Thanksgiving, 2015
26/11/15 05:37
Over the years I have heard a lot of Thanksgiving sermons. Thanksgiving is one of the holidays where churches find it a bit easier to get along with each other. Community services are common throughout the United States and they are good occasions for different congregations to remind ourselves that we have far more in common than the relatively few differences that divide us. The theme of thanksgiving to God reaches not only across denominations of Christians, but across the lines of different faiths as well. Jews and Buddhists and Hindus and Muslims and practitioners of many other religions can all agree that giving thanks to our Creator is a good practice. I celebrate our abilities to join together and share.
I do have to admit, however, that the messages delivered at community thanksgiving services often are pretty generic and somewhat empty of new ideas.
You know the major themes:
Thanksgiving should be a lifestyle, not just one day.
Expressing gratitude will make you happier and healthier.
The purpose of every human life is to say thanks.
Our heritage is filled with thankful people.
Even in our most difficult moments, there is much for which to be thankful.
Given that most community services are a bit larger than the average congregation’s services, with a bigger choir and a bit more pomp and ceremony, the average preacher is bound to go on and on a bit. It isn’t at all uncommon for the sermon to cover all of the above themes with a significant amount of repetition.
Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy community services. I attend as often as possible. I plan holiday travel around the services. I’ve peached at my share of them. I make sure that our congregation extends invitations to host on a regular basis.
But I don’t anticipate innovative preaching. That will have to wait for another venue and time.
If you want Thanksgiving creativity, read the “How to cook a turkey” contest section of our local newspaper. Elementary students color pictures of turkeys and write instructions on how to cook them. They write things like this: “first go to the store go to the chicken ally. Find the turkey. then go home. take all the bad stuff out.” Here’s another example: “Step 1: Buy a turkey. Step 2: Put it in the oven. Step 3: 20 minutes. Sept 4: 50 degrees. Step 5: Let juoge eat it.”
Elementary children seem to be more creative and individualized than thanksgiving preachers.
Knowing that I can’t provide reading that is more creative or entertaining than you’ll find in the newspaper, I thought I might just tell a bit of the story of the first thanksgiving. It all started about six years before the Pilgrims from England landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Thomas Hunt, another Englishman kidnapped a man named Tisquantum from his village, Patuxet, which was part of a group of villages known as the Wampanoag confederation. He took Tisquantum and around two dozen other kidnapped Wampanoag to Spain, where he tried to sell them into slavery. This brought quite a bit of negative attention to Hunt. People in the church protested and demanded the release of the slaves. Catholic friars helped Tisquantum to get to England and he finally found a means to go back to his home in America. The English had trouble pronouncing his name an often referred to him as “Squanto.”
During his absence, an epidemic swept across New England. The source and type of the disease is not fully known, but some say it started with a shipwreck of French sailors on Cape Cod. It may have been smallpox. It may have been a form of viral hepatitis.
Tisquantum was the only one of the original two dozen slaves to make it back to his home continent. Then, when he finally made his way back to his village, he discovered he was its only survivor.
That’s the scene into which the Pilgrims bumbled when the Mayflower arrived. Not only was their first encounter with the indigenous people of North America eased by the fact that the native they met could already speak English, he happened to have an entire empty village available for rent. OK they didn’t really rent the village, but they occupied an established village. The land was cleared. They called it divine providence. The graveyard of Tisquantum’s people became Plymouth Colony.
Meanwhile, other nearby villages, also badly hit with 75% or higher losses, were so badly stricken that their rivals, the Narragansett, who hadn’t suffered from the disease, became dominant in the region. The few surviving Wampanoag were pretty much devastated. They didn’t like the Narragansett. They didn’t trust the English. And whey were suspicious of Tisquantum. Massasoit, one of the survivors, had placed Tisquantum under house arrest before the Pilgrims showed up.
Once the Pilgrims showed up, in December 1620, they promptly started to starve to death. 45 of the 102 immigrants died that first winter. In May, they finally made their first formal contact with the natives. Massasoit brought Tisquantum to serve as translator. They were apprehensive about these settlers, but it was clear that they needed help. They weren’t going to make it without a dose of common sense and a few survival skills. Furthermore, Massasoit needed protection from the Narragansett. A rather uneasy alliance was forged. Tisquantum moved in with the Pilgrims. The house arrest deal with Massasoit wasn’t working out all that well for him in the first place. He taught them a few basic serval skills. They made it through a second winter with fewer fatalities. A feast was held to celebrate. Massasoit showed up with some ninety men, most of them with weapons. The Pilgrim militia responded by marching around and firing their guns in the air in a manner intended to convey menace. Gratified, both sides sat down, ate a lot of food and complained about the Narragansett.
It isn’t exactly the scene we picture. The Pilgrims weren’t dressed in formal black attire. They didn’t have buckles on their shoes. There were probably fowl of some kind served at the meal, though probably not turkeys. There was likely venison and other game meat. None of the Wampanoag wore the regalia of plains tribes.
Still, it was the beginning of a noble tradition. We’ll celebrate it again today.
If you’d like a good read about the adventures of the Pilgrims, I recommend “The Wordy Shipmates” by Sarah Vowell or “1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus” by Charles Mann.
Happy Thanksgiving!
I do have to admit, however, that the messages delivered at community thanksgiving services often are pretty generic and somewhat empty of new ideas.
You know the major themes:
Thanksgiving should be a lifestyle, not just one day.
Expressing gratitude will make you happier and healthier.
The purpose of every human life is to say thanks.
Our heritage is filled with thankful people.
Even in our most difficult moments, there is much for which to be thankful.
Given that most community services are a bit larger than the average congregation’s services, with a bigger choir and a bit more pomp and ceremony, the average preacher is bound to go on and on a bit. It isn’t at all uncommon for the sermon to cover all of the above themes with a significant amount of repetition.
Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy community services. I attend as often as possible. I plan holiday travel around the services. I’ve peached at my share of them. I make sure that our congregation extends invitations to host on a regular basis.
But I don’t anticipate innovative preaching. That will have to wait for another venue and time.
If you want Thanksgiving creativity, read the “How to cook a turkey” contest section of our local newspaper. Elementary students color pictures of turkeys and write instructions on how to cook them. They write things like this: “first go to the store go to the chicken ally. Find the turkey. then go home. take all the bad stuff out.” Here’s another example: “Step 1: Buy a turkey. Step 2: Put it in the oven. Step 3: 20 minutes. Sept 4: 50 degrees. Step 5: Let juoge eat it.”
Elementary children seem to be more creative and individualized than thanksgiving preachers.
Knowing that I can’t provide reading that is more creative or entertaining than you’ll find in the newspaper, I thought I might just tell a bit of the story of the first thanksgiving. It all started about six years before the Pilgrims from England landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Thomas Hunt, another Englishman kidnapped a man named Tisquantum from his village, Patuxet, which was part of a group of villages known as the Wampanoag confederation. He took Tisquantum and around two dozen other kidnapped Wampanoag to Spain, where he tried to sell them into slavery. This brought quite a bit of negative attention to Hunt. People in the church protested and demanded the release of the slaves. Catholic friars helped Tisquantum to get to England and he finally found a means to go back to his home in America. The English had trouble pronouncing his name an often referred to him as “Squanto.”
During his absence, an epidemic swept across New England. The source and type of the disease is not fully known, but some say it started with a shipwreck of French sailors on Cape Cod. It may have been smallpox. It may have been a form of viral hepatitis.
Tisquantum was the only one of the original two dozen slaves to make it back to his home continent. Then, when he finally made his way back to his village, he discovered he was its only survivor.
That’s the scene into which the Pilgrims bumbled when the Mayflower arrived. Not only was their first encounter with the indigenous people of North America eased by the fact that the native they met could already speak English, he happened to have an entire empty village available for rent. OK they didn’t really rent the village, but they occupied an established village. The land was cleared. They called it divine providence. The graveyard of Tisquantum’s people became Plymouth Colony.
Meanwhile, other nearby villages, also badly hit with 75% or higher losses, were so badly stricken that their rivals, the Narragansett, who hadn’t suffered from the disease, became dominant in the region. The few surviving Wampanoag were pretty much devastated. They didn’t like the Narragansett. They didn’t trust the English. And whey were suspicious of Tisquantum. Massasoit, one of the survivors, had placed Tisquantum under house arrest before the Pilgrims showed up.
Once the Pilgrims showed up, in December 1620, they promptly started to starve to death. 45 of the 102 immigrants died that first winter. In May, they finally made their first formal contact with the natives. Massasoit brought Tisquantum to serve as translator. They were apprehensive about these settlers, but it was clear that they needed help. They weren’t going to make it without a dose of common sense and a few survival skills. Furthermore, Massasoit needed protection from the Narragansett. A rather uneasy alliance was forged. Tisquantum moved in with the Pilgrims. The house arrest deal with Massasoit wasn’t working out all that well for him in the first place. He taught them a few basic serval skills. They made it through a second winter with fewer fatalities. A feast was held to celebrate. Massasoit showed up with some ninety men, most of them with weapons. The Pilgrim militia responded by marching around and firing their guns in the air in a manner intended to convey menace. Gratified, both sides sat down, ate a lot of food and complained about the Narragansett.
It isn’t exactly the scene we picture. The Pilgrims weren’t dressed in formal black attire. They didn’t have buckles on their shoes. There were probably fowl of some kind served at the meal, though probably not turkeys. There was likely venison and other game meat. None of the Wampanoag wore the regalia of plains tribes.
Still, it was the beginning of a noble tradition. We’ll celebrate it again today.
If you’d like a good read about the adventures of the Pilgrims, I recommend “The Wordy Shipmates” by Sarah Vowell or “1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus” by Charles Mann.
Happy Thanksgiving!