Don Friesen
Four centuries ago, in March of 1604, Samuel de Champlain (c.1567-1635) set sail for the new world, accompanied by roughly a hundred men, many of them criminals recruited from prisons. His motley crew reached Nova Scotia in early May, but the winter of 1604-05 proved exceptionally severe, and they ran short of food, firewood and water. Their greatest affliction was scurvy; almost half of Champlain's men died. Other mishaps followed. The theft of a copper kettle resulted in the murder of the man who tried to retrieve it. The following summer (1605) was much better in terms of provisions; nevertheless, in October five of Champlain's men were killed while sleeping on shore. The next winter (1605-06) was not as severe as the previous one, but even so twelve men died of scurvy. The third winter (1606-07) was also mild, but four more men died of scurvy.
Champlain saw the need to boost the morale of his men, so he introduced the "Order of Good Cheer". Members of his company took turns being responsible for a day's menu, providing the game and then serving the meal with great ceremony. Champlain writes, "We spent this winter very pleasantly, and had good fare by means of the Order of Good Cheer which I established, and which everybody found beneficial to his health, and more profitable than all sorts of medicine we might have used." (Champlain, The Voyages, 1613)
Giving Thanks in Canada
I don't know if Champlain's feasts qualify as Thanksgiving feasts. Thanks was given to God at each meal, but a lot more time was spent consuming the barrels of wine from Bordeaux which accompanied them on their travels. No turkey was consumed at Champlain's feasts, though there was much fowl — mallards, geese, and partridges — as well as moose, caribou, beaver, otter, bear, rabbit, wildcat, and raccoon.
The history of our national Thanksgiving holiday is somewhat mixed, and Champlain's Order of Good Cheer is as good a model as any. Some credit Sir Martin Frobisher (c.1535-94), the English explorer, navigator, and very amateur geologist, whose claim to fame is that he brought tonnes of worthless "black earth" back to England, thinking it contained gold! Sir Martin is reported to have organized a Thanksgiving celebration for his forlorn crew in 1578, somewhere along a narrow inlet on Baffin Island. Others point to the year 1872, when the powers-that-be called for a day of thanksgiving to celebrate the recovery from some ailment of the Prince of Wales, who happened to be an insatiable gourmand, gambler, and philanderer! (King Edward VII)
Our national thanksgiving myth is not as well honed as the American tradition of harvest festivals begun by the Pilgrims (1621), though the American settlers coming to Nova Scotia in the 1750s certainly influenced the celebration of our own holiday. Parliament declared November 6th as a day of Thanksgiving — and a national holiday — in 1879, but it was not until 1957 that Prime Minister John G. Diefenbaker declared the second Monday in October as "A day of general thanksgiving to almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed."
A Culture of Complaint
There is something quintessentially Canadian — and human — to resist being told to give thanks, and Parliament had scarcely declared the October holiday when Premier Drury of Ontario complained that what should have been a day of consideration for farmers was instead being dictated and celebrated for the convenience of urban people. How can you pause to celebrate a harvest festival when you're still busy bringing in the harvest?!?
Giving thanks seems like a good thing to do, but even our giving of thanks can send a mixed message. G.K. Chesterton noted that the Americans established a Thanksgiving Day to celebrate the fact that the Pilgrim Fathers reached America, and he suggested that the English might very well establish another Thanksgiving Day — to celebrate the happy fact that the Pilgrim Fathers left England! (Sidelights on New London and Newer New York, 1932)
Decades ago one of the best-selling books was Norman Vincent Peale's The Power of Positive Thinking (1952), a book translated into fifteen languages, but today a spirit of complaint seems to prevail. A more recent popular — and positive — author is Robert Fulghum, but critics have dismissed him as the Merchant of Good Cheer. One reviewer noted that "if we were to judge our civilization by the way it is drawn to Fulghum's stories, homilies, epigrams and aphorisms..., we might as well blow ourselves up before we gag to death."
I read that some department stores are finding it difficult to hire people to be Santa Claus because Santas get too many kicks in the shins from kids who are disappointed that they didn't get exactly what they wanted last year. That may be an apocryphal story, but Mary Jo Leddy, who recently wrote a book on gratitude, contends that our very economy is built on chronic dis-satisfaction. Ingratitude is ingrained in our economic system, which promotes our need for more and better goods and services, thereby encouraging a state of constant craving and inner dissatisfaction, which expands until it eventually "implodes" in a profound dissatisfaction with oneself. (Radical Gratitude, 2002)
The Scriptures' T-List; T is not for Tithing or Terror
Today's sermon, by the way, is brought to you by the letter, "T," for Thanksgiving. There are a lot of T-words in the Bible, but since I have decided not to include negative words in my alphabet-sermons, that leaves out words like "temptation," "theft," "tattoos," and "taverns". The word, "taxes," is a negative concept elsewhere in Canada, and the word, "terrorize," is a current preoccupation for some, but I have lots of positive words from which to choose, like the words, "truth," "trust," and "teaching". And as much as I would like to speak on another T-word — tithing — I have chosen the word, "thanksgiving," because I believe it is a foundational concept, for at least three reasons.
Giving Thanks Is Biblical
The first reason giving thanks is important is because it's a prominent biblical theme and tradition. It's rather silly to argue about the origin of thanksgiving festivals. Long before Champlain, long before Frobisher, and the Pilgrim Fathers the people of God held harvest festivals, often several times a year!
Deuteronomy 26 reveals the outline of an order of worship whereby at the time of harvest the people of God brought their harvest produce to the place of worship, thereby acknowledging God's blessings and merciful providence.
The psalms are full of calls to give thanks to God. We heard several of them read earlier in the service. Our call to worship, from Psalm 136, repeats the call three times: "O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever." (Psalm 136:1-3) Psalm 118 repeats the refrain. (Psalm 118:1, 29) Psalm 65 acknowledges God's strength and creative power, declaring: "(God) makes the gateways of the morning and the evening shout for joy. ... The pastures ...overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy, the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy." (Psalm 65:8, 12-13) Psalm 138 echoes the call to thanksgiving, and Psalm 150 calls on an entire orchestra of musical instruments to praise God!
In the New Testament Jesus tells a wonderful story about a most unlikely leper giving thanks (Luke 17:11-19), and he parodies a tax collector who was only thankful because he was not like other people. (Luke 18:9-14) The Apostle Paul often gives thanks in his epistles. He encouraged the Ephesian congregation to "sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs..., singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God ...at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Ephesians 5:18-20) To the Philippians Paul wrote, "Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." (Philippians 4:6) To the Colossians Paul wrote about "abounding in thanksgiving". (Colossians 2:7)
Paul's epistle to the Romans is filled with thanksgiving (Romans 1:8; 6:17; 17:25; 14:6; 16:4), and Paul encouraged the Thessalonians to "give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God...." (1 Thessalonians 5:18) To his young colleague, Timothy, Paul wrote, "I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone...." (1 Timothy 2:1) "Everything created by God is good," he wrote, "and nothing is to be rejected, provided it is received with thanksgiving...." (4:4) There are countless hymns of praise and thanksgiving in the Scriptures, from the song of Miriam in Exodus (Exodus 15) to the hallelujah chorus at the end of the Book of Revelation! (Revelation 19)
Giving Thanks Is not Dependent upon Results
A second reason giving thanks is a foundational theme for Christian believers is that the biblical call to give thanks is not dependent upon results. In fact, it's often an anticipatory giving of thanks. The Bible calls us to "give thanks in all circumstances" (1 Thessalonians 5:18) because many of the circumstances encountered by the people of God were not thanks-inducing circumstances! Slavery in Egypt was quite an unpleasant experience — lasting four centuries! — but the Bible's references to it highlight not so much the cries of human suffering and pain, as the fact that these cries were heard and responded to by a gracious God! Much of the gratitude expressed in the Scriptures is not so much for favours received as in anticipation of God's help and deliverance.
In Psalm 118 the psalmist gives thanks to God, but it is not his bounty that prompts his praise; he gives thanks in distressing circumstances. "Out of my distress I called on the Lord," he writes; "the Lord answered me.... With the Lord on my side I do not fear. What can mortals do to me? The Lord is on my side to help me; I shall look in triumph on those who hate me." (Psalm 118:5-7) An amazing confession of faith, given his untoward circumstances. His thanksgiving was dependent on neither Orders nor merchants of good cheer.
Psalm 126 is another example of this anticipatory pattern, for it reveals a response of faith that remembers the delivering help of God in the past and hears God's word of assurance in the midst of a world that has fallen apart! However, the psalm begins in hope and prayer for God's transformation of this misfortune. Zion will be restored! This is a song sung by a defeated people, a people who have experienced national exile and have sunk into a profound depression, yet these people are singing about laughter and joy! God's intervention calls forth thanksgiving and joy in anticipation, and even greater joy in the fulfilment of that which is anticipated. This is a God who hears cries of suffering, and who turns mourning into dancing! (Psalm 30:11)
The same pattern can be seen in Isaiah, chapters 40 to 55, passages filled with calls to praise addressed to exiles whose laments by the waters of Babylon were turned into exultant hymns of joy, even while they continued to sit by those same waters!
One can see the same pattern at the last supper (Luke 22) Jesus shared with his disciples. Jesus must have been well aware of the darkness before him, yet he gives thanks for the ordinary gift of bread that will sustain him in the trying hours ahead. Amazing! (John Regehr, "Living thankfully," Mennonite Brethren Herald, September 23, 2005)
Mary Jo Leddy calls her book on gratitude Radical Gratitude, because she believes thanksgiving is not the mere tallying up of one's blessings, but something much more fundamental. Gratitude wells up when we become conscious of the gift of life itself, leading to the liberating realization that "I am enough, I'm good enough, and I have enough." It's a realization that enables new choices in life. "Radical gratitude" is not a game plan for restructuring the economy that fosters dissatisfaction; Leddy says it's much more insidious than that. I found that a jolting pairing of words. I've heard of giving thanks assiduously, but insidious thanksgiving is a new one! But giving thanks is insidious in that it speaks to the heart, quietly, unobtrusively but poignantly, and prompts significant changes in the way we relate to each other and our world.
Giving Thanks Is a Public Act
The third reason giving thanks is a foundational theme for Christian believers is its communal nature. Thanksgiving is a public act. Psalm 118 opens and closes with an invitation to the community to listen to the witness of a believer and to join with him in praising God's goodness.
Giving thanks is much more than a private act of an individual, expressing his or her own gratitude to God. It is an act that expresses one's faith and the faith of the community. "I will thank you in the great congregation; in the mighty throng I will praise you," writes the psalmist. (Psalm 35:18) Giving thanks to God was important to the life of the believer and to the congregation because it is essentially the public expression of loyalty to the covenant and to the Lord of the covenant.
It's also hard, when one's heart is brimming with gratitude, to contain it. Thanksgiving, by its very nature, reaches out, draws in, encompasses, and involves others. Giving thanks arises out of relationship and further enhances and strengthens relationships. There are, perhaps, few human acts that do more to deepen relationships than the expression of thanks, for expressing thanks declares one's gratitude and joy for what someone else has done. And it's more than self-expression, for it also has an effect on the receiver.
The importance of thanksgiving can be seen in the lives of people, one example being G.K. Chesterton, whose incisive analysis of things often prompted critical observations of the way things were. His remarks were witty and often cutting. It was with some surprise, then, that I discovered how important gratitude was to him. As a young person Chesterton was baffled about his life course. He describes himself as being shipwrecked on the sin of doubt and unbelief, with one exception. He wrote, "I hung on to the remains of religion by one thin thread of thanks. I thanked whatever God there might be that there was any life at all." "The test of all happiness is gratitude," he wrote; "I felt grateful, though I hardly knew to whom." Not the most resounding confession of faith, but it made a big difference to Chesterton. He began to write down his personal philosophy in a notebook in which his joy and wonder at the mystery of creation and birth find repeated expression. He would not expect of life more than life had to give. He refused to whine and complain because of so little good; instead he relished the good that existed. This thin thread of thanks led him into a more abundant and joyful life and faith. It was his gratitude for what seemed to him so many undeserved gifts that lifted him out of his skepticism and led him to a belief in God.
Sometimes the thread of thanksgiving in our lives is stretched very thin, but even a thin thread of thanksgiving makes all the difference. As John Regehr notes in a recent article on living thankfully, it enables us to "be at peace in the present, whether this present smells of roses or of decay." (John Regehr, "Living thankfully," Mennonite Brethren Herald, September 23, 2005) Thanks be to God for the gift of gratitude!
All quotations of Scripture, unless otherwise noted, are from the New Revised Standard Version.