When you were a kid, how did you celebrate Thanksgiving? In my elementary school (back in the 50s) we always rehearsed the story of how the Pilgrims and Indians came together to share a meal of wild turkey and locally grown crops on the first Thanksgiving Day. My teachers emphasized that the Pilgrims had barely survived their first year in the new land and were grateful to both their Indian (native American) neighbors and the Lord for getting them through.
When we celebrated the actual day we had the day off school, of course. In my family, my memories are mostly of my mom working hard to prepare a special meal for us. As the rest of us waited around, we played games, tossed the football in the yard, or (in later years) watched football games on TV. Living in the South, we were blessed with mostly warm temperatures, so we rode our bikes or played down at the local park with friends. We always ate too much, I remember, and every year we scrupulously saved all the leftover turkey and cranberry sauce for sandwiches later in the week. We gave lip service to being grateful for God’s blessings, but even as a kid, I sensed we were mostly faking it.
At this stage of my life, I’m beginning to think that Christians have it backwards. Rather than celebrate the birth of Christ at Christmas time, we should be remembering Him and giving thanks for His arrival at Thanksgiving. Why? Because He is the gift of God that sustains us all year round. The Pilgrims had good reason to hold a day of celebration to acknowledge the awesome gift of food against their backdrop of scarcity. But in our day of physical abundance and the glut of food we enjoy, it seems a little forced to make that the focus of our Thanksgiving holiday. How much better it would be to acknowledge our spiritual scarcity, our inability to undo the awful effects of sin on our own, and to thank the Lord Jesus for dying and rising from the dead to restore our relationship with God the Father!
In his debut album in 1986, Don Moen recorded “Give Thanks” … a chorus we sang often in the 1980s and 90s. Here are some of the lyrics:
“Give thanks with a grateful heart, give thanks to the Holy One, give thanks because He’s given Jesus Christ, His Son.
And now let the weak say ‘I am strong,’ let the poor say ‘I am rich’ because of what the Lord has done for us. Give thanks…”
In a Bible study I’m attending we’ve been studying the book of Ecclesiastes. Although many of us regard the book as kind of depressing and cynical, one theme emerges throughout that should inform our Christian walk: God is the center of life and meaning. When everything thing else fails, we can depend on Him. We can experience everything the world has to offer, enjoying its delights and feeding our every desire (as Solomon did), but if we do not have Jesus—the way, the truth, and the life—we will never be truly safe or fully satisfied in this unpredictable world. He is our only source of joy and lasting satisfaction. When we look to Him, we have every reason to be thankful.
In spite of all our slogans that insist “Jesus is the reason for the season” we know that Jesus is not the main focus of Christmas. Most of the activities associated with the holiday—gift giving, bringing a tree into the house to decorate, feasting with friends and family, singing, lighting candles, stringing up lightbulbs of various colors, etc.—are tied to Winter Solstice, when our daylight hours are shortest because the earth’s pole in our hemisphere is tipped away from the sun. Our solstice celebrations (which occur around the world in nearly every culture) are mostly an attempt to distract ourselves from the discomfort of winter and to build hope for a “resurrected” sun to warm us once again. This year’s Winter Solstice will be on December 21st.
Historians aren’t sure when the church began to blend this festival with commemorating Jesus’ birthday. Some historians have suggested heads of the church in the 3rd century sought to make the holiday less pagan and more acceptable for Christians to celebrate by bringing Jesus’ birth into the mix. But we aren’t sure about this theory. Certainly by the 4th century two dates had been officially recognized as “the” day to celebrate Christ’s birth: December 25 in the western (Roman) church and January 6 in the eastern (Orthodox) branch of the church.
But here’s a question for us to ponder today: Should we blindly follow their lead? Writings from the early church fathers indicate that 1st century believers did NOT celebrate Jesus’ birthday. That’s probably because there was no way to know the exact date from Scripture alone. The only hints from Matthew and Luke are that shepherds were watching their flocks outside when it occurred, and it was sometime during the reign of Caesar Augustus, while Quirinius was governor of Syria.
The details of Jesus’ birth are interesting and important in the redemption plan of God. But for us, our celebration of Him extends beyond His arrival, focusing primarily on His teachings, His sinless life of obedience to the Father, and His substitutionary death and resurrection. Through faith in Jesus, we are set free from our sins, remade in God’s image, adopted into His family, and empowered to represent Him in all situations. I believe the heartfelt giving of thanks for Jesus at Thanksgiving will help prepare us for the Christmas season to follow, a season that’s often devoid of spiritual reminders as we busily run to fulfill all the expectations of our culture.
In one of his earliest letters the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica, admonishing them to “rejoice always, pray continually, [and] give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18), wrapping up all aspects of the Christian life in one simple sentence. Rejoicing is for the present, praying is for the future, and thanksgiving is offered for what’ve already enjoyed in the past with our faithful God.
In all things … for all times … Paul urges us to live in the awesome reality of God’s presence, promises, and provisions—the BIG THREE P’s! How would our lives look if we practiced this all-encompassing approach to life year-round? Thanksgiving Day can (and should) be our reset button, reminding us of all we have been given through Jesus Christ, our Lord. “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15)
Our Father, thank you for your indescribable gift … our Lord Jesus Christ. In Him we have everything we need for this life and eternity! Help us to focus on Him and to be grateful for His spiritual blessings as we celebrate Thanksgiving this year. As we enjoy time with family and friends and recount the many blessings of the past year, don’t let us forget or gloss over the greatest gift of all. Material things come and go, but the gift of Jesus endures to all generations. All praise, honor, and glory to you. Amen.
Adventuring with God 