Thanksgiving

On November 26, 2009, millions of Americans will celebrate Thanksgiving. For most, the day will be rich in a tradition that includes friends, family, food and football.

Of course, the Thanksgiving meal will be the centerpiece of the day. It will likely feature a turkey with all the trimmings. If your Thanksgiving experiences are like mine, the meal will also no doubt include a side dish or two that no one actually likes -- or at least no one likes enough to eat any other day of the year. In my house, we will put cranberry sauce on the table. We always do. I'm not sure I have ever seen anyone actually eat that stuff. But, its tradition.

I like to think that most people also have a tradition of saying a prayer before the Thanksgiving meal. It seems like most people I know do -- even those folks who don't pray over their meals the other 362 days a year. (If your questioning my math, think Christmas and Easter). I mean, what's the point of Thanksgiving if we don't take at least a moment during the day to thank God for all He has done for us?

I do have to wonder, though, whether God figures into Thanksgiving at all for most Americans anymore. The folks at Wikipedia don't seem to think so. Not that Wikipedia is necessarily a reliable or definitive source, but here are the first few lines of the discussion of Thanksgiving in this on-line encyclopedia:

"Thanksgiving day is a harvest festival. Traditionally, it is a time to give thanks for the harvest and express gratitude in general. ... While perhaps religious in origin, Thanksgiving is now primarily identified as a secular holiday."

I have a lot of questions about these three sentences. For example, what do they mean by "perhaps religious in origin"? Is there any doubt about that? And, when they say "express gratitude in general," express gratitude in general to who? The most troubling question I have, though, is whether there is truth to the idea that most Americans view Thanksgiving as a primarily secular holiday. Put another way, has God been kicked out of Thanksgiving too?

If most Americans truly feel that Thanksgiving has nothing to do with God, that is obviously a terribly sad thing. It has not always been that way.

George Washington issued a proclamation in 1789 setting November 26 as a day of "public thanksgiving and prayer." To save you on the math, this November 26th will mark the 220th anniversary of that first national day of Thanksgiving.

In that Thanksgiving day proclamation, the President of the United States, at the urging of both houses of Congress, asked the American people to set aside November 26 as a day to thank God Almighty for the many things He had done for the people of the United States, including for the very existence of the country itself. President Washington appropriately described God as "the Beneficent Author of all good that was, that is, and that will be." The proclamation went on to ask the people to pray for the forgiveness of our national and other transgressions, and that the government "be a blessing to all the People, by constantly being a government of wise, just and constitutional laws ...."

Personally, I love Thanksgiving. I love the family getting together. I love the turkey and I love the football. I don't think there is anything wrong with all that. I have even accepted the idea that Thanksgiving is the time when we all begin to think about and look forward to Christmas.

At the same time, I am not sure I can get behind the idea of a national holiday that is simply dedicated to over-eating and football -- even if it means a couple of extra days off work. If God has really been kicked out of Thanksgiving, as Christians I think we need to make a point this November 26 to invite Him back in!