The concept of an official national day of thanks first appeared during the bloody carnage of The Civil War. In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln issued the first proclamation marking the last Thursday in November as a day of thanksgiving. Its purpose was to promote national unity during a fratricidal war.
Some days it feels like we are sitting on the precipice of such a time again.
We could sure use some national unity today.
Of course the value in giving thanks as a way to bring people together is nothing new.
The word thanksgiving was born from the Greek word Eucharistia, (Ef-charistia) which means “to give thanks.”
You might also recognize it as the origin of the word Eucharist used to describe the body and blood of Christ transformed from bread and wine during the Mass.
The word demonstrates thanksgiving for the act of consecration, and in the presence of God in the elements.
Thanks for the act of giving that leads us all to join together for renewal, life and salvation.
We give thanks before eating together. We give thanks when our children return to us safely; happy and healthy.
One does not have to be a believer to recognize the spiritual dimension in the act of Thanksgiving.
As hard as this may be to believe, Thanksgiving has nothing to do with being thankful for family or friends. You may feel like you have no friends, and perhaps you want to keep your relatives as far from you as possible.
It is more than being thankful for material blessings, food and fortune.
As the Eucharist models, it is the joining together of all of us in the shared unity of life.
Life itself is the blessing for which we give thanks. Not your life, or the kind of life you live or have–but existence itself.
That is what we all have in common.
I give thanks because I am human, and I am part of the great life of humanity.
Thanksgiving is not about us, or our own families at all. It is an act of togetherness as a people.
It calls us all together to give thanks for our shared life together, as difficult as that sometimes may be.
There is an old saying that we are all saved together, but that when we fall, we fall alone. I have found that to be true.
We are a people joined by a common heritage, if not culture, a common idea, if not language, a common place, if not belief.
America, at its best is more than just a place, or an idea. It is a spirit of liberty, equality, democracy and of a people united in that spirit.
We at The Concho Observer hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving, and that as you gather you will reflect on the spirit of the holiday as a call for unity.
