THANKSGIVING

Thanksgiving

First American Holiday

Jamestown Story

Jamestown, founded in 1607, was the first permanent settlement from England in the U.S. Begun with great hope, the civilized Brits were quite unprepared for surviving in the beautiful but untamed American wilderness. They were sorely tested during a “starving time” in 1609-1610. Only 38 of the original 144 colonists survived, a loss of 74%. In a famous Jamestown story, the life of Captain John Smith (age 28) was saved by Pocahontas (age 11), daughter of powerful Indian Chief Powhatan, as Smith was about to be executed by Indian warriors. Little Pocahontas befriended Captain Smith and the novice Colonists, helping them in various ways to cope with primitive living amidst disease and starvation. Indians knew how to live off the land, and compassionately shared their survival wisdom. At age 18, Christianized Pocahontas married Englishman tobacco farmer John Rolfe in 1614. He was 28 years of age when she became his 2nd wife. They had one son, Thomas, in 1615. Pocahontas later visited England with John Rolfe, meeting with Monarchy, including Queen Anne and King James. She found favor among British royalty. Pocahontas died of disease on the return trip to America, after seven months in England. She was a mere 22 years of age.

New England Story

Only 44 of 102 Mayflower Pilgrims landing Plymouth Rock in 1620 survived. The 50 remaining New England Pilgrims held their first Thanksgiving in 1621 with 90 Wampanoag Indians. Venison & corn figured highly in the 3-day celebration of fruitful harvest, but the feast also included turkey. One cannot take lightly the Thanksgiving Spirit of New England. Among the Colonies and among the States, it is a long cold winter house. Without abundant harvests, none but nomadic Indians could survive the winters. Better harvests became the basis for setting down durable roots of Christian home-and-family. Colonial faith and prayer surely made the difference.

Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. John:6.35 United States Story

President Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863. Initial hardships of disease and starvation accompanied the Colonist’s ocean-wide shift in geography and temporal back-shift to wilderness living. Jamestown and New England settlements made clear that the promise of a rising New World entailed crossing a valley of sorrows wrapped in primitive circumstances and extreme losses. The greater story is one of Amazing Grace, where compassion from the lesser endowed Native Americans brought merciful survival and coping grace to the Christian Colonists. Blessings from the land and its resident stewards figure prominently in the first American Thanksgivings. Colonists rich in the Gospel became poor and needy to better see the latent mercy and grace of God in both land and indigenous people.

Turkey became the main dish of Thanksgiving during the 1800s. Founding Father Ben Franklin thought turkey was a food blessing so robust it should be given consideration as the National Bird. America was to become a place where none of God’s children would starve, and where food abundance eventually would flow with mercy to other peoples of the world. To this day, turkeys “fly” to the American Thanksgiving Table like no other birds of heaven, arriving at unparalleled size. It is faithful “manna” to Christian America.

Global Thanksgiving

Great Britain, first to evangelize the world via marvelous merchant sailing ships bearing Missionaries and the majestic King James Bible, was gifted with tea from the Far East and Cornish hens as their gratitude “bread and wine” of the Lord’s Table. Thanksgiving was offered in the U.S. before the Gospel actually crossed the land, and believers could witness the fullness of its bounty. No other bird composes so large a feast. The American Christian family was abundantly blessed for their ancestor’s courageous “walk” across dangerous Atlantic waters to spread the Gospel, their step backward in time to seed a nation gift to God from New World wilderness, and their faithfulness to bridge America the Beautiful with the only beautifying Spirit there ever was.

Thanksgiving Vision

Christ always brings abundant life. Colonial Thanksgivings foretold unparalleled munificence in the unfolding American Story. Those blessed with so much have more to share at the world’s table of Spiritual Communion and Thanksgiving Feast. Let’s continue to pass it on until there are no more lost souls or hungering humanity on God’s Green Earth. Let us not fear the threshold valleys of hardship along the way. Forefathers did not waver. We of further refined stock should not either. With super ships, super planes, super communication, and higher love, we can complete God’s grand plan of saving grace to all of Earth’s mankind during our lifetime.

I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.John:10.10

#Thanksgiving #Grace