`Governor Bradford of Massachusetts made this first Thanksgiving Proclamation three years after the Pilgrims settled at Plymouth:
"Inasmuch as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, peas, beans, squashes, and garden vegetables, and has made the forests to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as He has protected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from pestilence and disease, has granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience.
Now I, your magistrate, do proclaim that all ye Pilgrims, with your wives and ye little ones, do gather at ye meeting house, on ye hill, between the hours of 9 and 12 in the daytime, on Thursday, November 29th, of the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty three and the third year since ye Pilgrims landed on ye Pilgrim Rock, there to listen to ye pastor and render thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all His blessings."
William Bradford
Ye Governor of Ye Colony
Happy Thanksgiving to each and every one of you. Alice and I thank the Lord for you all, around the corner and around the globe. In and through Christ we are all linked with a deep bond. I share the above declaration regarding the first Thanksgiving that was celebrated by the Pilgrims in this new world which we now call America the beautiful. Alice and I drove down to the Triple Cities the other day to do some shopping for Thanksgiving. The stores were crowded with families shopping for their Thanksgiving celebrations. Many were even buying their Christmas trees and wreaths, getting ready for their Christmas celebrations. Something magical and wonderful happens during this season, and somehow the Lord brings out the best in us. People become more cheerful, joyful, kindhearted, generous. We came across bell-ringers for the Salvation Army Christmas drive.
Alice went out yesterday to beat the rush at JoAnn Fabrics on Black Friday (they had a Black Friday Sale on Wednesday and Friday) so that she could mark off one of many places to be at 6 AM tomorrow morning, When our girls were young she spent many a long hour knitting and sewing for them, and now we have 7 grandchildren to decorate. It is always delightfully heartwarming to see how people travel by the millions to be with their families in this season and to celebrate with them.
The other day - on Monday - there was an accident on I-81 near our town. It involved a bus filled with high school students on their way to a business conference in New York City. The first responders from our town acted as good Samaritans to welcome these young people to our Civic Center, where they were given shelter and hospitality. Praise the Lord for the was He teaches us to be good Samaritans and good neighbors, even to strangers.
Alice and I have had standing plans to spend this Thanksgiving in Boston with Janice and Jeremy, Micah, Simeon, and Ada. Janice had even purchased father-daughter tickets to go to Handel's "Messiah" tomorrow in Boston. Nevertheless, on account of my current medical condition, we could not go, so we stayed in the Southern Tier. Alice made one of her best Thanksgiving meals here to share with my brother and sister, along with our nephews and nieces. I watched the iconic Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade this morning and some football this afternoon. Sunita, Andy, and their little ones, along with Laureen, spent their Thanksgiving with some friends from their church fellowship in Washington. Jess, Tom, and Lindy joined Tom's parents and grandparents for dinner, and we were blessed to have a time of Google Chat with them this morning.
Deuteronomy 8:7-10 says, "For the Lord your God is brining you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you."
I had a brief chat this afternoon with my nieces and nephews, who are in high school and college, inculcating within them that it is a high honor and privilege to live in the United States of America, where we have freedom to pursue our dreams and to honor the Lord and glorify His name. Even the daughter of an immigrant from India has become the Governor of South Carolina, and she soon will become the US Ambassador to the UN.
May the Lord bless our nation and heal our land. May He bring us back to Himself once again. May Christ propel us to enter the seasons of Advent and Christmas with grateful hearts.
With deep gratitude and thanksgiving,
Brown
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