The Source of True Thanksgiving...

"The First Thanksgiving"
Jean Louis Gerome Ferris (1915)

God’s Word tells us that one of the signs of the last days is the ingratitude of mankind. The Apostle Paul wrote about it in II Timothy 3:2: "For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, UNTHANKFUL, unholy.” Without knowing that these words come from God’s Word, you might credit them to a modern-day pundit observing the decline of society. The words rightly describe the hearts, minds and attitudes of many people in our world today. Makes one wonder when Thanksgiving arrives each November, whether people understand what it even means to be thankful? What do we really understand of Thanksgiving as observed and established by the First American Puritans in 1621?

It’s certain we’ve all committed to memory our elementary school version of the story of the Pilgrims. The simple narrative has served as the plot for millions of skits, plays, books, movies, and television shows. If you’ve taken in enough of these rudimentary renditions of the “Thanksgiving Story” you may have a distorted perception of history. Rarely do these accounts address the appalling circumstances and untold human sufferings of the Massachusetts Colony. Let alone the Christian values that sustained the Puritans through all their heartache! Do public schools even teach that the Pilgrims were the first American Puritans? Even the famous Jean Louis Gerome Ferris painting commemorating the first Thanksgiving is misleading. The idyllic scene belies the reality that the Pilgrims faced. Governor William Bradford’s words don’t exactly correspond either with the placid scenes of feasting and merriment that our children have come to identify as Thanksgiving. The Governor’s own personal tragedy often goes unnoticed. His own wife drowned as they disembarked the Mayflower, leaving him a widower with a one-year-old little boy. What else was there in this New World to “sustain them but the Spirit of God and his grace?”

They had now no friends to welcome them nor inns to entertain or
refresh their weather-beaten bodies; no houses or much less
towns to retire to. . . . And for the season, it was winter.
What could they see but a hideous and desolate wilderness?
What could now sustain them but the Spirit of God and his grace?

Governor William Bradford
December 1620

What was it about theses first American Puritans that caused them to endure such harsh and profound adversity and still establish and celebrate true Thanksgiving? And what can we borrow from the Puritans to sustain us in today’s world of ingratitude? Without boring you with a lot of sixteenth-century European history, the Puritans were the breakaway group of Christians who sought to “purify” the Anglican Church – bringing it in line with the simple Gospel presented in Scripture. As petitioners to King James I put it in 1603, the true church ought not to be "governed by Popish Canons, Courts, Classes, Customs, or any human invention, but by the laws and rules which Christ hath appointed in his Testament." The Puritans – by every account – believed in the Sovereign Creator and the Gospel of Jesus Christ – in Salvation by Grace – and they were truly THANKFUL!

The foundation and source of true Thanksgiving may well be the Puritan values of the first Americans. Sadly, Puritanism today has evolved into a satirical label for "what's wrong with America." Some think that too much Puritanism survives and that it hinders “free thought” and violates a “separation of church and state.” There are others who sincerely believe that the breakdowns of our society are the direct consequence of the dilution of Puritan disciplines and ideals. Many Christians believe that in the name of “tolerance,” our Puritan heritage has been censored and effectively edited-out of the history we teach our children. Regardless of your political view, it is an undisputed fact that no other philosophy or thought has had a more permanent effect upon our nation's government, education, literature, sense of mission, church governance, ethical responsibility, or religious vision than has Puritanism.

What happened specifically over the last nearly-four-hundred years to misshape our nation into a culture of ingratitude? It’s simple. As a nation, we no longer rely on the significance, the implication, nor the worth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is our Heritage! Our nation is established upon it! There can be no real Thanksgiving unless there is a right relationship with God. The more we know, accept and welcome his Son into our lives, the more real Thanksgiving there will be in our lives. The measure of one will be the measure of the other; and Thanksgiving will no longer be a holiday in November, but an everyday practice. The last Thursday in November can then be devoted entirely to the recognition and appreciation of football. Or, in the case of all you non-football fans, devoted to the good-natured complaining about all the football!

On Behalf of Pastor Mark,

-- Esthermay Bentley-Goossen