11/19/61

Scripture: Read Psalm 100

Text: Psalm 100: 4; “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise; be thankful unto him, and bless his name.”

341 years ago this month a company of Pilgrims came ashore upon land that was entirely new to them. They had endured a long, perilous, tiring voyage across the North Atlantic ocean. They had left former home and friends and family in the old country for good. They expected never to go back. For they intended to build a new life in a new land, where they might worship in the manner they felt they should worship, without fear of imprisonment or death.

Note that it was not freedom from worship which they sought, but freedom to worship. And they were not seeking escape from government, but they sought to establish righteous government. They still considered themselves loyal subjects of their king. And they planned to lead orderly lives in the new world. Knowing that this requires a measure of agreement among neighbors, they gathered in the cabin of the ship “Mayflower” and entered into covenant with each other by signing a Compact which had been drawn up in these words:

THE COMPACT

Signed in the Cabin of the “Mayflower,” Nov. 11th, Old Style, Nov. 21st, New Style, 1620.

“In the name of God, amen, we whose names are underwritten, the loyall subjects of our dread soveraigne Lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britaine, Franc and Ireland king, defender of the faith, &c., haveing undertaken, for the glorie of God, and advancemente of the Christian faith, and honor of our king and countrie, a voyage to plant the first colonie in the northerne parts of Virginia, doe by these presents solemnly and mutualy in the presence of God, and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civill body politick, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherence of the ends aforesaid; and by vertue hereof to enacte, constitue and frame such just and equall laws, ordenances, acts, constitutions and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meete and convenient for the general good of the colonie, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cap-Codd the 11 of November, in the year of the raigne of our soveraigne lord, King James of England, Franc and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, Ano Dom 1620.” (41 signatures)

After signing this compact, these 42 men and their families went ashore to establish a new home and a new life. The season was late, and they had been put ashore a long way north of Virginia. But they attacked the wilderness with a will, so that there was some building of shelter accomplished before the more severe part of winter set in. Their privation was dreadful; cold weather and disease and severely limited rations decimated their company so that an appalling number of them were dead by spring time. But the coming of a planting season brought renewed hope. Friendly natives showed them how to plant native corn, with a fish in the hill for fertilizer. By autumn, they had raised a fair store of provisions, had completed better shelter in more homes, and felt more hopeful as they faced their second winter.

And so, in the autumn of 1621, the man whom they had chosen for governor of the colony, William Bradford, issued a proclamation of thanksgiving. It was a time when they took deliberate time to give thanks to God for their preservation and for the harvest which they had been given in God’s mercy. And it was a time for feasting on what they were able to bring in from the hunt, from the fields, and from what friendly Indians brought.

They held another Thanksgiving feast two years later. Thereafter, at intervals, they did likewise throughout Colonial history. There was a national day of thanksgiving proclaimed after the war for Independence had been won. But perhaps 6 years elapsed before another was proclaimed. For a long time the custom was kept alive by proclamation on the part of state governors.

During Abraham Lincoln’s presidency Thanksgiving Day became an established annual festival, proclaimed each year by the president of the nation. In 1941, just 20 years ago, a joint resolution of Congress established the 4th Thursday of each November as Thanksgiving Day, thereby making it a national legal holiday to all intents and purposes. But, though the date is now established by congressional action, the occasion is still proclaimed by the President of our country. And on last Wednesday, November 15th, the Wisconsin Rapids Tribune published President Kennedy’s proclamation for this year. It is well stated. And so I want to re-read it now as we gather together on this Thanksgiving Sunday:

The text of President Kennedy’s Thanksgiving proclamation follows: [The White House, Thanksgiving Day, 1961].

By the President of the United States of America.

A. Proclamation: “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord.”

"More than three centuries ago, the pilgrims, after a year of hardship and peril, humbly and reverently set aside a special day upon which to give thanks to God for their preservation and for the good harvest from the virgin soil upon which they had labored. Grave and unknown dangers remained. Yet by their faith and by their toil they had survived the rigors of the harsh New England winter. Hence they paused in their labors to give thanks for the blessings that had been bestowed upon them by Divine Providence.

"This year, as the harvest draws near its close and the year approaches its end, awesome perils again remain to be faced. Yet we have, as in the past, ample reason to be thankful for the abundance of our blessings. We are grateful for the blessings of faith and health and strength and for the imperishable spiritual gifts of love and hope. We give thanks, too, for our freedom as a nation; for the strength of our arms and the faith of our friends; for the beliefs and confidence we share; for our determination to stand firmly for what we believe to be right and to resist mightily what we believe to be base; and for the heritage of liberty bequeathed by our ancestors which we are privileged to preserve for our children and our children’s children.

"It is right that we should be grateful for the plenty amidst which we live; the productivity of our farms, the output of our factories, the skill of our artisans, and the ingenuity of our inventors. But in the midst of our thanksgiving, let us not be unmindful of the plight of those in many parts of the world to whom hunger is no stranger and the plight of those millions who live without the blessings of liberty and freedom. With some we are able to share our material abundance through our food-for-peace program and through our support of the United Nations freedom-from-hunger campaign. To all we can offer the sustenance of hope that we shall not fail in our unceasing efforts to make this a peaceful and prosperous world for all mankind.

"Now, therefore, I, John F. Kennedy, president of the United States of America, in consonance with the joint resolution of Congress approved December 26, 1941, which designates the fourth Thursday in November of each year as Thanksgiving Day, do hereby proclaim Thursday, the 23rd day of November of this year, as a day of national Thanksgiving.

"I urge all citizens to make this Thanksgiving not merely a holiday from their labors, but rather a day of contemplation. I ask the head of each family to recount to his children the story of the first New England Thanksgiving, thus to impress upon future generations the heritage of this nation born in toil, in danger, in purpose, and in the conviction that right and justice and freedom can through man’s efforts persevere and come to fruition with the blessing of God.

"Let us observe this day with reverence and with prayer that will rekindle in us the will and show us the way not only to preserve our blessings, but also to extend them to the four corners of the earth. Let us by our example, as well as by our material aid, assist all peoples of all nations who are striving to achieve a better life in freedom.

"In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed."

Done at the city of Washington this 27th day of October in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and sixty-one, and of the independence of the United States of America the one hundred and eighty-sixth.

John F. Kennedy

By the President

Dean Rusk,

Secretary of State

There we have it! The day of Thanksgiving is proclaimed to us again this year. We live in too momentous a time to make next Thursday a mere holiday. Rather, we will do well to make of it a holy day, gathering with other folk to worship, and to lift our praise; gathering as families or as neighbors to thank God for uncounted blessings and opportunities.

We ask God for much. If we feel a serious need; if we suffer a reversal in health; if we encounter a new sorrow; if we have an unfulfilled ambition; we may make these matters of petition to God. But we are lop-sided and underdeveloped souls if we fail to thank God for the blessings we receive whether in answer to our petitions or out of His boundless mercy.

The President’s proclamation begins with a quotation from the 92nd Psalm, the first verse: “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord.” Probably no truth is repeated more often in the Psalms than this: that praise is a proper exercise for anyone.

1) For thankfulness is beautiful in itself. There is something impressive about any true expression of gratitude, whether it comes from children or elderly folk or youth or from whomever. A little girl asks God for help in finding a lost wagon. And then when it is found, she spontaneously thanks God. A man about to be martyred for his faith rejoices at the sunlight which lights up his cell on his last day. Far out in the Pacific, the people of Samoa build what they call the “Road of Gratitude” in order to thank Robert Louis Stevenson for all his kindness to them. These are all instances of thankfulness that impress us as good in themselves -- right and beautiful.

2) Further, gratitude is the mark of a wise and informed person who does not take life’s benedictions for granted. We are living persons because our parents loved us into life, and because God took the risk of creating men and women to be in his likeness. We did not create this earthly dwelling to which birth introduced us. We did not, any one of us, create the rich and varied culture which makes the difference between primitive man and civilized man. We can not, even now, provide everything that we need for life, and health, and happiness. Our gratitude must include many folk in a widening circle of those living and those who lived formerly on earth --- parents; friends and neighbors; teachers; patriots whose devotion preserved a freedom-loving nation not for themselves alone but for all who follow them; conscientious churchmen who took the trouble and made the sacrifices that preserved truth unto themselves and to their descendants in family and in spirit; scientists who have explored deeper and deeper into the mysteries of the universe as these are revealed to the searching mind of men and women. There is wisdom in our gratitude for these blessings and for recognition of the moral qualities that set a fine example.

Many years ago a Hawaiian man was so filled with gratitude at the enlightenment and love that had been brought to him and his people by missionaries from New England that he, in turn, decided to spend his life in missionary endeavor. When he had been trained well enough to make himself useful, and to stand on his own spiritual feet before God, he and his wife went to the Marqueses Islands to take the same message that had blessed his people. The Marquesans were a dangerous people in that they were capable of cannibalism. On one occasion, when a white officer from an American whaling ship came ashore there to look for water and supplies, he was taken by natives whose chief had vowed that he would eat the next white man who came there. The chief was not without provocation, for earlier white sailors had done shameful things to his people. The Hawaiian missionary, Rev. James Kehela, interceded for the captive. It looked hopeless; but Kehela did not stop short of offering just about everything he had to the chief if he would only release this white man and let him return to his ship. He offered his own best clothes (and he did not really have any to spare). He offered his most valuable possession, a boat which he needed for getting about among the island people and for fishing for food. These were things that the chief wanted very much; and so he finally agreed to release the captive unharmed; and Kehela turned over his suit and his precious boat.

Word of this deed of concern and compassion finally reached the president of the United States after the whaler returned to port. Abraham Lincoln was so impressed with Kehela’s act that he sent a personal gift of appreciation out to the Rev. James Kehela - a watch that was thereafter the most treasured possession Kehela and his family ever had! The President, wise and informed, did not take Kehela’s sacrificial effort for granted, but found a way to say “thank you” for the rescued man and for all other understanding people of the United States.

3) Again, gratitude is the mark of a spiritually sensitive person. With the Psalmist we recognize that evil exists in alarming abundance. But while wrong often flourishes for a time, it is righteousness that succeeds in the long run. We are grateful for God’s guiding providence. When the Psalmist sang of “the works of Thy hand,” he was thinking of the providential acts of God about which he knew in first-hand experience and in Hebrew history. If we are spiritually sensitive, we are grateful for all sorts of gifts and benefits to our living -- most of all for God’s best gift in Christ. No other privilege can exceed the benefit of knowing and following him.

4) Gratitude is the mark of a positive spirit who has learned the secret of keeping happy in difficult situations. An old gospel song, which many of us remember well from days of our early Sunday School experience, counsels: “Count your blessings; name them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.” Not infrequently we do the opposite, and count up the misfortunes and disappointments which have come to us. It is not difficult to add up a dismal enough total to confirm us in unhappiness. It is far better for us, as individuals, as a church, as a nation, to count up the many blessings which have come to us and to see what God has done for us. And there is happiness in the discovery that so much good has come to us.

5) “It is good to give thanks” especially when a counting of one’s own blessings stimulates us to think of others who have less reason to be thankful. A poet [Grace Noll Crowell] begins one of her works with the line: “Because I have been given much, I, too, must give.” I well remember that summer Sunday afternoon when our family had gone for a ride out toward Waupaca. On the return trip the motor broke a fan belt and we were effectively stalled at a time when it was urgently necessary that we get back to Wisconsin Rapids by a given time in the afternoon. A passing motorist stopped, sized up the situation, went and borrowed a chain, hooked our car with it behind his, and hauled us the remaining 20 or 25 miles home. He said he was a truck driver, just out for a Sunday relaxing spin himself, and would accept nothing but my verbal thanks.

I read of another stalled motorist whose stalled car was towed to a garage by a friendly traveler to whom he wanted to make a gift. He was advised, instead, to carry a rope or chain in his own car to help somebody else who might be found in similar trouble.

I am glad that there are so many excellent causes in which we can assist by our gifts during this Thanksgiving to Christmas season.

This Thanksgiving season, we have elected to help with the sharing of our national surplus to bring relief and hope to almost countless sufferers in hunger and distress. American church-goers, by means of our offerings for this purpose, made it possible last year to transport and deliver more than 280 millions pounds of SOS foods to more than 10 million people in dozens of countries where desperate want is known. Just one of our church-raised dollars sent well over 300 pounds of relief supplies.

In the last 7 years, 35 American communions working together in the SOS program have made possible the distribution of one billion, 600 million pounds of relief supplies to innocent victims of tragedy. Last year the recipients included 800,000 refugees; one million disaster victims; and millions of persons in family feeding and school children programs.

To the thankful person, this kind of help is no burden, but is a welcomed privilege. It is one way of passing on to others some reason to be thankful.

During World War II a church building in England, where Isaac Watts had once worshipped, was obliterated by a night of bombing. A few of the church members, gathering about the place in the rain of an early morning, sang Watts’ hymn:

O God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come,

Our shelter from the stormy blast, And our eternal home.

In this year 1961, at the November Thanksgiving season, we wonder what will happen in weeks ahead. We shall be facing the vast Unknown, whose mystery surrounds us for woe or for weal. And we shall be needing the mighty music of our grateful Faith, as our fathers did.

O God, beneath Thy guiding hand

Our exiled fathers crossed the sea;

And when they trod the wintry strand,

With prayer and psalm, they worshipped Thee.

“With prayer and psalm.” So may it be with us! A singing faith lifting praise and thanks to God through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Delivered in Wisconsin Rapids, November 19, 1961.