Happy Thanksgiving dear brothers and sisters in Christ!
Essentially, Thanksgiving is a Christian holiday! We are expressing our gratitude to God who gives life and grows the vegetation. We acknowledge that even with the greatest of effort by the farmer, the blessing of the harvest comes from the Creator! He created this beautiful and wonderful world, placed man to cultivate it, and sends rain, sun, and blessing upon the labors in order to sustain the life of man! He continues to care for us every day of our lives!
Unfortunately, many people today are worshipping the creation rather than the Creator! This is what idolatry is all about. Over the course of history, people always tried to replace God with someone or something else. Idolatry is placing the work of human hands in the place of God. Ungratefulness to God leads to idolatry. The best method to fight idolatry is being grateful to God! Only God is worthy of praise, honor, and worship!
May we, during this season of Thanksgiving praise God with David, and be filled with the appreciation of the beauty of God’s creation, and worship the creator of heaven and earth, Who created everything visible and invisible. In the 65th Psalm, David emphasizes God’s care for humanity. He says: “You water its furrows abundantly, You settle its ridges, You soften it with showers, You bless its growth. You have crowned the year with Your bounty, and Your paths drip with fatness. The pastures of the wilderness drip, and the hills gird themselves with rejoicing. The meadows are clothed with flocks and the valleys are covered with grain; they shout for joy, yes, they sing”.
Thanksgiving Day is a day during which we thank God, not only for His spiritual, but also for His physical blessings! May every time that we eat bread, be a time of internal reflection and thanksgiving to our God! This is the foundation of this celebration. When the first pilgrims had food on their tables, the first thing that they did was that they thanked God! May we give Him thanks as well!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Ivan Mileyev, President of the PCSBA churches of ECB.