Everyday is Thanksgiving Day for Christians!

Everyday is Thanksgiving Day for Christians!
 
“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” (1Thes. 5:18)
 
         The famous landing of the Mayflower at Plymouth in Massachusetts in 1621 was followed by a celebratory meal, Thanksgiving, in which new friends were made and hope was restored. This feast lasted three days and as recounted by pilgrim Edward Winslow, it “was attended by 90 Wampanoag Indians and 53 Pilgrims.” Most Americans recall this “first Thanksgiving” with pride, as an icon of ‘where-with-all’ and the example of working together in peace. After a tragic winter of death and fear, the kindness and generosity of the native peoples made this celebration a true salvation celebration!.
 
But there was another “first Thanksgiving”!
 
In the 1600’s, every nationally- sponsored ship of exploration and discovery bore the responsibility to honor God when success was at hand and petition God when trouble was near. The Christian faith was as much a staple of colonization as the sails were a part of the ship. Our some-time tragic history of forced conversions and purges bear sad witness that our faith was often proclaimed by those who had little understanding of what Christianity is truly about. Still, no matter what came next, every ship’s landing was inaugurated by a liturgical moment  of prayer and proclamation thanking God for divine provision.
 
 On December 4, 1619, the Good Ship Margaret landed at what is now Berkeley Plantation with 35 settlers. Upon landing, Captain John Woodlief,  the crew and passengers, per instructions from the Virginia Company, “immediately conducted a religious ceremony of Thanksgiving.” This was not a feast. There was no cornucopia overflowing with fruits and vegetables, no fat turkey or bowl of cranberry sauce, this was a simple and (hopefully) sincere liturgical moment of devotion and praise. On land that was to become the State of Virginia in the United States of America, this was The First Thanksgiving.
 
There is no doubt that we have room for both of these Thanksgiving accounts. The simple beauty and directness of the Virginia landing Thanksgiving speaks to faith responding directly to God from a gathered community. The celebration Thanksgiving of Plymouth tells of faith in action reaching beyond itself to embrace the possibility yet unhoped for. The common thread that binds these two observances is the belief that God is sovereign and present, caring and leading, ever guiding us for the good.
 
 Thanksgiving has been celebrated nationally on and off since 1789, with a proclamation by President George Washington after a request by Congress. It was Abraham Lincoln, in 1863, who proclaimed a national day of "Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens", calling on the American people to also, "with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience .. fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation...". Lincoln declared it to take place on the last Thursday in November.
 
A Somber note to our Thanksgiving remembrance.
 
No telling of the Thanksgiving story would be complete without recognizing the tragedy that accompanied the ship full of British colonizers. With them came many diseases like smallpox and yellow fever that the Native American people had not encountered.
 
Once prosperous and thriving, the Wampanoag suffered enormously at the hands of these diseases during a period known as the “Great Dying,” which lasted for three years. Through the years that followed, as people celebrated with thanksgiving the founding of our new nation, an estimated 56 million Native American people died from violence and extreme exposure to a plethora of unknown deadly pathogens. 
 
This staggeringly large number means Thanksgiving Day is a time for mourning for many people. Our founding celebration should always remind us and bring us closer and draw us to prayer. We are all God’s children, so as you pray prayers of Thanksgiving on this special day, include a prayer for the lost souls and for those who mourn. Without the help of the Wampanoag people, the United States would not be what it is today.
 
‍On a deep level, perhaps the truest spiritual meaning of Thanksgiving Day is the awareness that each moment is sacred. Each opportunity for discovery—of new lands, new people, new information, new ways of seeing the world, history and  the self for people of faith,  of Thanksgiving is that everything can regenerate and restore. Even within bleak and devastating moments, there is a glimmer of hope, and we can always look to God to guide us. 
 
However you celebrate your Thanksgiving Day, with turkey or order-out-Chinese, surrounded by family or blissfully bingeing on NetFlix, this National Holiday with all its accumulation should ever be a reminder to us of God. Every day is a thanksgiving day to God; Thanksgiving Day is no exception.
 
“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” (1Thes. 5:18)
 
 
While reading Psalm 24, Hila Ratzabi, a Jewish poet, writer, and editor, felt inspired to write a poem for feasting on Thanksgiving Day. The Psalm, written by David, looks beyond our false claims of ownership and authority to God’s rightful ownership of everything. Verses 1 and 2 proclaim,
 
1 The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,
    the world, and all who live in it;
2 for he founded it on the seas
    and established it on the waters.
 
She wrote about her poem,
 
[The Prayer] begin(s) by acknowledging that this land belongs to no one. We then honor the ancestral Native peoples who cared for this land, followed by our own immigrant ancestors who endured hardship to come here. We then thank those who cooked our meal, and those who planted and harvested the food we eat. Finally, we state our commitment to sustaining the land for future generations.
 
This Land Belongs to No One
By Hila Ratzabi
 
“The earth is God’s, and all its fullness;
The world and those who dwell upon it.”
—Psalm 24
 
This land belongs to no one
but God. The Earth was here
before us and will endure
after we are gone.
Let us walk gently
upon this precious earth,
taking only what we need,
leaving little waste,
nurturing the soil,
revitalizing the land
to sustain future generations.
 
This land we dwell upon today
is the ancestral land of the Mattaponi,
Pamunkey and Chickahominy peoples.
 
We acknowledge their historical roots
in this place, the many generations
who were stewards of this land.
We hear the echoes of their prayers
to the Great Mother Earth
and seek to learn from their wisdom.
 
We acknowledge the history of pain,
disease, and bloodshed
the Native peoples’ endured
when they were colonized.
Though we can’t reverse the course of history,
let us not ignore it.
Let us look history in the eye
and accept its painful truth.
Let us honor the memory of those who died on this land,
who lost their sovereignty.
Let us honor the Native people who, to this day,
keep their sacred traditions and culture alive
and seek to reclaim, reassert, and revive their sovereignty.
 
Our ancestors came to this country
from all over the world,
often enduring hardship
that laid the foundation for our freedom.
We acknowledge their sacrifices
so that we could enjoy better lives.
 
We are grateful for the bounty we enjoy today,
the abundant variety of foods this earth provides.
We acknowledge those who cooked this meal,
and set this beautiful table.
We acknowledge those who planted
and harvested this food,
many of whom are immigrants.
We send them blessings for safety and freedom.
 
We commit to sustaining this earth
so it will continue to sustain us,
our children and grandchildren.
We commit to give more and take less
from this fragile earth.
                                           Amen,
In all things Thanksgiving!
Fr. Bill+