By presidential decree, the fourth Thursday of November in the United States is declared and observed as a national holiday, Thanksgiving Day. It is a national holiday to give God thanks, and it recalls the pilgrims who crossed the Atlantic Ocean in search of a land where they could freely practice their religion without government interference.
They settled their colony in 1621 in what is presently known as Massachusetts. The traditional story reports that having learned from the Native Americans how to farm the land, how to hunt and how to survive, the pilgrims dedicated a day to thank God for His blessings. They expressed their gratitude in prayers of thanks to God and in welcome to their tables – a welcome that they extended to the natives who helped them in the New Land. They shared a meal with a people who were different from themselves. The origins of this national holiday affirm that it is a day to give thanks to God in prayer and to thank others who help and assist us in any way.
“The Thankful Poor” is a painting, a masterpiece in my opinion, by Henry Tanner, an African-American artist whose well-known oil painting, “The Annunciation,” hangs in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. “The Thankful Poor” depicts a scene in which an older man is seated at a table with a young boy. Both heads are bowed in prayer before they eat a humble meal.
That scene is charged with the spiritual, with gratitude, with faith and with reverence. This magnificent painting celebrates an older generation passing on to a younger generation the spiritual, gratitude, faith and reverence. It reminds the viewer that gratitude must be expressed to God.
This Thanksgiving Day when you gather with family and friends, may your table be charged with the spiritual, gratitude, faith and reverence. Henry Tanner was a very religious man, the son of a Methodist preacher. In “The Thankful Poor,” he captures an ordinary moment, a humble meal, that is charged with God. When you gather at your festive meal on Thanksgiving Day, may those at your table be charged with God.
We have so much to be thankful for, and naming our gratitude is a fine way to offer grace before the meal. Each one at the table names what he or she is thankful for. Let’s not forget that this national holiday is traced to a religious people who gathered to thank God for the blessings they received in the New Land and who included their neighbors in their gratitude.
Let us make a concerted effort that God is present at our Thanksgiving dinner. Be sure the younger generations at your table are aware of the importance of expressing gratitude to God in prayer, not only on Thanksgiving Day, but at every meal. May they know that they belong to a thankful family who are thankful for many blessings received from God and through others.
Since this is a national holiday, let prayers be raised to God in our homes and in our churches for our country, its leaders and its people. May the United States of America be a beacon of liberty and justice for all. May we be kept at peace, and may those who serve our nation in the Armed Forces be kept safe from all harm. God Bless America!
Happy Thanksgiving Day.
Most Reverend Dennis J. Sullivan, D.D.
Bishop of Camden