At one level, Thanksgiving is a good and wonderful American holiday, in which I gladly participate.

And at a deeper level, thanksgiving is also a wonderful and joyful part of that deep dynamic of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that God's grace elicits from us (and gives to us!) both gratitude to God and graciousness to each other.

As we approach again our great annual celebration, and as we approach the worship of God this Lord's Day, and, indeed, as we set about the living of this day, let us consider what John Calvin has to say about our giving thanks to God.

Calvin on Giving Thanks to God

Whenever we call God the Creator of heaven and earth, let us at the same time bear in mind that the dispensation of all those things which he has made is in his own hand and power and that we are indeed his children, whom he has received into his faithful protection to nourish and educate. We are therefore to await the fullness of all good things from him alone and to trust completely that he will never leave us destitute of what we need for salvation, and to hang our hopes on none but him! We are therefore, also, to petition him for whatever we desire; and we are to recognize as a blessing from him, and thankfully to acknowledge, every benefit that falls to our share. So, invited by the great sweetness of his beneficence and goodness, let us study to love and serve him with all our heart.

John Calvin, Calvin: Institutes of the Christian Religion, trans. from the 1559 Latin ed. by Ford Lewis Battles, 2 vols., in Library of Christian Classics, ed. John T. McNeill (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1960), 1.14.22 (1.182).

Happy Thanksgiving!

Grace and Peace,

Dr. James C. Goodloe IV,
Executive Director