Valois United Church

Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Psalm 100 VU 824, refrain #2
Epistle Reading Philippians 4:4-9
Gospel Reading John 6:25-35

Today is a double-header: World-wide communion and Thanksgiving

An estimated 1.5 million people are living today after bouts with breast cancer. Every time I forget to feel grateful to be among them, I hear the voice of an eight-year-old named Christina, who had cancer of the nervous system. When asked what she wanted for her birthday, she thought long and hard and finally said, "I don't know. I have two sticker books and a Cabbage Patch doll. I have everything!" The kid is right.

Erma Bombeck, Redbook, October,1992.

The children have already named some of the things they are thankful for.
Before I continue,
take time
to begin to name, in your mind SPECIFIC things for which you are thankful today....

Begin your thanksgiving by naming
things and places
people
events
for which you are thankful...

Thanksgiving Day Celebration in Canada

The history of Thanksgiving in Canada goes back to an explorer, Martin Frobisher, who had been trying to find a northern passage to the Orient. He did not succeed but he did establish a settlement in Canada. In the year 1578, he held a formal ceremony, in what is now the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, to give thanks for surviving the long journey. This is considered the first Canadian Thanksgiving, and the first European-style Thanksgiving to have taken place in North America.
(U.S. = 45 years later)

April 5 was Thanksgiving day one year. It was the first Thanksgiving Day in Canada after Canadian Confederation in 1872 to celebrate the recovery of the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) from a serious illness.

Starting in 1879 Thanksgiving Day was observed every year but the date was proclaimed annually and changed year to year. The theme of the Thanksgiving holiday also changed year to year to reflect an important event to be thankful for. In the early years it was for an abundant harvest – society being a lot more agriculturally-based than it is now – and occasionally for a special anniversary.

Armistice Day and Thanksgiving were celebrated on the same day in November for a time after world war one, but were separated in 1931.

On January 31, 1957, the Canadian Parliament proclaimed:
“ A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed … to be observed on the 2nd Monday in October.[2] ”

Harvest festivals – of which our Thanksgiving is one – are celebrated around the world - wikipedia lists about 20, and that misses celebrations in other lands that I am aware of.

And our harvest festival has its root in ancient Jewish tradition of bringing the first fruits to the temple to be offered to God, and then to take time to celebrate, rejoicing in God’s generous care.

And to do that rejoicing not just with immediate friends, but with all the people around, including the foreigners in the land, those with different language and culture and traditions. It was a celebration to include everyone, as God had blessed everyone.

As we gather in thanksgiving, our thoughts need to go out to the “everyone” too – and in more than one way.

For one, Thanksgiving and giving naturally go together. When we really stop on this day and realize what we have, and consider how musch most or all of us have beyond what we need.... Thanksgiving and giving go together.
Giving to those around us - those like us, and those unlike us.

Giving to those around us - including the less fortunate,
through our food bank offerings presented by the children, for example.

And giving beyond, to the people of far-off lands though our M&S funds.

Thanksgiving and giving go together....

As we gather in thanksgiving, our thoughts need to go out to the “everyone” too – and in more than one way.
In thanksgiving, we recognize that as a human family we depend on the earth. Sure, we live a world where often the land is a distant thing, and our children or grandchildren often do not realize that the produce in the store came from the earth.
And when we stop and realize that we share that reality with the whole of the human family, our thoughts can go to that whole human family.

And as we allow our thoughts to drift around the globe, allow them to settle on troubled areas - countries in South America, Africa and Asia torn by war; places like Myanmar in turmoil.

And we find that Thanksgiving - when we realize what blessing we have - and prayer for others go together.

And we really do have to realize how fortunate we are......

Before I close,
take time
to name, in your mind, SPECIFIC things for which you are thankful today....

Begin your thanksgiving by naming
things and places
people
events
for which you are thankful...
...
Amen