WE GATHER TOGETHER

The first Thanksgiving was held in 1621, in Plymouth, Massachusetts, when 50 Pilgrims gathered together with 90 members of the Wampanoag tribe for a three-day harvest festival. According to lore, they played ball games, sang and danced. Turkey was not on the menu, nor was pumpkin pie. Instead the feast featured venison, cod, bass and flint (a variety of corn). Only five women were present (and I hope not just for clean-up duty.)

Although the arriving immigrants thought the Native Americans were heathens, the Wampanoags actually welcomed the Pilgrims and helped them survive as they struggled to acclimate to the new land. Together they dug vegetable gardens, cleared thick forests and built shelters for protection against the harsh Massachusetts winters.

I have no clue whether that first Thanksgiving was a love fest. What’s important (and memorable) is that the two disparate groups actually gathered together and enjoyed each others’ company on a chilly November day. They did this despite different cultures and clothing, a language barrier and opposing religious beliefs. How and why did that camaraderie get lost in the 400-plus years since?

On October 3, 1863, during the midst of the horrendous war that pitted North versus South, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation declaring the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving. The occasion, Lincoln thought, would be “a peaceful interlude amid the Civil War.” We need more peaceful interludes today.

With all the rancor, rage and name-calling that’s seething through our country — in the halls of Congress, on college campuses, in a line at my local CVS where I watched a woman berate a pharmacist simply because her prescription wasn’t ready —  I wish Lincoln’s hopeful words were broadcast anew and often.

Several weeks ago during Sunday services at the South Congregational Church in Kennebunkport, the congregation responded to the Call to Worship with these words:

We thank you God for families and friends. 

We thank you for the warmth of kitchen, quilts and good neighbors.

We thank you, God, for newborn kittens and faithful dogs, for pine trees and sunlight and crisp clean air.

We thank you, God, for the sound of laughter and the touch of love, for brand new mornings and for dreams held close.

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I humbly suggest that these are words to think about and live by as we gather together this Thursday to GIVE THANKS.