By Todd Paetznick, November 23, 2023.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Today, most of us will enjoy a day away from work by overeating and watching football with our family and friends as we celebrate Thanksgiving.  It is worthwhile to take a few minutes to revisit the world of the Pilgrims who celebrated the first Thanksgiving and why they traveled to the New World.  The Pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving in 1621, a feast where they thanked God for his provision and their first harvest in the New World.  Our modern celebration of Thanksgiving tends to leave God out of the reason for celebrating; there is barely any mention of God, even when people give thanks or talk with each other about what they are thankful for.  

The Thanksgiving backstory involves the reasons the Pilgrims came to the New World in the first place.  As I reflect on the religious persecutions they faced in their old world, I wonder how bad things would have to get before I would feel forced to leave the familiarity of where I live and travel to the unknown, as they did.

In the early 1600s, a group of people living in England believed the Church of England and the Catholic church had perverted biblical teaching and became overly powerful.  The group was heavily influenced by the protestant reformation led by Martin Luther and other Christian reformers, including John Calvin, during the previous century.  In England under King James the First, religious beliefs and ceremonies not in keeping with the official teachings of the Church of England were made illegal and forbidden.  The protestants, believing the Bible as their sole source of religious authority, resisted the control of the King and the Church of England and were branded as “Separatists” for their desire to separate from the Church. They were persecuted and imprisoned, and some were executed for their failure to participate in required church rituals.  

Holland was where the English Separatists found relief from persecution and the freedom to worship God as they believed.  However, while the Dutch were tolerant of the Separatist religious beliefs and practices, their tolerance also extended to other people’s behavior in their community.  Behavior the Separatists considered morally objectionable.  The permissive lifestyles that surrounded them became a source of temptation for some of the Separatist’s young people.  Rather than allowing them to become conformed to the world, in 1620, they left Holland for the New World.  They eventually settled in the village of Pawtuxet, which the Wampanoag Indians had abandoned.  The Pilgrims renamed the village New Plymouth in modern Massachusetts.  

The violent religious persecution that took place in England and other parts of Europe during the 1500s-1600s is not something we are experiencing in the United States today.  However, the resistance to Christian beliefs and practices is increasing among people whose lifestyles oppose traditional Christianity.  Our modern world is closer to what the Separatists experienced in Holland.  Within the past few years, people holding biblical worldviews in the U.S. have lost their jobs and businesses and Christ-followers have become acutely aware of the potential threats to their lives and livelihood posed by outsiders to their faith.   

In the book of Revelation, seven messages are directed to churches in Asia, one of them being the church in the city of Smyrna, located in modern Turkey (Not Smyrna, Georgia).  The Christians in Smyrna lived under Roman rule. They submitted to the Emperor’s civil authority but, as Christians, refused to worship the emperor or the other gods important to the rest of the city’s people.  For this reason, the Smyrna Christians were persecuted; some were killed, some lost their jobs, they had nearly everything taken from them, and most lived in poverty.  Yet, Jesus commends the church’s people in Smyrna and promises them the crown of life when they live faithfully, even to the point of death (Revelation 2:10).  

We can no longer escape anywhere to avoid opposition to a biblical worldview.  Too often, people claiming to be Christians will instead abandon their faith when they face difficulties or persecution.  We can be sad about this but should not be surprised; it is “human nature” to want to avoid difficulties.  The apostle Paul taught that Christians should thank God in every circumstance.  Being able to thank God for the difficulties that come our way and the persecutions we may face is the mark of a genuine Christ-follower.  “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus”  (1 Thessalonians  5:18 NASB20).

As we celebrate Thanksgiving in 2023, let’s thank God for all the blessings he brings into our lives.  And, as Christians, let’s also thank God for the difficult things we experience and acknowledge that God has in mind what is best for us and His Kingdom, even when we cannot see it.