Thanksgiving 101
Mike Stone
Hebrews 13:15
Last week, one of the kids asked, ‘‘What is Thanksgiving?’’ I replied ‘‘Thanksgiving is that day where you drive for hours to spend time with family members you only see once a year, only to be reminded...once a year is WAY TOO OFTEN!’’
But all jokes aside, Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday. And more than that, it is a Divine command for the people of God. Listen to how the anonymous writer to the Hebrews expresses the mandate, ‘‘Through Him, then, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name.’’
We don’t know who the writer of Hebrews was. But it’s obvious that he knew who Jesus was. And he gives us a short, simple, and succinct reminder about some Thanksgiving basics.
Before we turn to the Biblical text, let’s just answer the question, ‘‘How did we get this day called Thanksgiving?’’
In 1863, Lincoln called for 2 days of Thanksgiving. One was in August to express thanks for the Union victory at Gettysburg. The other was a general day of Thanksgiving for the last Thursday of November. By the 1890’s nearly every state celebrated Thanksgiving on the last Thursday of the month.
In 1939, the country was still crawling out of the Great Depression. Retailers were concerned that with Thanksgiving coming on the last Thursday of the month, which was November 30th, there would only be about 20 shopping days until Christmas. Thanksgiving was not only a holiday in its own right, it was also the official start of the Christmas shopping season.
FDR called for the holiday to be moved to the 4th Thursday. Republican-controlled states protested the change. So, with only 48 states at the time, 23 states celebrated on the 4th Thursday and 23 states celebrated on the last Thursday. 2 states celebrated both! In November 1941, just a few weeks before Pearl Harbor, FDR signed legislation officially making Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday of November.
But in le ...
Mike Stone
Hebrews 13:15
Last week, one of the kids asked, ‘‘What is Thanksgiving?’’ I replied ‘‘Thanksgiving is that day where you drive for hours to spend time with family members you only see once a year, only to be reminded...once a year is WAY TOO OFTEN!’’
But all jokes aside, Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday. And more than that, it is a Divine command for the people of God. Listen to how the anonymous writer to the Hebrews expresses the mandate, ‘‘Through Him, then, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name.’’
We don’t know who the writer of Hebrews was. But it’s obvious that he knew who Jesus was. And he gives us a short, simple, and succinct reminder about some Thanksgiving basics.
Before we turn to the Biblical text, let’s just answer the question, ‘‘How did we get this day called Thanksgiving?’’
In 1863, Lincoln called for 2 days of Thanksgiving. One was in August to express thanks for the Union victory at Gettysburg. The other was a general day of Thanksgiving for the last Thursday of November. By the 1890’s nearly every state celebrated Thanksgiving on the last Thursday of the month.
In 1939, the country was still crawling out of the Great Depression. Retailers were concerned that with Thanksgiving coming on the last Thursday of the month, which was November 30th, there would only be about 20 shopping days until Christmas. Thanksgiving was not only a holiday in its own right, it was also the official start of the Christmas shopping season.
FDR called for the holiday to be moved to the 4th Thursday. Republican-controlled states protested the change. So, with only 48 states at the time, 23 states celebrated on the 4th Thursday and 23 states celebrated on the last Thursday. 2 states celebrated both! In November 1941, just a few weeks before Pearl Harbor, FDR signed legislation officially making Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday of November.
But in le ...
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