Thanksgiving—A different Perspective
Usually, when we tell the story of Thanksgiving, we stand on the deck of the Mayflower or the Spanish galleons, scanning the horizon, looking for hope, looking for land. But today, I want us to get off the boats, walk up the beach, go into the tree line, and turn around. I want us to look at history not through the eyes of the ones arriving, but through the eyes of the ones who were already here. The history of our country is a complicated testimony of times when we got that right, and times when we got it tragically wrong. The Native Americans welcomed the foreigners to their lands. Though they had no familiarity with the Bible, still their welcome reminds me of the directive given to Christians by the writer of the book of Hebrews (13:2): “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it” and Paul’s advice to the Roman Christians in his letter (Romans 12 18): “ If it is possible, as far ...
