In the first Presidential Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, George Washington noted the request of Congress for “a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God,” and assigned November 26, 1789, “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.”
Years later, Thanksgiving would become an annual tradition in the United States, with the first of these national celebrations taking place in the autumn of 1863, during the throes of the Civil War. At that time, Abraham Lincoln issued a Thanksgiving Day Proclamation urging that, amidst giving thanks for bountiful blessings, fellow citizens “commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation.”
Ever since, in America it has been a common practice for friends and family to gather together on Thanksgiving to share a meal in gratitude to God and in commemoration of the many sacrifices made by heroes and heroines, past and present, who have helped to establish and defend the freedoms we enjoy. And a number of other countries around the world have similar observances.
Yet, to those who may be without a meal, or those who look in vain for friends and family, hungering and thirsting, as it were, to experience more of Love’s presence and power and to receive and impart more of its blessings, the merriment and festivity of Thanksgiving Day can leave one feeling utterly alone. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, shared her prayer for all of those who may have reason to feel this way: “God comfort them all!” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 232). She was keenly aware of the need for that comforting love because she knew what it meant to be “a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit” (Isaiah 54:6).
Like the valiant Pilgrims who sought distant shores at extreme peril in furtherance of their desire to freely worship God, Mrs. Eddy gave her whole heart to serving Him and set out to assuage human woe and bring blessings of heavenly love to mankind. Her discovery of Christian Science came at a tremendous cost, and some of the crucible through which she passed can be seen in a letter she wrote to one of her early students on Thanksgiving Day (likely in 1872, at a very difficult time in establishing the Cause of Christian Science).
The letter begins: “They tell me this day is set apart for festivities, and rejoicing; but I have no evidence of this except the proclamation and gathering together of those who love one another. I am alone today, and shall probably not see a single student—family ties are broken never to be reunited in this world with me.
Serving “the hungry and the stranger” is a recurring theme in Scripture that points to the very essence of Thanksgiving.
“But what of those who have learned with me the Truth of Moral Science [later, Christian Science] where do they find their joys, where do they seek friendship and happiness? Shall I see one of them To-day? . . .
“My spirit calls To-day, but who of all my students hears it? Who of you are thinking of the hungry and the stranger To-day?” (F00351, The Mary Baker Eddy Library; © The Mary Baker Eddy Collection).
I will never forget the effect this letter had on me the first time I read it. It made me consider: Would I have thought of and visited our Leader during this time of distress? To support and express gratitude for the one who was so unselfishly sacrificing all to bring God’s healing message to the world? And do I today remember and honor her life and mission by serving “the hungry and the stranger” in the highest way possible, in the way she taught—through following the Master, Christ Jesus, and healing the sick?
As I read the letter, I felt as though I wanted to be alone with God. I knew then, as I know now, that there is a deep spiritual message of comfort and love to be gained by anyone who contemplates the sentiments expressed in it. Although my understanding of what Mrs. Eddy wrote continues to broaden and deepen, I’ve been impressed by the fact that serving “the hungry and the stranger” is a recurring theme in Scripture that points to the very essence of Thanksgiving and its relation to Christian Science healing.
Mrs. Eddy’s letter refers to Jesus’ story of the King who says, “I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in” (see Matthew 25:31–46). Here the King—Christ—is identified as a “stranger” (which Christians sometimes define as one not conformed to the world and not accepted) whom we are to serve with loving gratitude—both directly and through loving and caring for others. The King goes on to say, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” Might this speak to the spirit of Thanksgiving that we are to embrace continuously?
One of the first metaphysical healings in the Bible illustrates the moral of this story. It occurs after “three men” appear to Abraham in Mamre (see Genesis 18:1–15). Upon receiving these three angel visitants—we could think of them as strangers—Abraham summoned his wife, Sarah, to help him prepare a feast for them. This unified, spontaneous expression of thanksgiving for God’s messengers set the table, if you will, for Sarah’s healing. After the two had faithfully served their guests in the spirit of loving gratitude, the angel messengers reaffirmed to Abraham God’s promise that Sarah, who was ninety years old and had never been able to have children, would conceive and give birth. Accordingly, Sarah conceived and gave birth to a son, Isaac (see Genesis 21:1–8).
Thankfulness for all that God has given us in Christian Science equips us to receive and impart its healing power.
So such grateful hospitality to God and His messengers provides us with much more than a mere insight as to how to be a good host on Thanksgiving Day. It shows the exalted mental state that very naturally blesses us with a harvest of Christly healing. Abraham and Sarah’s welcoming of God’s messengers included receiving the abundant blessings naturally bestowed through Christ, the true idea of God. As the King in Jesus’ story said to those who cared for God’s little ones, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34).
Christ Jesus’ ministry further established the importance of beginning with gratitude in healing. On two separate occasions, the Master fed the multitude in a most unusual way—once feeding five thousand with five loaves and two small fishes and then at another time feeding four thousand with seven loaves and a few fishes. What was it that brought this about? In a word, thanksgiving.
The Gospels reveal that on both of these occasions, in the face of severe lack and limitation, Jesus gave thanks to God for His ever-present abundant supply (see John 6:11 and Matthew 15:36). Then followed the outflow of a most astonishing provision, feeding and blessing every individual in the multitude, who could be considered strangers in the more customary sense of those in need.
Not only did this reveal that what Jesus actually had was infinitely more than what met the eye—even unlimited, inexhaustible spiritual resources from God that were ever at hand—but it also showed that giving thanks is essential to the realization of divine Love’s largesse through Christian scientific practice.
Thanksgiving, as exemplified by Christ Jesus, enables the Christian Scientist to be most effective in meeting the needs of hungering humanity. Thankfulness for all that God has given us in Christian Science equips us to receive its healing power and impart it to untold “strangers” in want.
Another use of the word stranger appears in the Christian Science textbook: “Science is the ‘stranger that is within thy gates,’ remembered not, even when its elevating effects practically prove its divine origin and efficacy” (Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 146). We’re called upon to recognize and welcome in deep gratitude Christ and divine Science and not reject them in any way.
This call came to me like an angel visitant a number of years ago when I suddenly became incapacitated with debilitating pain in my body. The thought of being openly receptive to and grateful for Christian Science and its healing power was the holy message that not only brought relief from the pain, but ultimately enabled me to realize a complete healing in a matter of days.
The following passage from Science and Health, in conjunction with the illustrative drawing “Truth versus Error” in Mrs. Eddy’s poem Christ and Christmas (in which a woman bearing a message of Truth is knocking at a door), was profoundly enlightening, instructive, and meaningful to me then and remains so now: “A higher and more practical Christianity, demonstrating justice and meeting the needs of mortals in sickness and in health, stands at the door of this age, knocking for admission. Will you open or close the door upon this angel visitant, who cometh in the quiet of meekness, as he came of old to the patriarch at noonday?” (p. 224).
To answer this call—to open this door—is to receive God’s greatest gift and blessing, even the gift and blessing of Christian Science healing.
Our practice of this Science must be the consummate expression of thanksgiving as introduced by Abraham and reiterated by Jesus. We could say that our thanksgiving to God through the practice of Christian Science is Abraham’s Christly legacy which enables us to realize the enduring promise that God gave to him and to us by extension: “In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:3).
