
Pastor Ben Fisler
Many times Thanksgiving Day is simply a time of eating tons of wonderful food, watching football, and spending time with family. Not that there is anything inherently wrong with any of these pastimes, but we truly need to focus on the reason for this holiday. In 1610 a group of believers in the Jamestown colony were suffering beyond belief due to the hostile weather condition. The group of settlers that had come across the ocean had been narrowed down from 409 to only 60 survivors. The group had prayed earnestly for the Lord to provide necessary provisions for them. In response to their prayers, a boat filled with necessities for daily living arrived. Many look to 1621 as the beginning of our Thanksgiving tradition, but 1610 was truly a time for thanksgiving. Today we can be so thankful that these people took a stand for their Christian heritage. They truly provided a strong foundation for this country.
Moving forward some 399 years later, we now have a matter to address in our own community–a threat to that Christian heritage. That matter is the removal of the nativity from our town square. We truly need to rally around and make a statement that the reason we celebrate many holidays in this country is due to what Jesus Christ has done for us. It’s been exciting to see how the community is coming together and expressing faith in Jesus Christ as the reason for keeping the nativity. Whether you like it or not our forefathers have placed the Bible and Jesus Christ as the foundation for our nation. We cannot allow one man to destroy what we view as the reason for commemorating the various holidays that occur around the calendar year. But the exciting part about this is that whether people continue to keep the Bible out of schools, remove prayer from schools, force us to take down our nativity scenes, and no longer post the Ten Commandments in public buildings, no one can take away our personal salvation through Jesus Christ. And that is truly a reason to be thankful during this season of the year.