Thanksgiving Day

Next Thursday is Thanksgiving day in the USA when they share a family meal, attend church services, and view special sporting events. This celebration began when settlers who arrived from England in the 17th century dedicated a day to give thanks for the blessings of the harvest and for the preceding year. The first national Thanksgiving celebration was observed in 1789 by President George Washington. In 1863 it was formalized by a presidential proclamation by Abraham Lincoln.
And in 1941 the date was formalized as the fourth Thursday in November. In Canada, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday in October.

The idea of “thanksgiving” for the harvest was celebrated in many ancient cultures. The Jewish harvest festival was known as Shavuot (Weeks, Pentecost) (Ex. 23:16). It was near the end of the wheat harvest in Canaan. At this festival they dedicated the wheat harvest to the Lord and gave back to God some of what He had provided for them. The offering of firstfruits was an acknowledgment that the harvest was from the Lord and belonged to Him (Ex. 34:22, Lev. 23:15-22). It showed joy and thankfulness for the Lord’s blessing of the harvest.

After the exile, in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah the Jews sang “songs of praise and thanksgiving to God” (Ezra 3:11; Neh. 12:46). They probably sang Psalm 95, “Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and extol Him with music and song” and Psalm 100, “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name”.

The day of Pentecost is remembered by Christians as the start of the church. It was the time of the Jewish harvest festival. And it was a great spiritual harvest when about 3,000 people trusted in the good news about Jesus (Acts 2:41).

Regarding the Lord’s supper, Paul said, “Is not the cup of thanksgiving (or blessing) for which we give thanks a participation in the blood [death] of Christ?” (1 Cor. 10:16NIV). The “cup of blessing” was a common Jewish expression for the last cup of wine drunk at a festive meal. It was a toast to God for His goodness. It didn’t convey a blessing, but it aroused praise and thanksgiving towards God for all His blessings to them. Likewise, at the Lord’s Supper Christians give thanks to God for His greatest blessing to them – their forgiveness of sin and common salvation through Christ’s death.

Just like the Israelites thanked God at the Harvest Festival for bringing them to the promised land and for providing abundantly for them there, let’s thank God for our spiritual blessings. For all that God has done for us through Jesus Christ. How through Christ’s sacrificial death He provides abundant forgiveness and peace with God.

Prayer

Father God, the Americans and the Jews have an annual day of thanksgiving, but we have a weekly day of thanksgiving. We thank you that on the first day of the week (when Jesus rose from the dead), we can thank you for what you did in sending Jesus to die for the sins of all the people of the world. Through His death our sins can be forgiven, and we can look ahead to a home in heaven. In Christ’s name, Amen.

Posted, November 2024