Musical Prelude and Service.

Deuteronomy 8:7–18 & Luke 17:11–19
Historically we set aside one day a year to explicitly express our gratitude. Thanksgiving in Canada is the second Monday in October. That date was established by parliament in 1957. Prior to that in 1879, Thanksgiving was officially declared a National Holiday to be marked on November 6. The decision to move the holiday to October came after two World Wars and establishment of November 11 as Remembrance Day. There was a desire to create some distance between the two significant occasions.
We sometimes make use of the popular mythology of Thanksgiving we hear from the United States, around Thanksgiving. We have certainly adopted some of the trappings that have come from our southern neighbours, in particular our dinner menus. There is some evidence those dinner choices moved north with United Empire Loyalists.
But Canada does have its own history of marking a time of thanksgiving. The indigenous people of this land have a long history of taking time to express gratitude for surviving a long and difficult winter and celebrating a good and plentiful harvest with a time of community feasting and thanksgiving. These traditions go back to long before Europeans arrived on the shores of this land.
In 1578, explorer Martin Frobisher and his crew took time to have a special dinner and celebrate Communion in what is now called Frobisher Bay in what we call Nunavut. This may have been on the shore or perhaps on board their ship anchored just offshore. The explorers dined on salt beef, biscuits, and mushy peas and gave thanks through Communion for their safe arrival in what they called a new found land.
About 48 years later, Samuel de Champlain implemented a series of feasts to ensure a proper and healthy diet for his settlers in what was becoming New France. They were feasts of thanksgiving between these settlers and the local Mi’kmaq. It seems the Mi’kmaq introduced the French to cranberries which are a powerful source of vitamin C that was necessary to keeping these newcomers alive.
These feasts were much more than an annual event. Champlain instituted what is remembered in English as the Order of Good Cheer, as I said to ensure a healthy diet and to prevent another scurvy outbreak like the one that decimated the settlement of Isle de St. Croix a few years earlier.
So, all of this is to emphasize that we have our own history and tradition around taking time to give thanks. It is a tradition that is rooted in coming together as a community to express gratitude and also ensure the continued survival of all. It is a time to bring neighbours together and to share; recognizing that we rely upon one another to make it through the next time of trial that is before us.
The scripture we read this morning from Deuteronomy implores the Israelites to remember where their good fortune comes from. That taking time to express gratitude is also a time to remember that we didn’t get to where we are on our own. That our survival and our good fortune are due to the grace of God and are not the result of our own resources and hard work; as much as they may have been part of our story. It all goes back to God.
The message in Deuteronomy is to look around you and recognize that you got through your time in the wilderness, or your parents and grandparents got through their time in the wilderness because they didn’t journey alone. They relied upon the strength and the compassion and the support of the people around them. And all of you relied upon the presence of God who walked with them, in front of them and behind them.
In the gospel of Luke, we read of 10 people being healed and going forward celebrating that fact. One returns to thank Jesus. I think it is important to remember that Jesus does not wait to be thanked before providing healing. And he does not rescind the healing when nine fail to personally express their gratitude.
But Jesus certainly appreciates the thanks of the one who does return.
What does gratitude look like? What are we thankful for? How do we enumerate or name the blessings we have received?
I am stuck by the communal nature of our history of thanksgiving. I am not for a minute suggesting we should alter our family traditions. They are important. They are special. I am certainly looking forward to gathering with my own family, both today and next week with more of our family when we can gather together.
But I do find myself wondering about the nature of a Thanksgiving, both historically and scripturally that notes that we endure as a community because we journey together, survive together, thrive together because of the work of far more people than those we name as family. Because of the generosity, the compassion, and the strength of neighbours, of friends and even the strangers we encounter or don’t even know exist.
When we remember and offer thanks for the many ways God blesses us; the way God provides for us, strengthens us and inspires us. When we take time to recognize the way God moves with us in the people who are part of our journey through life, we should be moved to a place of gratitude. There is research that indicates genuine gratitude and practises that focus on grateful attitudes move us to greater empathy and compassion.
So it is my hope, that as we gather with family; as we enjoy the bounty that is put before us and offer our thanks for family, for our good fortune, we take time to consider all those who contributed to how we reached this place. We remember that God was and is with us, strengthening us, inspiring us and providing for us on our journey. And we consider those who just may be sitting alone for any number of reasons. My prayer is that all of you and those who cannot be here are able to easily name all the ways they are grateful for how they reached wherever you are today on your journey.
Amen
Rev. Warner Bloomfield

Music provided with permission through licensing with CCLI License number
2701258 and One License # A-731789