Thanksgiving

There are only two eye- witness accounts of the the first Thanksgiving feast in Plymouth, 1621. Both are brief, and both are, appropriately, grateful. Edward Winslow ends his account this wish:
And although it be not always so plentiful, as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God we are so far from want, that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.


Like the Pilgrims, my small company of sojourners has also just passed a first year in a new land. As I head downstairs to my large, air-conditioned kitchen in order to prepare our frozen turkey for dinner today I am aware of how little I have in common with our New England forbears. . . except, perhaps, the conclusion of a first year in a distant land, and the gratitude in my heart for the way God has led us and sustained us through the last twelve months. By the goodness of God we are so far from want, that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Now thank we all our God,

with heart and hands and voices,

who wondrous things has done,

in whom this world rejoices;

who from our mothers' arms has blessed us on our way

with countless gifts of love,

and still is ours today.

O may this bounteous God

through all our life be near us,

with ever joyful hearts

and blessed peace to cheer us;

and keep us still in grace,

and guide us when perplexed;

and free us from all ills,

in this world and the next.

All praise and thanks to God

the Father now be given;

the Son, and him who reigns

with them in highest heaven;

the one eternal God,

whom earth and heaven adore;

for thus it was, is now,

and shall be evermore.