If you do not live in the US, these two celebrations may not mean much to you. However, I mention them because this year, on Thursday – November 28, 2013 -, they both fall on the same day. The last time this happened was in 1888 and, according to some calculations, it won’t happen again before 77,798 years! There is even a special word that has been created for the occasion: Thanksgivukkah! But before going any further, let us look at the origin/meaning of these feasts.
The first Thanksgiving was celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first harvest in the New World in 1621 and lasted three days. It was a narrative about an arduous journey to escape religious persecution for freedom in a new land, the establishment of a democratic charter and the sense of Divine providence that carried them through their plight. On Oct. 3, 1789, George Washington proclaimed the first official and national Thanksgiving Day; but it is only since 1863, during the Civil War, that Thanksgiving became a federal and public holiday in the U.S. when Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of "Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens."
Hanukkah aka the Festival of Lights and Feast of Dedication is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple (the Second Temple) in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt against the Greeks (2nd century BCE). King Antiochus IV had previously ordered the service in the temple to stop. It thus symbolises the spiritual resistance of Judaism to heathen assimilation. As the Maccabees rededicated the desecrated Temple, a small quantity of oil, enough to last for only one day, miraculously burned for eight, which is why Jews light the candles of a unique candelabrum, the nine-branched Menorah or Hanukiah, for eight nights. The first of these nights falls this year this Thursday, on November 28.
Having all this in mind, let’s use this opportunity to remind ourselves of a few things:
1) Christ Jesus acquired us a victory by His blood in order to call us out of darkness into His marvellous Light. As the two feasts both celebrate religious freedom we must equally resist assimilation by popular culture which ultimate goal is to impede us from practicing our faith. We live in the world, but, as Jesus said, we are not from the world and must constantly be transformed by the renewal of our mind, that we may discern the perfect will of God. As the Message reads: Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you (Rom 12:2).
2) We are the light of the world and the lamp of our candlestick, our inner light, should not shine on Sundays only or for eight continuous days: it should shine till death. We do need to realise that when our light does not shine, a whole part of the world – our sphere of influence – is thus covered with darkness. We no longer only belong to ourselves, we are responsible for others.
3) In spite of its vicissitudes, life is the most precious treasure that we’ll ever have down here. Let’s give thanks to GOD for life, for HIM, for our loved ones and acquaintances etc. one just needs to listen to the news (plane crashes, car accidents, murders, earthquakes, floods, kidnappings, wars, fire, people living in slums and from garbage, famine etc.) in order to acknowledge that we have more than enough reasons to be grateful. As long as GOD extends your lease on earth, give HIM thanks, enjoy it and honour HIM. It may also be a good time to read one of my former posting, “Dayenu: You are more than enough”.
Have a great week in CHRIST JESUS, The LORD.
For those who are interested, here is a copy of George Washington’s proclamation of thanksgiving:
By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation.
Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor-- and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.
Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be-- That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks--for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation--for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war--for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed--for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted--for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.
and also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions-- to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually--to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed--to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord--To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us--and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.
Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.
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