The meaning of the expression “to give thanks means: to express gratitude or show appreciation to, thank, acknowledge, recognize, express thanks or gratitude for, convey appreciation, make known your gratefulness, pass on thankfulness…”

These are words that express our thanks, but they are merely words. What truly expresses our gratitude is our actions.  And at this difficult time it is extremely hard to show our best sides.  Nonetheless, I am thankful that our country chooses this time of year to set aside a day to express our appreciation for all the ways we are truly blessed.  It should give us pause.

The first thing, and why the pilgrims originally gathered, was to give thanks to God which was a concept of their religion.  They chose a day set aside to celebrate thanking God for giving them a successful harvest. In 1621, when their labors were rewarded with a bountiful harvest after a year of sickness and scarcity, the Pilgrims gave thanks to God and celebrated His bounty in the Harvest Home tradition with feasting and sport. They may have done things like target shooting to determine who was the best shot. Then other competitions may have included log throwing and tug-o-war. The children might have played with toys like stilts, pinwheels, tops, hoops, and marbles.  So, we see that Thanksgiving was not just about the food and thanks. It was a time to come worship God together as a family and eat and laugh and play and enjoy each other. It was truly a day of celebration.

Our Thanksgiving was different this year, not be as celebratory or active as before, but hopefully not disappointing.  We may not have had everyone at our table that we love and adore (or "a-bore"?), but we find ways to include them in our celebration anyway.  We must thank God for new technology where we can reach out to our loved ones who cannot be with us. And even if we don’t have any modern technology we can reach out with our telephones – Zoom, cell or land lines.  Let us also take notice of our neighbors who might be alone and drop off some type of food item to them or some other act of kindness. 

And most of all let us thank God who has called us to fellowship with his Son. This Thanksgiving, with hearts full of gratitude, we look forward to transforming the darkness and despair into light and hope through Jesus Christ who has done wondrous deeds on earth.  We give thanks, we express our gratitude, we will continue to show appreciation and to thank, acknowledge, recognize and - most of all - pass on our gratefulness and thankfulness.