Looking for Signs of Thanksgiving?

A guest post from Mark Montoya:

To look at early U.S. colonial history and this morning's headlines is a study in contrasts. I just read that a Wal-Mart worker in Long Island was trampled to death by eager shoppers in the early hours of Black Friday. This part of the story was almost unbelievable:

Before police shut down the store, eager shoppers streamed past emergency crews as they worked furiously to save the store clerk's life. "They were working on him, but you could see he was dead," said Halcyon Alexander, 29. "People were still coming through." Only a few stopped.

Now, to be fair, we don't yet know whether the trampling was the immediate cause of death. The stampede might have triggered a heart attack (the victim was young, however) or some previous health condition. Still, one would expect the event to prompt more people to pause and perhaps offer a prayer for the person who is passing from this life a few feet away. What about just calling off the hunt right there out of respect for the departed? It reminds me of a story out of Israel a few years back in which a surveillance camera captured motorists swerving around a body that lay dead in a busy city intersection. What made it news was not the man's tragic death, but the callousness of his countrymen.

In contrast, there have been times in our nation's history during which a celebration of Thanksgiving prompted acts of selflessness and genuine appreciation for the blessings of this life and the providence of God Almighty. Just last night, my wife's cousin asked the family to observe the tradition of the "Five Kernels." I had not heard of this tradition before, and I'm still not sure how air-tight the story is. Yet, we can be confident of the conditions surrounding the time and place in which it is set.

As the legend goes, in the winter of 1621-22 the Pilgrims of Plymouth faced a "starving time" during which the rations fell to five kernels of corn per day, per person. In subsequent Thanksgiving celebrations, the settlers placed five kernels on their plates, just prior to the feast. They used that symbol to 1) count their blessings, 2) remember the sacrifices that were made, and 3) show appreciation for God's provision. We know that no one can survive for very long on five kernels per day, but considering that 46 of 102 Pilgrims perished that first harsh winter of 1621, it's not hard to see how truly tough life would have been. Here's what we do know: Even after facing some of the most difficult times in their lives, the Pilgrims sought to offer thanks to God.

On the commencement of Thanksgiving in 1623, Governor William Bradford issued this proclamation:

Inasmuch as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, peas, beans, squashes, and garden vegetables, and has made the forests to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as he has protected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from pestilence and disease, has granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience. Now I, your magistrate, do proclaim that all ye Pilgrims, with your wives and ye little ones, do gather at ye meeting house, on ye hill, between the hours of 9 and 12 in the day time, on Thursday, November 29th, of the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty-three and the third year since ye Pilgrims landed on ye Pilgrim Rock, there to listen to ye pastor and render thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all His blessings.

Our nation's history is not perfect by any stretch of imagination. But one aspect of the national heritage that seems worth preserving is that great tradition of setting aside a special time to collectively acknowledge our dependence on our Creator and to ask Him, once again, to bless America (and not just materially, but with goodness and repentance too). While the headlines offer little encouragement as we cross into that "holiday period" between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I am reminded of the need to resist hedonistic materialism and to look for ways to be more generous and thankful.