Giving Thanks in Tough Times
Posted November 26, 2008

With the stock market down, economic woes rampant, and daily news headlines giving little hope for imminent relief, some of us may be wondering just what we have for which to be thankful this Thanksgiving season. Yet, we are not the first generation of Americans to face economic hardship, and just as those before us recognized reasons for thanksgiving, so, too, can we.

In 1929, for example, just days after the stock market crash and days into what would become the Great Depression, President Herbert Hoover issued his Thanksgiving Proclamation, which stated in part:

At this season of the year, when the harvest had been gathered in, the thoughts of our forefathers turned toward God with thanksgiving for the blessings of plenty and provision against the needs of winter. They came by custom to look to the Chief Magistrate to set apart a day of prayer and praise whereon their thanks as a united people might be given with one voice in unison. God has greatly blessed us as a nation in the year now drawing to a close…. We should accept these blessings with resolution to devote them to service of Almighty God.

Ten years later, as our nation had been ravaged by depression and stood on the brink of world war, President Franklin D. Roosevelt noted in his 1939 Thanksgiving Proclamation, “We have faced the specters of business depression, of unemployment, and of widespread agricultural distress….” And recalling the Pilgrims’ act of “paus[ing] in their work and g[iving] thanks to God for the preservation of their community and for the abundant yield of the soil,” Roosevelt proclaimed “Let us, on the day set aside for this purpose, give thanks to the Ruler of the Universe for the strength which He has vouchsafed us to carry on in our daily labors and for the hope that lives within us of the coming of a day when peace and the productive activities of peace shall reign on every continent.”

Even in 1863 during the throes of the Civil War, President Lincoln found signs of blessing amidst the destruction and urged Americans “to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.” Furthermore, Lincoln “recommend[ed]… that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings,” Americans also approach Him “with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience….”

Indeed, even the first thanksgiving celebration itself occurred only following great hardship, as the previous winter the Pilgrims – who had then just recently landed at Plymouth Rock – lost almost half their number to death. Yet, aided immeasurably by Samoset and Squanto, the next year the Pilgrims saw a plentiful harvest, and this led future governor Edward Winslow to say, “God be praised, we had a good increase of corn”; “by the goodness of God, we are far from want.”

Not only did the Pilgrims enjoy a thanksgiving meal, but they set aside three days to feast and give thanks to God for His blessing.

In 2008, there is no doubt that many of us are facing economic hardships – from lost investments to lost jobs and even to lost homes, the difficulties are real. Yet, amid these, blessings still exist – the blessings of faith, freedom, and family.

In his 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation, President George Washington noted “it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.”

Indeed, as beneficiaries of so many of His blessings today, we still share in this duty. So this Thanksgiving Day, may we set aside time not merely to feast on turkey with all the trimmings, but also to acknowledge Him, obey His will, give thanks for His benefits, and request His favor and protection for our land.

Happy Thanksgiving from your NJFPC.

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