[StBernard] To Whom Do We Give Thanks?

[Westley Annis]

November 25, 2009  |  Vol. 4, No. 47

To Whom Do We Give Thanks? 
By Newt Gingrich 


On the south side of the Rotunda in the United States Capitol Building is a
painting titled The Embarkation of the Pilgrims. 
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 The painting depicts the deck of the ship as it departs from Holland for
the New World in 1620. Look
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3:38BB78D688B872953412EDA1C38711C5> , and you will see that the pilgrims are
praying. A rainbow rises on the left side of the painting, symbolizing hope
and divine protection. 

The faith in God that the pilgrims exhibited on embarkation from the old
world became thankfulness to the same God on disembarkation in the New
World. 

This is the origin of the day of Thanksgiving we celebrate this week. We
give thanks, not merely to one another, or to some undefined spiritual
force, but to God. 

It doesn't't mean we're all Christians. It means we're Americans; lucky
citizens of a nation uniquely rooted in faith in our Creator. 

Tomorrow We Give Thanks to the God of Washington and Lincoln 

To whom will we give thanks tomorrow? 

To the God whom George Washington, in the first national Thanksgiving Day
proclamation in 1789, called on all Americans to "unite to render unto Him
our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection." 

To the God to whom Abraham Lincoln looked in the midst of the Civil War as
he made Thanksgiving an annual national holiday in 1863: 

"No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these
great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while
dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy." 

Tomorrow we give thanks to the Creator who is the source of our sovereignty.


We pause in gratitude to He who has endowed us with the inalienable rights
to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 

And just as no government has granted these rights, no government can
legitimately take them away. 

This is the freedom the pilgrims prayed for, Washington fought for and
Lincoln stood for. 

As important as it is to give thanks tomorrow is to remember, as Americans
have before us, to whom we give thanks. 

May you and your family have a happy, healthy and blessed Thanksgiving. 
 	 

  Your friend,
   Newt Gingrich