Chotard Doll

Thanksgiving blessings!

We think of the first Thanksgiving as the celebration of successful harvest, shared by the pilgrims and the Native Americans.

But over 4,000 years ago, earlier ancestors of ours celebrated a Thanksgiving, as the Israelites settled into the land God gave them. They recognized that the Lord had led them out of slavery into freedom, and offered the first fruits of the land as a presentation to the Lord, saying, “So now I bring the first fruit of the ground that you, O Lord, have given me.” (Deuteronomy 26:10)

We have also been led out of slavery into freedom by God, and today we celebrate the many blessings of our lives, symbolized by bounty of the Thanksgiving feast.

It is so easy to go through life taking for granted all our blessings: the air we breathe, the abundance of food, the people in our lives, the comforts of life. One day is hardly sufficient!

Nevertheless this is a day which encourages us to stop and take stock, and to give thanks for many things, including the greatest blessing of all, as we read it in our lectionary today, when Jesus says to his disciples: “…it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” (John 6: 32-3)

May you also feast in your hearts today on the true bread of heaven, and cultivate gratitude as an ongoing blessing in your life.

Faithfully,

—Chotard