Several years ago The New Yorker carried a cartoon of Native Americans looking at a ship coming toward the coast, saying to the other, “Maybe we should build a wall.” We may chuckle at that cartoon or other similar ones, we are grateful that they didn’t. It was Abraham Lincoln who, in the midst of a terrible Civil War, called for this day to be one of Thanksgiving, imploring the “interposition of the Almighty to heal the wounds of a Nation.”
Beyond the food and the football games Thanksgiving provides a deeper truth, that we need to be reminded to be grateful for the bounty we have as a Nation and that we must share the bounty that many of us have with others who have little.
Thanksgiving is a special day for me because it was on this day in 1909 my father’s parents arrived at Boston Harbor and were given a welcome feast. Poor peasants from Finland, they had never seen so much food. As we celebrate this day, our gratitude should extend to all our ancestors and to those now coming to build new futures for our society and Nation.
Prayer for the Day
In response to your call we come, Spirit who embraces us,
For your presence is a light in our lives;
We are humbled by your gifts to us beyond number
And speak our gratitude for all we have.
May we share your gifts with others often alone and bereft
As a measure of our gratitude.
In the name of the One who gave us gifts beyond measure,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven.
- Johannes A. Gaertner, theologian, art historian (1912-1996)
Be present in all things and thankful for all things.
- Maya Angelou, poet (1928-2014)
O give thanks to the Lord, call upon God’s name
And make known God’s deeds among the peoples.
Sing to the Lord, sing praises to the Lord,
Tell of all God’s wonderful works.
Psalm 105: 1-2