25 Nov Thanksgiving Eve Service 2020 – 11/25/2020
In recent years activists of all sorts have been at work changing the perception of Thanksgiving. Native Americans have instituted a gathering at Plymouth Rock to commemorate the indigenous lives lost in the European “invasion.” If you search the “real” history of Thanksgiving you’ll see reference to the appropriation of land, the slaughter of hundreds of Pequot tribal members, etc., attempting to link those events to the first Thanksgiving.
There is much to have sorrow about in the mistreatment of Native Americans in the centuries following that first Thanksgiving, no question about that. There is much to give thanks for in our lives as Christian individuals. I propose that, as we celebrate Thanksgiving in this nation, we remember the reasons for giving thanks to the Lord as true now as true for those in 1621.
They who gave thanks had survived a difficult winter – after landing in 1620, and spending that winter aboard the Mayflower, half their number had perished. In the spring, a Patuxent Indian who by the way spoke English showed them how to cultivate native crops; the little colony was saved by that new knowledge. The resultant declaration of a thanksgiving for God’s blessings of all kinds, even in a difficult, challenging, dangerous time, is brought forward to today.
We give thanks for so many blessings. We live in a free – albeit challenged – nation. We worship our Creator and Savior freely, in an abundance of food and possessions we too often take for granted. Please remember to count your blessings, as those Puritans did so long ago, and give thanks to the Lord who is author of them all.
In His Name,
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