Thanksgiving Greetings 2021

Dear Friends,

In 1789, President George Washington issued one of the first presidential proclamations for a national “day of thanks.” Such days of recognition and celebration were fairly common throughout the early states, but President Washington issued this announcement in order to highlight the newly established U.S. Constitution. In his proclamation, he focused on the many blessings Americans had to be thankful for in light of their recently won freedom from British rule and the formation of their new constitutional government. He reflected on how God had brought their young nation through many hardships to achieve its official beginning, and even at that early stage of the country, encouraged his fellow countrymen to recognize the gift they had in the American ideals of liberty and peace. He wrote that he recommended this national day of thanksgiving so that,

“…we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks – for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation – for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war – for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed – for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted – for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us…”

More than 200 years after this proclamation, though our national circumstances are now quite different, I’m struck by how many of President Washington’s words still ring true today, especially as we celebrate Thanksgiving. Then, Americans were figuring out how to carry on after a costly and tiring war, how to govern themselves, and how to live together peaceably. Today, many of us are exhausted from a pandemic and wondering how to recover from the losses wrought by COVID or economic hardship. And though we have now been the United States of America for a long time, we are still working out how to best govern ourselves and live together. Divisions and tensions may even feel insurmountable right now.

To read entire Thanksgiving letter, click here.