A Note from Hixon Frank
Hey Church!
I love Christmas! The birth of our Savior … angels proclaiming the Good News for ALL people … Nativity scenes and Christmas lights and Christmas music and Christmas trees and Christmas movies and of course Christmas gifts. I love all of it!
But before we rush headlong into the bright lights and carols… I’d like to say a word in defense of Thanksgiving. Sure, it only came into its current form in 1863. (Though a strong case can be made that it has been celebrated since 1612) It isn’t really in the same league as Christmas and Easter as to their real meaning. It doesn’t have the “marketing team” that Christmas has. And in its current form many people have reduced it down to family, food, and football. But Thanksgiving, at its core, is a profoundly moving opportunity to live in Biblical awareness of how deeply blessed we really are! Even when going through very difficult seasons, and many of you are, we are still called to express our thanks!
President Lincoln did something that is as compelling as it is puzzling. He declared a national day of “Thanksgiving and Praise” in the Middle of America’s deadliest war.
By the President of the United States of America.
A Proclamation.
October 3, 1863
The year that is drawing toward its close (1863) 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.
In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to invite and provoke the aggressions of foreign States, peace has been preserved with all nations; order has been maintained; the laws have been respected and obeyed; and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theater of military conflict; while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.
Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements; and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore.
Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.
No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things.
They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.
It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people.
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 next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.
And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend 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 restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.
By the President: Abraham Lincoln
William H. Seward, Secretary of State
President Lincoln was not a theologian or pastor and showed little inclination to be one. He was however, “deeply shaped by Scripture,” and quoted from it more than any other president in US history.
It turns out President Lincoln’s “Thanksgiving and Praise” Proclamation is saturated with biblical themes, and although it does not quote Scripture directly, it echoes many passages.
Bear in mind, that President Lincoln knew intimately the devastation and tragedy surrounding him and yet, called the country to be thankful. What?
When Lincoln speaks of “the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies” and the “ever-watchful providence of Almighty God,” he reflects the biblical conviction that every blessing comes from the Lord. We see this throughout Scripture but most clearly in James 1:17, which declares, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights,” and with passages like Acts 14:17, where Paul says that God “did not leave himself without a witness, since he did what is good by giving you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons.” Lincoln’s gratitude for abundant harvests and national provision mirrors Psalm 65:9–13, where God is praised for watering the earth, enriching it, and crowning the year with His goodness.
Lincoln also acknowledges God’s judgment and mercy, saying that while God has dealt with the nation “in anger for our sins,” He has nevertheless “remembered mercy.” This clearly echoes Habakkuk 3:2 “In your wrath remember mercy!” and Psalm 103:8–10, which reminds us that the Lord is “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love.” When Lincoln attributes the nation’s blessings not to “human counsel” or “mortal hand,” he echoes Proverbs 19:21 “Many plans are in a person’s heart, but the Lord’s decree will prevail,” and Psalm 127:1, which teaches that human labor is vain if the Lord is not the one building and watching over the nation.
Lincoln’s call for the nation to humble itself and repent of its “perverseness and disobedience” draws deeply from the biblical pattern of national repentance. His appeal parallels 2 Chronicles 7:14, where God says, “If my people who bear my name humble themselves, pray and seek my face… then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.” It also reflects the heart of Psalm 51:17, which says that “a broken spirit” and “a contrite heart” are sacrifices God does not despise.
When Lincoln urges Americans to commend “widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers” to God’s care, his compassion mirrors the character of God described in Psalm 68:5 “God in his holy dwelling is a father of the fatherless and a champion of widows.” Likewise, James 1:27 defines pure religion as caring for “orphans and widows in their distress,” matching Lincoln’s invitation to remember the suffering caused by the Civil War.
Finally, Lincoln’s overarching call for a national day of “Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens” is thoroughly biblical. It reflects Psalm 95:2 “Let’s enter his presence with thanksgiving; let’s shout triumphantly to him in song,” and Psalm 100:4, which urges God’s people to “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.” It also aligns with Paul’s instruction in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 “Give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
The results of this proclamation? According to newspapers in both the North and the South warmly welcomed the declaration! Diaries and journals from ordinary citizens declared things like,
“It is good to be called to remember God’s mercies in such a time.”
“The President’s proclamation has brought comfort to my grieving heart.”
“For the first time in months I feel hope.”
You see, Praying with Thanksgiving is the “cheat code” to PEACE. When we are thankful, we are reminded that God is bigger!
- God is bigger than the tension in your home…
- God is bigger than your loneliness…
- God is bigger than your prodigal child…
- God is bigger than the conflict at work …
- God is bigger than your money problems…
- God is bigger than your bitterness or anger…
God wired us for peace when our hearts are bent towards prayer and thankfulness. It lifts the broken spirit and fills us with hope!
What are you walking through that demands that you declare a day of “Thanksgiving and Praise” – not just the 4th Thursday in November, but today?
Philippians 4:6-7
Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with THANKSGIVING, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
I love you and am thankful for you!
Hixon