Most of us are looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving this week and the official start of the holiday season. Turkeys, dressing, cranberry sauce, and gravy will soon come to a table near you!
Although most Americans realize that Thanksgiving Day came from the Pilgrims in New England, few know any details. It is sad that many cannot even name one of those first pioneers who risked all to establish a new colony that would become a model for the future nation.
One who rose to primary leadership was William Bradford. As early as age twelve, William had already developed a deep love for the Bible and a few years later he was walking sixteen miles to worship each Sunday with other Separatists. This became risky, however, for by 1607 Separatists were being imprisoned for not participating in the state church.
At seventeen, he and some others planned to leave England and sail to greater freedom in the Netherlands only to be betrayed by their ship’s captain. They lost their property and their fare and were put in prison. After his release, Bradford eventually made it to Amsterdam and began to worship there.
Their services were quite different than ours, however. Beginning at 8:00am, the congregants stood for opening prayer which commonly lasted an hour. Following this they sang a psalm which gave way to a multi-hour sermon. After another psalm and communion, an offering was taken and the benediction given. That was not the end of their Sunday worship, however, for they returned after lunch for a similar service followed by a lengthy discussion period.
In time, Bradford married and in July of 1620, he and his wife Dorothy left for New England on board the Speedwell. They left behind their small son, John, with the hope that he would soon join them. Sadly, it was the last time either of them would see him alive.
Misfortune came early in their trip as the Speedwell had become “leaky as a sieve” requiring them to abandon her. They then boarded the Mayflower and finally made it out of English waters in early September.
The voyage to America was very treacherous with severe storms and frigid waters and many got sick. Remarkably, only one passenger died during the ordeal and sixty-six days after leaving Europe, they arrived at Cape Cod and “fell upon their knees and blessed the God of heaven…”
Before disembarking from the ship, the Mayflower Compact was drawn up which established equality among all and planted the seeds of democracy in America. Later Bradford would institute free enterprise that essentially saved the colony from an early form of socialism.
Sadly, Dorothy fell overboard and drowned in the icy waters that December. Even worse, before winter’s end scurvy and starvation took a heavy toll. Two to three people were dying daily and by March less than half of them survived.
Because they had no choice, the Pilgrims persisted and under Bradford’s leadership established the Plymouth Colony. They considered the help of the Indian, Squanto, as God’s divine aid for he not only taught them to plant and harvest, but also translated and became an invaluable asset.
It was then, in October of 1621, that the fifty surviving Pilgrims, together with ninety Indian braves celebrated their first Thanksgiving feast. It was a three day event enhanced with five deer provided by the Indians as well as shellfish, eels, lobsters, geese, ducks, and corn and of course some wild turkeys. It was a special occasion that cemented a friendship between the two groups that became vital for their survival.
Although settlers in Jamestown had a type of thanksgiving a few years earlier, our modern holiday is patterned most after the one in Plymouth. These Pilgrims, led ably by the devoted Christian William Bradford clearly saw the hand of God in preserving and sustaining them. For those interested in learning more, Gary Schmidt’s book, William Bradford, Plymouth’s Faithful Pilgrim, makes for interesting reading.
I pray that we continue to see God’s mighty hand in our own lives for we have even greater reason to give Him thanks than they. May God bless you with a very Happy Thanksgiving.
In Jesus, George