Tomorrow, the United States of America will once again celebrate the National day of Thanksgiving.   It is a uniquely American holiday to commemorate the initial Thanksgiving holiday celebrated by the Pilgrims who on November 20, 1620, landed on what was to become Provincetown, Massachusetts, United States (it was a month later that they moved to the other side of Cape Cod Bay and settled in a place English explorers had named Plymouth).  These Pilgrims were celebrating their one-year survival in a time where they had lost nearly one-half of the original 102 men, women and children who had left England to find a new life and service to God in North America.  Forty-seven people had died that first year, 13 of the initial 18 wives were dead and only 3 families were left intact.

Unfortunately for many today, Thanksgiving will have little to do with remembering the trials and tribulations of that small band of settlers in a harsh and unforgiving land.  Most will see it as a day to eat turkey, be with family and friends and watch football on television.  I’ve heard so many this season simply laud it as a day to be with family.  And I suppose that in itself is a way to commemorate the Pilgrim families.  But it is a far cry from the true reason why we should separate this day from all others in special recognition.

Since the proclamation of President Abraham Lincoln in the autumn of 1863, every United States President since has taken on the responsibility of declaring a National Day of Thanksgiving each year on the fourth Thursday of November.  In his 1983 proclamation, President Ronald Reagan said: “Since the Pilgrims observed the initial Thanksgiving holiday in 1621, this occasion has served as a singular expression of the transcending spiritual values that played an instrumental part in the founding of our country.” It is a faithful tradition to proclaim a day for prayer, so that, as President Lincoln said in 1863, it will serve to remind the “insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.” We clearly need to be reminded of why we celebrate Thanksgiving.

President Reagan said the National Day of Thanksgiving is an “occasion for Americans to express gratitude to their God and their country…and their gratitude for the many blessings upon this land and its people.” But our gratitude must come from the recognition that the establishment of the United States of America came about not by human effort. As President Lincoln said: “No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God.”

U.S. History books relate Thanksgiving with the short-sighted statement: “In November 1621 the Pilgrims celebrated their first year in the New World by setting aside a period of several days for recreation and thanksgiving.” (Rise of the American Nation: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc.)  But so much more needs to be said.  So much more needs to be remembered.

The first remembrance must be the very land they settled upon.  After having spent months crossing the Atlantic Ocean on the ship Mayflower, land was sighted on November 19, 1620.  While their Charter authorized the Pilgrims to settle in Northern Virginia (England already had a settlement at Jamestown since 1605), the Pilgrims discovered that they had drifted far to the north and had actually reached Cape Cod.  Realizing they had no rights to settle in “no man’s land”, the Ship’s Master, Christopher Jones decided to sail southward to find ‘someplace about Hudson’s river.’

But this decision was contrary to God’s plan, for after a half a day of sailing, they sailed into treacherous shoals and roaring breakers that threatened to tear the Mayflower apart.  The Pilgrims realized that the ship was in grave danger and agreed they should move out to deeper water.  It was only then that they found Cape Cod Bay with a good harbor.  They rowed ashore and discovered land with a soil rich and fertile for planting.  There was excellent drainage and open fields already cleared all around.  There were four spring-fed creeks close to the settlement with the sweetest tasting water they had ever drunk.  On the hill, a good twenty acres of ground had already been cleared and was ready to plant, although there were signs it had been lying fallow for several years.

What the Pilgrims eventually learned was that they had settled upon land that had once belonged to the territory of the Patuxent, a large, hostile tribe of Indians who had viscously murdered every white man who had landed on their shores.  But in 1616, four years before the Pilgrims landed, an unknown deadly plague mysteriously broke out among the Patuxent.  The disease irradicated the tribe, killing every man, woman, and child.  So terrible was the devastation, that the neighboring Indian tribes refused to step foot on the Patuxent land, fearing (and rightly sensing) that some great supernatural spirit had judged and destroyed the Patuxent tribe.  The nearest Indians were the Wampanoags, fifty miles to the southwest.  The rest of the eastern seaboard was claimed land by either Indian or European.

Thus, the Pilgrims had crossed the Atlantic Ocean and landed in 1620 on the one and only spot on the entire eastern seacoast of the New World that literally belonged to no one!  And what’s more, it had been cleared ready for planting.  And the fields had been lying fallow for four years allowing all of the nutrients to return to the soil, making it the richest growing soil in America.  Just coincidence or a reason to remember?  “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19)

Just something to think about as you walk down the rabbit trail.