I confess that what I remember about Thanksgiving as a child was going to Grandma Szlavik’s home for a huge Thanksgiving dinner. There was always a turkey–a rare treat in those days. 

Did we go to Thanksgiving services at church? I’m not sure. I only have memory of going to the service when I joined the Carol Choir when I was around eleven. I still remember what we sang for Thanksgiving, Healey Willan’s anthem “Sing to the Lord of Harvest.” I was delighted that this appeared in our hymnal as #694.

This hymn is a happy merging of a poem by an Anglican Priest, John Monsel, to a tune by German lawyer and composer, Johann Steuerlein, which he wrote for a song about how nice it is in May when everything turns green.

This is part of the last verse in which the theme shifts from the Lord of harvest to the Savior who laid his life down for us.

Your hearts lay down before Him
when at His feet you fall,
and with your lives adore Him
who gave His life for all.

An odd theme for Thanksgiving? No, it is the primary theme of Christianity. Christ came for our sake, gave his life for our sake, rose from the dead for our sake. What do we offer in return? Not a token of the harvest as in the old days, nor an hour on Sunday, nor a few words of prayer on Thanksgiving, but our entire lives.

May we always be thankful people.

Read 1 Thessalonians 5:18 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne