Thursday, November 22, 2018
Thankful Together
Thanksgiving can be such a wonderful time of year in New England.
Having just enjoyed a colorful fall and looking forward to a festive Christmas,
Thanksgiving can still have the flavor or relaxing and spending time with
family and friends. We just need to be intentional about preserving such a
special time. Thankfully, retailers have not yet hijacked the holiday as
thoroughly as other holidays and many traditions still tend to focus on
positive things like valuing family, enjoying friends and letting God know how
thankful we are for all the good things He has provided.
The Thanksgiving tradition in America is a long and rich one,
and there are many stories about its origin.
Many of us on the East Coast may become nostalgic when we are reminded that
the first Thanksgiving celebrations originated in our neck of the woods.
According to The New England Historical Society, the first Thanksgiving may
have taken place in Maine:
“New
England’s first Thanksgiving, at least the one celebrated by European
colonists, wasn't in Plymouth, Mass. The American Indians had held harvest
celebrations of their own long before the Europeans ever arrived. And when they
did arrive, they held the first Thanksgiving in 1607 in Popham, Maine.
The Popham
Colony – a year-long effort to
establish a British colony in Phippsburg, Maine at the mouth of the Kennebec
River – began in the summer of 1607 and ended a year later in 1608. For one harsh winter a group of English
settlers tried to stick it out at a small fortification they constructed.
During
that winter the group suffered a fire at its storehouse. Its president, George
Popham, died, and so did several others in the group. The colony also struggled
because its leadership did not establish strong enough relations with the local
Native Americans, who might have helped the settlers as they did in Plymouth.
Nevertheless, there is a record of a 1607 feast -- the first real
Thanksgiving -- with the local Indians.”
Sprinkled throughout that account is something more important
than establishing who was first to celebrate Thanksgiving in America. That more
important thing is the reminder that life is difficult, and we would all be
wise to help one another figure out how to survive and thrive rather than argue
or strive with one another over differences. The above article suggested that
early settlers in Popham may have survived had they been more open to the help
of people who were from a different mindset and culture.
Those of us who are believers have been given clear direction on
this matter. St. Paul wrote a letter to his protégé giving him these
instructions: “I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to
help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them.” (1 Timothy 2:1
NLT)
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