Reformátusok Lapja, 1970 (70. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1970-11-01 / 11. szám

Hungarian Reformed Religious Paper

Founded in 1900

OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE CALVIN SYNOD — UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST

November 26, 1970 is Thanksgiving Day, one of America’s great national holidays. Thanksgiving Day had its origin in the harvest festival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth in 1621. The first presidential proclamation of the holiday was issued by President Washington in 1793 However, for decades it remained chiefly a New England festival. Then, in 1846, Mrs. Sarah Josepha Hale, author of the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” and editor of the nationally read magazine Godey’s Ladies’ Book, began her one-woman campaign to make the observance annual and national. She wrote editorials in her magazine and thousands of letters to successive presidents, congressmen and state governors. As a result of her efforts, by 1858 all but six states celebrated Thanksgiving Day on the last Thursday of November. The holiday became nationally established through President Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Day Proclamation of 1863. All subsequent presidents have followed Lincoln’s example in proclaiming this important holiday and it is now fixed by law.

Having reached the month of November again, through the grace of God, as Christians and as thankful citizens, we are called upon to celebrate another national Thanksgiving Day, and offer thanks to Almighty God for His bounteous blessings which He so graciously bestowed upon us as individuals, as a people and as a nation. A spirit of gratitude should animate every soul to give expression once again not only in words, but in some substantial way for God’s goodness to all of us.

If we take an account of our blessings, we can readily see that we owe our God thanks for our life; our precarious yet wonderful world; the age in which we live; a broader and deeper reverence for law, both moral and civil; a deeper spirit of faith, hope, love, and sympathy; for the willingness to help our fellowmen, both at home and abroad; for the ever-increasing spiritual and material wealth we enjoy; for country, home and loved ones — and a multitude of other blessings.

But praising the Lord by words is merely the first step in thanksgiving. God will recognize our feeling of gratitude for His bounteous gifts through our GOOD DEEDS. There are countless opportunities in life to do good unto others: Have you heard the cries of the suffering millions throughout the

world? Have you opened your heart to the call of your country, your church, to promote peace, goodwill and understanding? Have you noticed the needs of your neighbor or friend? Do you share, as a Christian and as an American, in making this world a better and more peaceful place in which to live and the church to be a more effective church to the glory of God? Each call for love and help is a Christian opportunity through which we can all prove our gratitude in deeds toward God and our fellowman.

Do you have health and strength . . . ? Do you have a country, a home? Do you have a church — faith in God as your Provider and a personal contact with Christ as your Saviour . . . ? Then be happy, be content, be thankful because you have everything! And you have every reason to pray with the poet, E. M. Johnson:

1.

Thank Thee, Lord, for daily work,

Home, school, and the kirk,

Friends, neighbors, favors shown;

That in a brother’s love have grown.

2.

Thank Thee, Lord, for daily bread,

And for good books I’ve read;

For the beauty everywhere,

And the music on the air.

3.

For strength from day to day,

For light to see my way;

For the seasons, yes, for all,

From lovely spring to tinted fall.

4.

Whether dark, drear, glad, or gay,

I thank Thee, anyway,

For rosey path, or path of stone,

I know I travel not alone.

5.

Whatever lot of life is mine,

I know is also Thine;

That where I am, Thou wilt be,

Therefore, I lift my praise to Thee.

Joseph Kecskemetliy

LET’S Q IVE THANKS