Harvest Time and Thanksgiving

Through the ages, many peoples have observed feasts and offered prayers of thanksgiving for harvests. Although it had other historical connections, the Jewish Feast of Booths or Tabernacles was related to the autumn harvest. In medieval and early modern Europe, there were various local harvest festivals. In England and Germany, there were often harvest thanksgivings in local churches in early October. In the early history of America, European explorers and colonists of various nationalities gave thanks in many places and ways. In Virginia, there was a celebration of thanksgiving at Berkeley Hundred on December 4, 1619. Of course, the case in Massachusetts in 1621 was a dramatic case of survival, and it was propagated and publicized by New Englanders. At the time of Independence, this New England practice was promoted by the Continental Congress, and in 1789, the American Episcopal Book of Common Prayer included a Thanksgiving Day Office.

So despite popular legend, Thanksgiving or the Harvest Festival is not just for or about Puritan Pilgrims and Native Americans. The giving of thanks is a Scriptural theme found among many religious groups. It is a normal part of Christian worship to give God thanks for all things. It is also appropriate that we should pause in autumn to give special thanks for the products of the land which sustain and enrich life. Nun dunket alle Gott, "Now thank we all our God..."

All Saints Day- Hebrews 12:1; Jude 3

All Saints Day is one of the great feasts or celebrations of the Church. Although it was not established as a universal feast in the Western Church until the 800's, it reflects a long development from the early years of Christian history. From the days of Christ's earthly life and the time of the Apostles, there was a strong sense of community and communion among believers. Christians shared with one another, interceded for one another, gave thanks for one another and honored the witness and example of those who had gone before. They had the sense of being surrounded by a great "cloud of witnesses" (Hebrews 12:1); they also knew that they must continue to "contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" (Jude 3). So All Saints Day is a celebration of the continuity of the Christian faith from Biblical times to the present and beyond.

Of course, the evangelical Lutheran perspective on this celebration and on the general theme of the saints is special. Like some other traditions, Lutherans have a sense of continuity with the best from the Church of all ages. We incorporate the witness of the saints of the past through Scripture, the calendar, the liturgy, and the historic creeds. At the same time, Lutherans have deliberately avoided the excesses of the medieval cult of the saints, and it is no accident that Reformation Day is the Eve of All Saints. Lutherans clearly reject ideas about a treasury of merits from the saints and popular medieval practices about relics. Luther stressed that a person is a saint or holy one only because of the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. All true believers, even those who are not always very "saintly," have been made holy through Christian baptism and faith in Christ. So it is appropriate to set aside a day to remember all those- great and small, famous and forgotten- who have gone before us in Christian faith. We give thanks for all the saints and pray for grace to be and remain part of that fellowship.