Why Give Thanks?                                                                11/22/42

 

Scripture:  Psalm 107: 1-22

 

At times there has been some mental confusion about this matter of a Thanksgiving Day in America.  Since the day is peculiar to America, it behooves Christians in America to re-examine it.  What does it seem to mean today?  What did it mean originally?

 

Judging by reasons given for the President’s decision that Thanksgiving would be observed a week earlier the past three years, it would seem that the day has some vital business significance.  It seems that there are some concerns who do a brisk business, with accompanying profit, during the time leading up to Christmas day.  We have made “a good thing” out of the impulse to give gifts on the usually observed anniversary of God’s greatest gift to the world.  The merchandising world has discovered long since that “thar’s gold in them thar hills” of Christian sentiment.  And so some were glad to have Thanksgiving out of the way a week earlier in order to have an extra week for the Christmas trade.  On the other hand, the turkey-raising industry was thrown off balance by the change of one week.  And as for calendar manufacturers!  All of the 1940 calendars printed and stored in warehouses needed to have one red letter date revised!

 

And what of the football games scheduled long ago for the 30th?  Of course the teams can still go through the motions of the game.  But what of the gate receipts?  Consternation reigned when the announcement was made.

 

It is perfectly clear that Thanksgiving Day and the Christmas season have a commercial significance.  They are also an occasion for overeating on turkey and all the “fixings.”  Or is it such?  How did this all begin anyway?  Did a Chamber of Commerce start it all?  As a matter of fact, the custom of a Thanksgiving Day had its beginning in the hearts of God-fearing and God-loving people who were grateful for the safe harvesting of a crop which, stored away for the winter months, made the difference between life and death for them.  They lived in a new and strange and somewhat hostile land with hardships and death close at hand.  They endured losses, privations, and risks all for the sake of freedom to worship God and serve Him as they pleased to do, and as they believed they should do.  They could not but return their thanks to Divine Providence for their safe harvesting of a crop of food, and the preservation of their precarious existence.

 

And so they gathered in the house of worship to thank God.  And they partook freely of what supplies they could get, sharing some with their visitors.  It was not just a holiday of escape from the drudgery of work.  It was a holy day of gratitude to the Giver of life and of all good gifts.

 

To be sure, they probably ate turkey.  But they also ate it whenever else they could get it.  For, like other wild meat, it was to be had only for the price of powder and shot, if it was to be had at all.

 

I would say nothing to destroy the satisfaction of a turkey dinner.  And I would not condemn or belittle the custom of giving gifts and greetings at Christmas time so long as we remember the spiritual significance of these holidays.  But what of the real significance of the day?  Why is it proclaimed year after year?  A modest number of people will gather at our union service of Thanksgiving next Thursday.  Others will gather in meetings large and small all over the land.  A far greater number may forget or ignore the purpose of the day altogether.

 

Much that I am saying about Thanksgiving applies also to the observance of Christmas and Easter.  And I take my stand insisting the Christian people should observe these holy seasons not in pagan abandon, but as religious festivals.

 

Thanksgiving day offers us each year an occasion to deepen the sense of gratitude that should be in the heart of every son and daughter of God the year round.  Perhaps the Father, in his greatness and glory and might does not need our praise.  He can get along with the affairs of His universe, anyway.  But I am sure He deserves our thanks far above our power to comprehend.  And it is good for us to say “we thank thee” often.  The whole tone and quality of life is lifted in any expression of appreciation of the kindness or deep friendship of human acquaintance.  How much more surely is it lifted in one’s gratitude to his creator and sustainer!

 

Further, our thanks should be more than the expression of our lips.  It should be the offering of ourselves to the service of God’s kingdom.  In the words of Jeremy Taylor:

            “The private and personal blessings we enjoy, the blessings of immunity, safeguard, liberty, and integrity, deserve the thanksgiving of a whole life.”

 

Three years ago, at a young people’s gathering, I heard a speaker tell the young folk assembled that, theoretically, it was possible to be a Christian and not go to church.  But practically, 999 out of 1000 will be Christian in any significant sense only if they seek the Christian fellowship in the church.  And I think that I agree with him.

 

Similarly, I think that it is possible, theoretically, to give thanks without going to a church service on Thanksgiving day.  But, practically, I am certain that there will be very little expression of gratitude to God apart from an effort to go to worship in the fellowship of other Christians on that day.  And there will be greater praise in the hearts of men, women, and children, for food and comforts if that thanks is expressed around the table.

 

Let us who are here today, thinking of God and our dependence on Him, plan to express our praise to the Father, to confess our failings before Him, and to offer our selves and our resources anew to His purposes and His service.

 

I fear there will be many people who will feel that this is no fitting time to give thanks; that the terror and tragedy and grimness abroad in the world today will make mockery of our praise. On the contrary, it seems to me that there was never a more fitting and urgent time for our thanks.  This is no time to give ourselves over to nightmare.  It is folly to allow a blackout of everything but grimness and anxiety.

 

The best time to count our blessings is when tragedy walks beside us.  It helps keep us in balanced touch with reality - not just the dark side of reality but with total reality.  (1)  Of course people are hungry and babies starve, but there is still food and it is not going to any “super race” alone, but will be taken as soon as possible to those who need it.  (2)  Of course there has been a devilish design to make practical slaves of free men everywhere.  But there is also a fierce love of liberty that has determined that this shall not be.  (3)  Of course there is danger and death, but there is also courage and the hope of victory.  (4)  There is tyranny over people who are helpless, but there is the determined, cooperative effort of free people to overthrow that tyranny.

 

Do you remember some of the story of Paul on the way to Rome and imprisonment, as told in the book of Acts?  The author speaks of the brethren who came out from Rome to greet the apostle Paul, and then records of Paul that “he thanked God and took courage.”  Praise with arrest!  Gratitude and imprisonment!  Thanks and danger.  An act of thanksgiving side-by-side with tragedy.  There was religious faith at its best.

 

The Plymouth colonists had not passed all danger nor endured every tragedy when they observed the first special day of thanksgiving.  They were still engaged in a struggle for their very existence.  They had still to protect themselves from persecutions without and the meaner impulses within themselves.  There were men and women and children who had lost wives, husbands, fathers, mothers, sons or daughters during the hardships of the previous year.  It was hardly a time for unbridled gaiety!  Their praise was the companion of pain; their gratitude was mixed with hardship. Surely we have not grown so soft and pampered that we can not give thanks in the same way.  It is truly American; and it is truly Christian to do so.

 

It was Louis Pasteur, the founder of the science of bacteriology, who gave this sound advice to the young men of his age.  “Young men,” he said, “Whatever your career may be, do not let yourselves become tainted by a depreciating and barren skepticism, do not let yourselves be discouraged by the sadness of certain hours which pass over nations.”  He was right.  The really worthwhile attitude is that which combines a realistic knowledge of the tragedies of this world with a reassuring thankfulness for the tools, the opportunities and the blessings that are ours.

 

No world is so bad and none of our lives so barren that there is not some sound reason for our thanksgiving.  No man can afford the luxury of feeling sorry for himself.  It will destroy his soul.  The way to face the world is by way of a religious faith which is fully acquainted with tragedy, but at the same time fearless and thankful.

 

If you and I want to steep ourselves in something that isn’t sentimental, but reflects a genuine acquaintance with real life, we can spend some time with the Psalms.  Listen to these cries of trouble:  “I am so troubled I cannot speak.”  [Psalm 77: 4].  “Save me, O God; for the waters are come into my soul.  I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing; I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.  I am weary of my crying; my throat is dried; mine eyes fail.”  [Psalm 69: 1-3].  No doubt of the Psalmists ability to see trouble!  And yet there is no song of barren discouragement or skepticism.  For the same writer was acquainted with the reasons for thanksgiving.  Listen!

            “O come, let us sing unto the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.  Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving.”  [Psalm 95: 1-2].  Again - “Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.  O my God, I trust in thee [Psalm 25: 1-2]..... O praise the Lord, all ye nations; praise him all ye people.”  Psalm 117: 1].  These are the words of one who has not lost sight of sun because of clouds.

 

Thanksgiving is a way of keeping with God on the credit side of our ledger.  There never was a better time to be thankful!  Never!  I make this claim in the full knowledge that in this year for many of us tragedy will be the companion of our thanksgiving.  (This is true to a degree any time.)  But I make this claim also in the assurance that the spirit of thanksgiving and praise is the spirit which overcometh.  Let us now, in this season, and in days to come, “come before his presence with thanksgiving.”  [Psalm 95: 2].

 

------------

 

dates and places delivered: 

 

            Pilgrim Church, Honolulu, November 19, 1939 AM (first 7                                                                                                                                   pages)

            Wisconsin Rapids, November 22, 1942