The Great American Feast

We call it Thanksgiving Day, the one day in the calendar year that we Americans are supposed to stop and give thanks to God for all of the bounty we have been blessed with. Tradition has it that the Puritan Pilgrims, having suffered horribly during their first winter here in what was to become the commonwealth of Massachusetts, learned from the native Americans how to plant corn and other crops, how to hunt for wild game, and otherwise how to survive in the harsh new environment they found themselves in. That fall, the harvest was very great, so the Pilgrims decided to hold a great harvest feast in order to give thanks to God for providing for their needs. They even invited the native Americans who had taught them how to survive. Of course, those same Pilgrims would go on later to kill most of those Native Americans who helped them that first year and take all of their land, but that's another story and one that need not bother us here. Today, we celebrate that first harvest feast and give thanks to the lord who has preserved and prospered us in this land.

At least, we're supposed to. As more and more Americans turn their backs on religion all together, it becomes unclear as to whom they are giving thanks and even if they are giving thanks at all. These days, Thanksgiving is merely a time to meet with friends and family, eat like hogs, and veg out watching this or that football game on TV. Many households don't even bother with the pretext of offering a prayer of thanks before they dive in. In my grandson's school, they didn't even have a Thanksgiving meal - something we always did when I was in grade school some 40 years ago - instead they had a "feast of friendship." Friendship? Yes, not Thanksgiving. No need to give thanks. No one to give thanks to. Just friendship. Which I have no problem with. Friendship is a good thing and we need a lot more of that in this tired old world. But Thanksgiving - the giving of thanks to the God who blessed us in this land - that's something we may need a lot more of, the willingness to acknowledge that in spite of all that we can do, there is a power beyond ours that blesses us with wealth and health and prosperity.

So in our house today, as we are preparing our feast, as we are eating our feast, as we are lolling around afterwards, we will be pondering all of the things that we are thankful for, as well as the God who gave them to us. And at some point we will pause to take turns talking about the things we are thankful for, be they large or small. And before we tuck into the turkey and stuffing and potatoes and gravy and corn and carrots and sweet potatoes and salad and cranberry sauce and the five different kinds of pie (pumpkin, mincemeat, cherry, blueberry, and chocolate cream), we will bow our heads and I will offer a prayer of thanks to our God who has blessed us with such bounty in these hard times.

And I'll mean every word of it too. For I have been on the other side. I've been poor, so poor that I didn't have a pot to piss in or a window tho throw it out of. I've been homeless. I've wondered where my next meal was going to come from. I've had Thanksgiving dinners that were donated to me by the kindness of strangers. I've been down so low that there was no way to go but up. And up I have come, for the Lord in His infinite goodness blessed me and prospered me in the land. He opened the windows of heaven and poured out blessings too numerous to count. And I acknowledge my gratitude to Him publicly and in private. And today we will celebrate not only our abundance, but also His goodness and generosity. I challenge all of my readers to look at their lives, to look into their hearts, and to do likewise.

Happy thanksgiving to one and all, and my the Lord bless you all in the coming year.