Giving Thanks and Asking for Healing
Song of Simeon and Song of Mary Nov. 26, 2014
Like any holiday, the history of
Thanksgiving has many different versions.
Historians cannot agree on where the first Thanksgiving occurred, or
even when it occurred. However, what I find
most interesting about the history of the holiday was when and how it was
nationalized. There are references to
various thanksgivings in the 1600’s but they are far different from what we
celebrate today and they were not annual celebrations. However, on Nov. 1st of 1782, the
Continental Congress issued a Thanksgiving Proclamation in which they declared
the last Thursday of November to be a “solemn day of Thanksgiving to God, for
all his mercies: and they do further recommend to all ranks to testify to their
gratitude to God for his goodness…”[1] If you know your American history, you will
realize that this declaration comes right at the end of the American
Revolution. The Americans felt that they
had much to be thankful for, but they were also very aware of the challenges
that faced them.
While this proclamation was presented, Thanksgiving
did not become a national holiday until 1863.
Abraham Lincoln declared it to be such in the midst of the civil war. In Lincoln’s speech, he asked the nation to
set aside a day to thank God for the blessings he has given us, and also ask
God to heal our nation.[2] Thanksgiving was revisited once again in the
midst of WWII by Franklin Roosevelt.
I find it remarkable that the national
holiday of Thanksgiving was created and maintained in times of national
crisis. It was in those times that our
national leaders realized that we needed to thank God for what we had been
given. Even after the nation had nearly
been torn in two, Lincoln called on the American people to find God’s blessings
in the rubble. Today, our nation is in
the middle of a great deal of strife outside our borders, within our borders
and even on our borders. The economy while improving has still left
many without jobs and with dwindled savings-of any at all. Some might find it very difficult to be
thankful this year. However, it would
seem that this holiday was meant for times just like these. It was meant for times when people were
having trouble seeing the blessings in life, having trouble finding God in the
midst of job losses, racial turmoil, injustice and war.
If you look at both The Song of Mary
and the Song of Simeon you will see a similar theme, thanksgiving in the midst
of fear and grief. Mary isn’t just
thanking God for what he has done for her, the blessing that he has given her,
she is thanking God for the changes that Jesus will bring for her people- her
people who are essentially enslaved by a foreign government. For her Jesus is an answer to a prayer, a
prayer for an oppressed people…people who are beaten, battered, lonely, angry,
poor, hungry…a prayer for all of us.
The second reading is only a chapter
later in the Gospel of Luke, but a lot has happened in that chapter. Jesus has been born. Shepherd and angels greeted him. It was a time of joy and hope. Soon after he was born, like all Jewish boys
at the time, Jesus was presented at the temple.
There were two people there who immediately recognized him as more than
just an infant in the arms of a peasant.
They saw this child for who he really was. Simeon began his song with great joy. He could die now. His life was complete because he had seen
this child, this prophesy fulfilled. But
after he said all of this, he turned to Mary and said, “This child is destined
for the falling and rising of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be
opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed- and a sword will
pierce your own soul too.” Hey now, where did that come
from? All is well. Prophesy is fulfilled and by the way a sword
will pierce you. Can you imagine how
Mary felt? It has always seemed like such
a bizarre way to end something that we call a song- the Song of Simeon. But he was right. It would not be an easy road for Mary. It would be a road that would end with a
cross, nails, and even a sword. While it
was Jesus who was pierced, we all can imagine Mary feeling that. It wasn’t just a momentary sharp pain. It was
a pain that lingered because she had lost her son.
Grief and joy often come
together. It’s messy and I would much
prefer some plain old joy, but that is not what God has promised us. From the beginning God has promised to love
us and care for us, but he never said it would be easy. He never said it would be painless. He did ask for our thanks and our songs of
praise. So that is why we gather here
tonight. We thank God even when we do
not feel like thanking God. We thank God
in a divided nation and a divided world.
We thank God when we feel divided because we know that God can bring us
wholeness. Abraham Lincoln asked the
nation to set aside this day to ask for God to heal us. We still need that, don’t we? While the need is still here, we can be
thankful that we have a God who has the power to heal if we can only find the
strength to ask.
[1]
Thanksgiving Proclamation from the
Continental Congress on Nov. 1, 1782. www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=Minisite_Generic&content_type_id=875&display_order=8&mini_id=1083
[2]President
Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, Oct. 3, 1863.
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/source/sb2/sb2w.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment