In ancient, tribal Europe, there were times of thanksgiving offered the tribal god or gods much as indigenous populations in other lands did. Particularly at multiple times of harvest or hunting throughout the year, peoples on all the inhabited continents would give thanks through prayer, praise (often both in song and dance), and feasting. As tribes morphed into nations if not empires, days of thanksgiving were often held in a similar fashion. Indeed, many of the foods we associate with our Thanksgiving feasts in the US could be found at medieval European feasts of yore, but most every culture has celebratory foods to share. Yet most certainly as others have suggested, any annual day of thanksgiving as we know it here in the United States would not have been part of Martin Luther’s life.
Among the earliest of biblical, Jewish traditions, stemming from Mosaic law and still practiced in Jesus’ time and through today, the Israelites celebrate Sukkot, also known as the Festival of Booths or Tabernacles. It is held each year with the fall harvest and traditionally lasts seven days. (This year, it was observed on October 9th through October 16th if using our modern calendar.) It is called Sukkot because households set up a simple, tent-like structure called a sukkah. In them, they recall the Exodus from Egypt. God provided for the Israelites and led them as they escaped just as God provides and leads them know. The structures remind Jewish people of the dwellings used by the tribes of Israel during their forty years of wandering in the wilderness. Throughout the week, meals are eaten in the structures and prayers offered. During some of the prayers, lulav (a closed frond of the date palm tree), hadass (a branch of the myrtle tree), and aravah (the leafy branch of the myrtle tree), the etrog (a yellow citrus fruit) might be held or waved. (Some suggest that Jesus’ being welcomed with palms as he entered Jerusalem for his sacrifice and death reflected this cultural practice, although the time of this was the festival of the Passover.)
Although that the Festival of Booths did not continue in the Christian faith, the spirit of such thanksgiving certainly has. Consider the advice of 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” In our Lutheran confessions, The Book of Concord, we read the words of Martin Luther echoing this sentiment: “Hence, since everything we possess, and everything in heaven and on earth besides, is daily given and sustained by God, it inevitably follows that we are in duty bound to love, praise, and thank Him without ceasing, and, in short, to devote all these things to his service.” We can only give God our praise, thanks, and honor.
Although our nation has one National Day of Thanksgiving each November, even in times of trial, we have cause to give thanks. God provides for us and loves us. With Martin Luther, we might pray, “God grant that we follow [Jesus’] Word to praise and thank our dear Lord for his precious blood, which he so freely offered for us. And may God keep us from the terrible vice of ingratitude and the forgetfulness of His blessings. Amen.” Everyday and every hour is the right time to seek to give God our thanksgiving.
Originally published in the November 2022 newsletter of Christ Lutheran Church, Fredericksburg, Virginia.
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations for this post are from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) translation.
© 2022 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author.
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