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Happy
Thanksgiving!
May I be the first to greet you with these words (or has some thoughtless store already beat me to it?) Thanksgiving often seems a blur somewhere between Halloween and Christmas. Thanksgiving often seems to come and go without much notice, (unless you have invited Martha Stewart for dinner, that is.)
Seriously, in this year of seeming recession and post September 11th trauma, while our nation grieves and engages in the war on terrorism, it might be good for all of us to return to the roots of this national holiday.
By the year 1816, the holiday was almost abandoned. The woman who wrote “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” Sara Hale began to make an effort for the Thanksgiving holiday to return. She thought that Americans were becoming too thoughtless in giving thanks to God. President Lincoln agreed with her and issued the first Presidential proclamation of Thanksgiving in 1863 and ordered that the national celebrate two thanksgivings each year since certain states had various official days of Thanksgiving in the autumn. Congress made Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1941, for the last Thursday in November.
President Lincoln issued the Thanksgiving proclamation following the Union victory at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The eloquence of his words is typical of his legacy because while detailing the irony of a nation rich in blessings at brutal war with itself, Lincoln wrote, “No human counsel has devised nor has any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, has nevertheless remembered mercy.”
President Lincoln could see the benevolent hand of God in the nation’s past, present and future even though thousands were freshly buried at Gettysburg, even though he himself would never see the peace and freedom for which he so valiantly struggled.
The writer of Hebrews says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”(11:1) Lincoln had faith and in spite of what this autumn has done to you and yours, so can we.
This may have been one of your best seasons or one of your worst. Things may be going great for you and your family right now, or you may just be struggling to hang on in the darkness. Faith is that gift which gives us the ability to grasp hope beyond our circumstances, good or bad. It is the courage to count on God’s promise to be with us even when God seems to have abandoned us. It is faith which makes it possible to give thanks.
This is Barb’s and my first Thanksgiving with you at Lynnewood and I promise you that there is a constant prayer of thanks in our hearts for the opportunity to serve you. It is my prayer that this Thanksgiving season will be more than a celebration of our prosperity. Regardless of our circumstances, let us stop to thank God for never giving up on us, for never abandoning us, for never letting go.
May we all be thankful that God continues to surround us with grace!
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Lynnewood United Methodist Church
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