Biblical Thanksgiving and the American National Holiday
תּוֹדָה tôḏâ is the Hebrew word for a sacrificial confession of thanksgiving that subordinates individual initiative to that of God’s mighty deeds:
Praise is actually expressed in the tôḏâ (Neh. 12:27; Ps. 26:7; 42:5[4]; 69:31[30]; 95:2; 100:1, 4; 147:7; Isa. 51:3; Jer. 30:19; Jon. 2:10[9]). It is a joyful song in which exultation over God’s mercy makes itself heard (Ps. 42:5[4]); it is among the messages of rejoicing that will be heard concerning the “new salvation,” the renewed favor of God. It can have the sense of:
(1) praise or thanksgiving, offering of praise or thanksgiving, the choir (that sings the hymn of praise); (2) confession.
A vow of praise concludes individual [and communal] laments (Pss. 7:17; 28:7; 35:18; 42:6, 12[5, 11]; 43:4f.; 52:11[9]; 54:8[6]; 57:10; 71:22; 86:12; 109:30; 119:7)
--Mayer, G., Bergman, J., & von Soden, W. (1986). ידה. G. J. Botterweck & H. Ringgren (Eds.), D. E. Green (Trans.), Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament (Revised Edition, Vol. 5, p. 428-32). Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
Connecting these two senses is the Thanksgiving Psalms’ sacrifice of praise, the sung confession of God’s goodness and power to renew the community.
Repetition of expressions of Thanksgiving—the tôḏâ of scripture—can build the virtues of recollection of God’s victory over death and displacement, and of gratitude which incarnates the attitude of praise and reliance on something far greater than self. Faith holds that expressions, prayers, and virtues of gratitude and thanksgiving can bring about the cessation of crisis and distress by honoring God and by influencing and tempering neighboring onlookers. Sung confessional thanksgiving is a form of evangelism in the churches and at the Dinner Table.
The cultivation of virtues makes one the captain of one’s excellence, authenticating self-control of the narrative of one’s spiritual maturation & achievements. Congruently, virtuous behavior serves the common good by influencing others, bringing about shalom through positive social mimesis (cf. Prov. 27.19). Not only are virtues ends in themselves, their cultivation takes time so that they also are *means for being* embedded with the teleology of becoming. By this, individual excellence is encompassed by time & collective human space to realize the ever-emerging Kingdom of God.
Praise cannot be a private matter involving only those who praise and are praised. The imperative hôḏâ is addressed to all and sundry. There is a summons to tell others, or the worshipper suggests such a summons by announcing his intention to speak (Ps. 9:2[1]; 79:13). He describes those who will hear as the “godly” (Ps. 52:11[9]), the company of the upright, a congregation of indefinite size (Ps. 111:1). It comprises many (Ps. 109:30), appears as a great congregation and a mighty throng (Ps. 35:18). Ultimately it includes the entire world. The peoples and nations are to experience the praise (Ibid., 435).
Here are some expressions of Thanksgiving taken from the Psalms:
Ps 118:19–21, 28-29: Open to me the gates of righteousness,
that I may enter through them
and give thanks to the LORD.
20 This is the gate of the LORD;
the righteous shall enter through it.
21 I thank you that you have answered me
and have become my salvation…
28 You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;
you are my God, I will extol you.
29 O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever.
Ps 75:1: We give thanks to you, O God;
we give thanks; your name is near.
People tell of your wondrous deeds.
Ps 107:8–9,21-22: Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love,
for his wonderful works to humankind.
9 For he satisfies the thirsty,
and the hungry he fills with good things...
21 Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love,
for his wonderful works to humankind.
22 And let them offer thanksgiving sacrifices,
and tell of his deeds with songs of joy.
Ps 30:11–12: You have turned my mourning into dancing;
you have taken off my sackcloth
and clothed me with joy,
12 so that my soul may praise you and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever.
As the American national holiday, Thanksgiving originally was intended to transform private lament into collective praise of the Creator. For me, it has not yet been coopted like Armistice Day by Veterans’ Day to become a celebration of nationalism. For me, American Thanksgiving dispenses with the idolatrous narratives of regionalism and national supremacy instead to focus outside oneself and one’s tribe for the blessings and endowments we all share in neighborliness inside God’s good creation.
@BrianZahnd notes: ”When the gospel is reduced from an overarching metanarrative to a formula for postmortem salvation, Christians reach for some other Big Story to interpret the world. This opens the door for the myths of religious nationalism to displace fidelity to Christ and his kingdom."
Religious nationalism has created an environment for the deranged and intellectually unvirtuous to gorge on and shovel insults, lies, and incitements to violence. The vices of nationalism include claims of racial superiority and insensitivity to privation and need. Counter to these vices are the virtues of thanksgiving which this day of celebration and commemoration should be more in evidence than all others. This year's challenges can make celebration feel alienating. Quiet gratitude and comprehensive recollection can serve the reinvigoration of sociality.
Among other things, Thanksgiving has a mythic connotation of hospitality extended by Wampanoag to pilgrims, calendrically leads into the Christian season of Advent, and legislatively commemorates of our nation's gratitude for turning back the coup of Confederate slavedrivers. It thus is involved in the ongoing Exodus of the indigenous, the expectant Palestinian peasant, and the enslaved.
I cannot envision how I make thanksgiving without turning toward compassion for the oppressed, deprived, and brutalized. These thoughts guide my table prayers.
The American holiday of Thanksgiving does well to relate the sense of thanksgiving in the Bible to renewing and re-invigorating praise and confession of God and bring about inside us the virtuous commitment to God’s purposes. Enacting the virtues of Thanksgiving in gratitude and recollection, we can move from being people who respond self-interestedly to the wealth and competitive *merits* of our fellow humans to those who instead respond to others' authentic *needs,* singing to Creation rather than calculating within as we go. Matching God’s willingness to meet us with our willingness to meet God is how thanksgiving and compassionate love relate in the intended nature of nations in God’s good earth.
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