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The Right Reverend John Bryson Chane, D.D. A THANKSGIVING ADDRESS TO THE NATION On October 3, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln, wearied by a bloody Civil War that threatened to destroy the Union and the very future of the American Dream, proclaimed a day of National Thanksgiving. He did so with a somewhat heavy heart, reminding the people of America that this great land, even as it was engaged in a war with itself, had much to be thankful for. And he believed that appropriate expressions of thankfulness for the beauty and great abundance of the newly emerging nation must be directed to the Almighty. Said he, “The year that is drawing to its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart, which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.” “I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dweleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due Him for such singular deliverance and blessings, they also with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, command to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the divine purposes to full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.” The thought of a day set aside and celebrated by the nation as a whole and named “Thanksgiving” is still a powerful force even during these times of religious plurality and extreme secularism. And from its outset Thanksgiving Day was set aside by both President Lincoln and the Congress of The United States so that all Americans could gather together in their own way to give thanks and pray, thanking God for the many blessings bestowed upon this great nation and each of us. As a native New Englander, Thanksgiving for me has always taken on a unique, historic perspective. It was a time for our own “regional” recollection of Thanksgiving–the very first Thanksgiving celebrated in 1621 to commemorate the bountiful harvest that had come to the settlers of the Plymouth colony after the very severe winter of 1620. And adding to the significance of that first Thanksgiving in Massachusetts was the day’s sharing with the pilgrim settlers neighbors, the Wampanoaag Indians, who came to the celebration bringing their own bounty to the feast, which some have said was the very first pot luck supper ever celebrated on American shores. Sarah Hale, a noted author of President Lincoln’s time, encouraged the president to declare a national day of thanksgiving. And so the beleaguered president saw such an established day of rest, reflection, prayer and feasting as a way of uniting a war-torn nation. And so it did! Lincoln accomplished what President George Washington had attempted to do in 1789 but failed. Given the politics of his time, Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation was greeted with significant opposition by some of the colonies opposed to designating any day set aside to commemorate the hardships of a few pilgrims–“those people.” Given that politics are often quite dicey in this great land of ours, it logically followed that President Franklin D. Roosevelt would amend Lincoln’s declaration. Thanksgiving, said Roosevelt, would be celebrated nationally on the third thursday of November. And such was the case in the years 1939, 1940 and 1941 in an effort by the president to stimulate and lengthen the Christmas shopping season so as to strengthen the nation’s economy. But in 1941, The Congress of The United States, in a legislative reversal, decreed that Thanksgiving would always fall on the fourth thursday of November, where it remains to this day. And to the politicians of this great land I say, let’s not mess anymore with a “good thing!” Behind me is a very famous statue of Abraham Lincoln, located in the northwest corner of Washington National Cathedral. And more often than not, whenever I pass by this statue, I reach out and touch the outstretched hand and fingers of this great president. And I am not alone in doing this! If you come to visit this cathedral, the sixth largest cathedral in the world, you will see that Lincoln’s bronzed fingers are worn and brightly polished by millions of other fingers that have passed by this majestic likeness and reached out in a symbolic way to touch greatness. And what was so special about this president that still quickens the hearts of generations who never knew him and a president who continues to rest in our consciousness as a president defined by the word “greatness”? Was he great because he was handsome? Most would say he wasn’t. Was he great because he was a brilliant writer? Many would say no. Was he great because he was a passionate orator? There were some who would disagree. Was he great because he was a brilliant military strategist? His general’s could not agree on that point. Was he great because he freed the slaves and personally saved the Union? Some speaking from the context of broad history would say that was not all that defined his political complexity. Well, then, why was he great? Each of us will bring our own opinions to bear on these questions that arise about Abraham Lincoln’s greatness, but let me answer from my perspective on this Thanksgiving Day. Lincoln was a great man and president because in the midst of severe trouble and crisis in the life of this new democracy, he took the time to stop and reflect that his was a life of servanthood, as he understood it to be from his reading of the Bible. He was a president who redefined the word tolerance. He wrote, “our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation we began by declaring that all men are created equal. When the Know Nothings get control, it will read all men are created equal except Negroes, foreigners and Catholics. When it comes to this, I shall prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty, where despotism can be taken pure and without the base alloy of hypocrisy.” And because of his humility as a servant and his understanding of tolerance, he asked a war-torn nation to stop and remember that in the best and worst of times we are all children of God, and that all that we are and all that we have comes from a most “High God.” And from that simple theological understanding he gave birth to what is truly the only distinct American holiday that all Americans really share, a national day of thanksgiving. I have had the great opportunity as bishop of Washington and dean of Washington National Cathedral to travel throughout this great land and around the globe. And when I return from a foreign shore I am always thankful to be an American and to be back home. For with all of our troubles, our disagreements, our social and political struggles, we are truly a great nation and one of the few nations on earth that can say that our America is a country whose greatness is defined by our diversity. For all of us, and I mean all of us, can trace our ancestral roots to another shore, to another time and to another place and country. Even the first Americans are believed to have come to this magnificent land by way of a land bridge from Asia. My family came to America from Ireland and Canada and they came for a better life and the hope of better tomorrows. And they found them here in America! Where did your family tree begin? How did your ancestors come to find America? And along with the truth that we are a nation of immigrants, and some who were forced immigrants as slaves, so we have had to learn to live together in harmony. And that has not been all that easy. But as Americans we work hard at it. And we continue to strive to be tolerant and to be respectful of each other’s cultural and religious heritage and differences. And in the great American experiment of democracy, an experiment so successfully and yet painfully lived out by President Abraham Lincoln, we have had to learn tolerance, as did he. Thanksgiving is a time to step back from the challenges of our daily lives, and from the painfulness of a too often broken world, and our own nation, emerging out of the passions, jubilations, disappointments and disagreements of the most recently concluded national elections, and be silent ,if only for a moment, and give thanks, as President Lincoln did so long ago for the many blessings bestowed upon this country by the Creator’s hand. For that was the greatness of Abraham Lincoln, a man who knew his limitations and gave thanks every day for the honor bestowed upon him to serve his country, to serve his fellow man, and ultimately to serve his God. Happy Thanksgiving and may God’s blessing be upon each of you, from all of us here in the nation’s capital and from the Washington National Cathedral. |