The Standard November 30, 2024
This year, Thanksgiving fell on the latest possible date for a fourth Thursday. It can land on any day between November 22nd and the 28th. The first Thanksgiving was celebrated under George Washington in 1789, but Abraham Lincoln was the one who declared it a day of “thanksgiving and praise” in 1863 and made it a national holiday to fall on the last Thursday in November. At the time of the Great Depression, the majority of people waited until after Thanksgiving to start their Christmas shopping. Some business leaders were worried that the 20 shopping days would not be enough to help their revenues, so Franklin D. Roosevelt issued a proclamation that Thanksgiving 1939 would be one week earlier, moving it to November 23.
Ninety-nine-year-old Rosemary Turnage told me last week that she remembered the controversy surrounding this decision. Thousands of people wrote letters of complaint to the White House. While some larger retailers were pleased, some smaller businesses predicted they would lose business to their bigger competitors. In 1941 Congress approved making Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday of November. Of course, few could have predicted the online Black Friday sales that eventually would start weeks or even months earlier.
Today, we have fewer than four weeks before Christmas. Rather than becoming stressed out and overwhelmed, perhaps this could be a season of weeding out some of the less important or less meaningful aspects of our Christmas preparation. Now might be the time to relax some of our high expectations or perfectionistic tendencies. Surely, our friends and families would appreciate good food and good company minus a tense undercurrent much more than they would a perfectly appointed table or home with prickly vibes emanating from the host or hostess. God’s priorities of love, joy, peace, and hope could be on full display in our gatherings.
The Bible Gateway verse of the day is quite appropriate. “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.” Colossians 3:15 The Apostle Paul begins the epistle’s third chapter by reminding the Colossians to focus on what should be truly important to them and to us this Advent and every day. “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” Colossians 3:1-2
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