Happy Thanksgiving

An atheist was walking in the woods one day thinking about what made him happy when he encountered a huge grizzly bear. As it charged him, he started running but tripped and fell. Rolling over he found the bear on top of him, holding him down with one paw and raising the other to strike him. He cried out, “Sweet Jesus!” Suddenly, time stopped and a bright light shone upon the man. A voice asked, “Are you now a believer?  Have you turned to me as your Lord and Savior?” The atheist replied, “It would be hypocritical to believe and become a Christian so suddenly, however, perhaps you could make this bear a Christian?” The light faded. Time returned to normal. The bear suddenly bowed his head, brought his paws together, and said:  “Lord, for this food which I am about to receive, I am truly thankful.”

The mark of a Christian is to be truly thankful.  As the Apostle Paul writes, Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Why does God want us to give thanks in all circumstances?  Because the act of giving thanks puts us into the proper relationship with God, where we see that all that we have comes from him. That’s why Christians say grace before a meal. It reminds us that our food and all that we need to live comes from God.

In early New England, it was the custom at Thanksgiving to place five kernels of corn at every plate as a reminder of those stern days in the first winter when the food of the Pilgrims was so depleted that five kernels of corn were rationed to each individual at a time. The Pilgrim Fathers wanted their children to remember the sacrifice, sufferings and hardships through which they had safely passed by the hand of God. They wanted to keep alive the memory of that sixty-three-day trip taken in the tiny Mayflower. They desired to keep alive the thought of that stern and rock bound coast, its inhospitable welcome, and the first terrible winter there that took so many lives.

They did not want their descendants to forget that on that day in which their rations were reduced to five kernels of corn, only seven healthy colonists remained to nurse the sick and nearly half their members lay in the windswept graveyard on the hill. They did not want to forget that when the Mayflower sailed back to England in the spring, only the sailors were aboard. They wanted their children to know it was God who had safely brought them into a new land of promise.

Have you ever heard someone say, “God helps those who help themselves”? That’s what Adam and Eve tried in the Garden. Look where that defiantly independent move got them. Unfortunately that’s what humanity has been trying to do ever since. Too often we’re like the Israelites in the desert—either grumbling because we want more variety in life than manna, or we want to be in control of our destiny, forgetting that it is God who leads us into the promised land.

Jesus knows if we choose to seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, we will grow not only more dependent upon him, but also closer to his heart, where we find his will for our lives. There, we will come to appreciate better his love for us when he becomes the object of our attention and affections. And then all the other things will be added.

One of the most memorable real life thanksgiving stories I know is from Corrie Ten Boom in The Hiding Place.  For those who don’t know her story, she was the youngest daughter in a Christian family in Holland who hid Jews in their attic during WW II. When the Nazis discovered their covert life-saving operation, they sent her and her older sister, Betsie to a concentration camp.

Corrie and Betsie were housed in Barracks 28 with common bunks that were flea infested. They had to find one to claim as their own. They basically lived in hell, but Corrie did manage to sneak in a Bible. One day as Betsie led a Bible study and prayer time for all the women in their barracks, she reminded them that they were to give thanks in all circumstances. Corrie spoke up and said, “I cannot give thanks for the fleas that constantly bite us.” Betsie responded, “Have you ever noticed the guards do not come in here and interrupt our Bible study? They leave us alone because of the fleas.” Corrie then gave thanks to God for the fleas!

There is such a temptation for each of us to be blinded by our own pride or wallow in self-pity, that we will fail to give thanks to God for every circumstance of our life. Sometimes we get so caught up in the busyness of life or in our own sense of what we think we have to have to be happy that we fail to give Jesus thanks for what he has already done for us. Sometimes we need reminders to bring us back to a place of real thanksgiving. That’s why we call Holy Communion, the Great Thanksgiving. Like the five kernels of corn symbolically placed on a plate, we give thanks to God with bread and wine, recalling what God has done for us in Christ. Jesus died in our place on the cross, conquering death and rising from the grave as the sign of our future. And then he sent his Spirit to dwell within us. And through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives we can exhibit the mark of Christian thankfulness.

What are you thankful for today? Are there some fleas in your life for which you need to thank God?

Giving God thanks in all circumstances puts us in the place where we acknowledge that God is sovereign, that he really is the Lord of life, and that when we seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, all things will be added as well. As Corrie Ten Boom was able to see the Kingdom of God’s holy reign in her life in a concentration camp in the midst of great suffering and evil, I pray that we too will give thanks in all circumstances.

Thanksgiving is actually not about the United States. Nor is it about watching football today. Nor is it about food. Nor is it about family. Although, I am a fan of all these things.

What Thanksgiving is actually all about is this:  Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks to the Father, he broke it and gave it to his disciples and said: Take, eat: this is my body given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me. After supper he took the cup of wine; and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them and said, “Drink this, all of you: This is my Blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me.”

Thanksgiving celebrates the victory of Jesus Christ in our lives. That is why the pilgrims celebrated it and that is why we celebrate today. Now that is something real to be happy about. Happy Thanksgiving.