Introduction:

·      Thanksgiving Day is a peculiarly national holiday.

·      Millions of U.S. citizens abroad are self-consciously American on Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is a harvest festival.

·      Thanksgiving celebrates that day in 1622 when Governor William Bradford summoned the survivors of the Mayflower to praise God for their first harvest.

- Hebrews 11:16b

·      Other nations also give thanks.

·      For most of us, this is an anachronism.

·      Harvest has little to do with our common life these days, and yet, we sing about it still.

Thanksgiving is a national festival.

·      Thanksgiving is a celebration of those who laid the foundations of a new nation.

- Illustration: We sing “Land of the Pilgrim’s pride … Let freedom ring!”

·      Pilgrims of all nationalities sought liberty to act, think, and worship in their own way.

·      Two strains of immigrants came: those who wanted a better life, and those who came for reasons of faith, not fortune.

Thanksgiving is a reinstated festival.

·      The pilgrim consciousness disappeared from the national life for a long period of time.

·      It was 240 years after the first Pilgrim that Thanksgiving was reinstated.

- Illustration: “All nations grow odious in prosperity.”

·      It took the tragedy of the Civil War and Lincoln’s scarred spirit to recall the pilgrim heritage.

- Illustration: Lincoln’s proclamation said, “We have forgotten the gracious Hand….”

·      Lincoln sought to instill in a divided national heart its former unity.

·      On October 3, 1863, Lincoln issued the first national Thanksgiving proclamation.

Thanksgiving is a time to thank God for sacrifices and accomplishments.

·      It is practically impossible to over-idealize the Pilgrims.

·      Within a few short years, they were able to establish universities, organize hospitals, print books, and accomplish any number of notable and remarkable things.

·      Thanksgiving is a time to remember the sacrifices and accomplishments of those who have gone before us.

·      Now it is time to thank God for those things he has allowed us to accomplish.

- Illustration: Let us celebrate in the spirit of the hymn writer, who said: “All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above. Then thank the Lord, oh thank the Lord, for all his love!”