Thanksgiving is our Christian heritage

Regardless how culturally diversified America prides itself on being, we cannot and must not repudiate our heritage. In fact, we should look to our heritage for direction and mooring in these dangerous days.

Thanksgiving has long been associated with the Pilgrims and Plymouth Rock. And indeed that’s the way it should be. The holiday we observe now has its roots in a first Thanksgiving Feast held by the Pilgrims and Indians. The feast was a way of celebrating the fact that the Pilgrims had survived that first winter of 1621 although half of the Mayflower’s manifest had died. It was the lot of the four remaining married women to prepare the feast of 1621.

Between 1621 and 2005 there’s been a major shift in what Thanksgiving was all about in the first place. A little googling will uncover the clear and evident reality that our forefathers were men of faith and of the Christian faith in particular. Before they left the Mayflower ship and touched land, they all signed a covenant, obviously prepared on the model of a church covenant. It read, “In the name of God. Amen...Having undertaken, for the glorie of God, and the advancements of the Christian faith and honour of our king & country, a voyage to plant the first colony...”

How clear did our forefathers have to make it? This United States of America was born as a Christian nation to bring glory to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Founding documents are mightily important to keep and honor and use as a guide. The Mayflower Compact leaves no doubt that we got our start as a Christian adventure.

As I remember American history being taught in my high school some 40 years ago, even then I don’t believe it was made very clear that the United States had Christ and the glory of God as its motivations. Yes, we were taught the Pilgrims established Plymouth Colony as well as many of the other colonies for religious freedom, but it was not pressed upon our tender minds that it was a distinctively Christian enterprise for the glory of God — even back then when the Bible was still read in every schoolhouse and The Lord’s Prayer repeated in thousands of classrooms.

Would it be possible to recover our roots as a body politic? Would be it possible to reclaim convictions that once caught the attention of the Almighty so much so that he poured out his blessings on us, protecting us from annihilation, especially during the Civil War?

To reclaim our Christian rootage would not be a slammed door in the face of other religions that have sought refuge on American soil, but it would clarify our history and help frame some decisions today. Certain Islam countries take no embarrassment in the impact their founding faith has on the affairs of state and man.

So, let’s get this straight: Thanksgiving is about our giving thanks to God who has revealed himself as Jesus Christ of Nazareth. We thank him because he has been so good to us and has poured out blessings untold on an undeserving country (in many ways).

Now, what do you think Christmas is really about?