, and New Year’s Eve and Day are celebrated all over the world. But perhaps the most American of holidays, Thanksgiving Day, starts the holiday season.
Thanksgiving as we know it is historically credited to the pilgrims at Plymouth Colony in 1621. History does show, however, that the Berkley 100 colony, along the James River in Virginia, celebrated Thanksgiving in 1619 before disappearing completely. The colonists were truly thankful for their journey from a distant shore and for the abundance they were enjoying. They were not generically thankful; they were thankful to the merciful God that had seen them through their difficult times. President George Washington made a Proclamation of Thanksgiving in 1789, encouraging the new nation to give thanks to God for all things. In 1863 President Abe Lincoln issued a proclamation declaring that the fourth Thursday in November is celebrated as Thanksgiving Day across the nation. And so we as a nation have celebrated Thanksgiving Day since. But as the years went by Thanksgiving became secularized.
We, as a nation, have become thankful for the things we have, for the people in our lives, for where we live, for Black Friday sales (and recently for the fact that more stores are staying closed on Thanksgiving Day). And there is certainly nothing wrong with being thankful for any of those things (well, maybe not Black Friday sales…), as Americans and as Christians, it is only right that we give thanks. But I am encouraging you to remember that our thankfulness, as well as our praise, belongs to God. In a Christian life well lived, every day is Thanksgiving Day. And every day is Christmas Day. And every day is Easter. Enjoy the holidays, and Happy Thanksgiving.