Thanksgiving

Main Point: We should give thanks to God!

Key Verse: Give thanks to the Lord, because He is good. His faithful love continuesforever. - 1 Chronicles 16:34

Props: A few stones to illustrate a grave; A piece of Indian corn or a squash or gourdto illustrate the harvest

THANKSGIVING

Ask: What is your favorite Thanksgiving food?

Say: Today, we are going to talk about the first thanksgiving in our country’s history.Now their menu wasn’t exactly the same as ours. They probably had turkey.

And they probably had squash - maybe even pumpkins. But it was definitely notpumpkin pie. Recipes in those days called for big slices of pumpkin to be fried and theneaten.

There weren’t any sweet potatoes there because sweet potatoes only grew in the Southat that time. But I sure am glad we added that one to our normal feast.

They almost certainly did not have cranberries. Cranberries are very sour, and reallyonly taste good with sugar.

They did not sugar, so if they had tried to eat cranberries, their faces would have lookedsomething like this. Refer to the Power Point picture and make a sour face.

During their feast, about ninety of their Indian friends arrived. These Indians killed fivedeer to cook as well.

The Indians liked to make a stew with their deer that would have probably included…(Raccoons and beavers)

ThanksgivingPsalm 100

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SEPARATISTS

Say: Today, we’re going to look at where these people came from, why they were inAmerica, and why they had a feast. We normally call these people the Pilgrims. Butthat was never a name they used for themselves. They actually started in a small townin England called Scrooby. (Insert optional joke about animated mystery-solving talkingdog here)

In those days, there was only one kind of church in England. Everybody went tothe same kind of church. If you wanted to worship differently, you got in trouble. Therewas only one problem. The only church in England was not doing a very good job ofteaching the Bible and connecting people to God. They had a lot of old tradition andsome really big buildings, but there wasn’t much life inside the buildings.

But there was a group of people who really wanted to worship God. They wanted theirtime together to focus on the Bible. They wanted to sing. So they started meeting ina little house. Their services lasted for four hours, with extra time at the end for peopleto have input. This group of people called themselves “Separatists” because theywere separating from the main church in England.

The English government, however, did not like this one bit. They only wanted peopleto worship in one way. And so they persecuted the “Separatists.” They put them in jailand threatened them. But the most important thing for the Separatists was theirrelationship with God, so they decided they had to move to a different country. So theysailed to Holland, where there were many kinds of churches.

After a few years in Holland, they learned of a place called the New World. Theywanted to make a fresh start there. The Separatists had very little money, so theyentered an agreement with an English Company. The company paid for the trip, andthe travelers agreed to pay off the cost of their voyage over the next seven years. OnSeptember 16, 1620, they set sail for America. Ask: Who knows the name of the shipthey sailed on? The Mayflower Say: They spent three wet, drippy, cold months sailingacross the Atlantic.

When they finally arrived, winter was just beginning. And it was going to be a cold,difficult winter.

The first thing they did was build a central building where they could worship together.Then they started to build homes. But as they built, they started getting sick. 102Pilgrims arrived in the winter. But in December, 6 died. In January, 8 more died. Then,in February, 17 died. And in March, 13 died. Then 6 more died later that year. In theirfirst few months in their new home, half of their people died of fever and starvation.One of the men who was their said they called it the “starving time” because they hadso little.

They were also scared that the Indians might attack them. They hadn’t met the Indiansyet, but they had one battle with them and assumed they didn’t like them. Wheneversomeone died, they snuck out in the middle of the night to bury them, because theywere afraid to meet up with any Indians. Put a couple of stones in a pile to signify agrave.

Ask: How would you feel about your adventure to the New World if half of your peopledied in the first six months?

Say: Finally spring came. The Pilgrims met some Indians and made a treaty with them.

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These Indians turned out to be friends - they helped the settlers learn how to growfood. They taught them to put a fish in the ground with every corn seed so that itwould grow better. They taught them which clams and mussels were good to eat. Whenthe Pilgrims first arrived in America, they had eaten all the clams they could findbecause they were so hungry. But they didn’t eat the right ones, and it made themthrow up.

With the help of the Indians, the Separatists made a home and grew crops successfullyHold up Indian corn or gourd. Then, that fall, they took time to give thanks to God foreverything that He had given them. One man, whose wife had died that winter, wroteabout the feast. His language is kind of old fashioned, but listen to what he said, “Andalthough it not always be so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by thegoodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of ourplenty” (Winslow).

Ask: Does it seem a little strange that these people who had suffered so much stillthanked God?

Say: Let’s look at Psalm 100. The Psalms were songs that the people of Israel wouldsing to God - kind of like our worship songs. They included praise to God, andinstructions about how we should approach Him.

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.Worship the Lord with gladness;   come before Him with joyful songs.Know that the Lord is God.It is he who made us, and we are His;    we are His people, the sheep of his pasture. - Psalm 100:1-3 NIV

Enter His gates with thanksgiving   and His courts with praise;   give thanks to him and praise his name. - Psalm 100:4 NIV

Say: The Bible says that when we come to the Lord, we should be joyful. We shouldshout with gladness and sing joyful songs. We should enter His gates with thanksgiving.Why? The answer is in the verse. We belong to God. He made us. We are His people.But why is that good news? The answer is in the last line of the Psalm.

For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;   His faithfulness continues through all generations. - Psalm 100:5 NIV

No matter what happens to us on the earth, God is good. That means that He is alwaystaking care of us, working things toward the best for those who love Him. Sometimesreally sad stuff happens in our lives. But we still have reason to be grateful to God.He is good. And His love endures forever. He deserves to be thanked for those things.

Say This: Now, after the first year in the New World, the Pilgrims had a choice. Holdup a stone from the “grave” pile. On one hand, they could be really mad because theycame to the New World to worship God, and half of their people died. Just imagine thathalf of your family died. Would you have trouble believing that God is good? Maybe.

On the other hand, the Pilgrims could look at what they did have - a harvest, a newhome, and a place to worship freely.

Ask: What choice did they make? They chose to be thankful because they recognizedGod is good. Say: It’s not that they were happy that so many of their friends andfamily died. They simply chose to look at the things they did have and thank God forthem.

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Application: Sometimes we can get caught up thinking about all the stuff we don’thave. Or we think about the things we have and we think, “This isn’t good enough.”We choose to focus on the stones instead of the fruit. But that’s not what the Pilgrimsdid. And I think the Lord was really pleased with that.

The Pilgrims left an incredible legacy. They had a big influence on what our countryis today. Because of their sacrifices and hard work, we are able to worship God theway we believe He wants us to. The Pilgrims understood that it’s important to thankGod for what we do have instead of complaining about what we don’t. In America, westill gather in November to celebrate Thanksgiving, to join with friends and family, andto feast together. This Thanksgiving, where will your focus be?

Main Point: We should give thanks to God!

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