[Music] [Applause] [Music] good morning and welcome on this thursday morning to the january garden at canterbury cathedral we've decided to have a little change today and do something a little bit different which i hope will cheer us all and give us a day of thanksgiving for this for every american citizen at home and across the world is thanksgiving day a festival of the family but also a festival of giving thanks for all god's blessings it has traditional elements but also i think as we say to every american happy thanksgiving day we ourselves could take a hint from that to encourage one another with thanksgiving and in that kind of thanksgiving we shall all be thinking of the blessings that god has given us it gives us a little break from the plagues of the book of revelation and uh instead we're going to read a a harvest a nice harvest lesson from the book of deuteronomy and at the same time just think a little bit about the origins of this particular feast day in the united states and also how we ourselves have festivals which to have the same kind of elements for thanksgiving in the states on this thursday in november ushers in a a series of of winter holidays at christmas and in new year and many schools break for a long holiday at this time so we're going to say our prayers and the themes will become very apparent as we go through oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise blessed are you creator of all to you be praise and glory forever as your dawn renews the face of the earth bringing light and life to all creation may we rejoice in this day you have made as we wait refresh from the depths of sleep open our eyes to behold your presence and strengthen our hands to do your will that the world may rejoice and give you praise blessed be god father son and holy spirit blessed be god forever the night has passed and the day lies open before us let us pray with one heart and mind and as we rejoice in the gift of this new day so may the light of your presence o god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever amen so our psalm this morning is psalm 65 praise is due to you oh god in zion to you that answer prayer shall vows be paid to you shall all flesh come to confess their sins when our misdeeds prevail against us you will purge them away happy are they whom you choose and draw to your courts to dwell there we shall be satisfied with the blessings of your house even of your holy temple with wonders you will answer us in your righteousness so god of our salvation o hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas in your strengths you set fast the mountains and are girded about with might you still the raging of the seas the roaring of their waves and the clamour of the peoples those who dwell at the ends of the earth tremble at your marvels the gates of the morning and evening sing your praise you visit the earth and water it you make it very plenteous the river of god is full of water you prepare grain for your people for so you provide for the earth you drench the furrows and smooth out the ridges you soften the ground with showers and bless its increase you crown the year with your goodness and your paths overflow with plenty may the pastures of the wilderness flow with goodness and the hills be girded with joy may the meadows be clothed with flocks of sheep and the valleys stand so thick with corn that they shall laugh and sing so we turn to a lesson in the book deuteronomy the 26th chapter and one remembers that as these festivals are thought of in people's hearts and minds they were festivals which jesus himself would have kept it was all part of his family life and this little picture is the most wonderful picture which gives an essence to all of this in terms of thanksgiving so the beginning of chapter 26 in the book deuteronomy when you come into the land that the lord your god is giving you for an inheritance and have taken possession of it and live in it you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground which you harvest from your land that the lord your god is giving you and you shall put it in a basket and you shall go to the place that the lord your god will choose to make his name to dwell there and you shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him i declare today to the lord your god that i have come into the land that the lord swore to our fathers to give us then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down before the altar of the lord your god and you shall make response before the lord your god my father was a wandering aramaian and he went down into egypt and sojourned there few in number and there they became a nation great mighty and populous and the egyptians treated us harshly and humiliated us and laid on us hard labor then we cried to the lord the god of our fathers and the lord heard our voice and saw our affliction our toil and our oppression and the lord brought us out of egypt with a mighty hand an outstretched arm with great deeds of wonder with signs and wonders and he brought us into this place and gave us this land a land flowing with milk and honey and behold now i bring the first of the fruit of the ground which you o lord have given me and then you shall set it down before the lord your god and worship before the lord your god and you shall rejoice in all the good that the lord your god has given to you and to your house you and the levite and the guest who is among you well that became one of the texts of the festivals of ancient israel and under that system of festivals and thanksgivings our lord lived and we ourselves are on this day bidden to be full of thanksgiving notice how it's not just the thanksgiving for the fruits of the land but also thanksgiving for the story of what has brought them thus far they tell the story of their own community and this morning maybe it does us good first with our american friends to look back at the very first thanksgiving in 1621 in new england plymouth new england and here were the pilgrims from mayflower some of them had come from canterbury but in celebrating their first harvest they also invited along with them friends from the wampanoag native american tribe who were nearby and they shared the feast together bringing fruits of their own areas so here is the story as it's told all through the first summer and the early part of autumn the pilgrims were busy and happy they had planted and cared for their first fields of corn they had found wild strawberries in the meadows raspberries on the hillsides and wild grapes in the woods in the forest just behind the village wild turkeys and deer were easily shot in the shallow waters of the bay there was plenty of fish clams and lobsters the summer had been warm with a good deal of rain and much sunshine and so when the autumn came there was a fine crop of corn let us gather the fruits of our first labors and rejoice together said governor bradford yes said elder brewster let us take a day upon which we may thank god for all our blessings and invite to it our wampanoag friends who have been so kind to us but the pilgrims said that one day was not enough so they planned to have a celebration for a whole week the chief of the wampanoag people massanite came with 90 of his people they were all festively dressed in deerskins feathers and foxtails with their faces smeared with red white and yellow paint now there were only 11 buildings in the whole of plymouth village four log store houses and seven little log dwelling houses so the guests at and slept all out of doors as 90 of the wampanoag people and 53 pilgrims celebrated to supply meat for the occasion four men had already been sent out to hunt wild turkeys they killed enough in one day to last the whole company almost a week but chief massasoit helped the feast along by sending some of his best hunters into the woods they killed five deer which they gave to their friends that all might have enough to eat under the trees were built long rude tables on which were piled baked clams broiled fish roast turkey and dear meat so we remember that day of feasting together and thanksgiving in 1621 but we'll remember that the festivities then continued with games and enjoyment as they went through the the wampanoag people at the end of the third day said that they needed to return home and so a pipe of peace was shared and then having said farewell to their guests as the week concluded the pilgrims themselves had a service to give thanks to god for all the benefits and also told their story to one another with memories so we think of that and we think also of the way in which today that story will be being remembered in the context of many family stories and that prompt perhaps gives us an encouragement to use this day also to give thanks for all those whom we know and love wherever they are because this is a time of separation it will be for the american people as well for travel will either not be allowed or not be very easy and being together in great numbers as you well know certainly in england can't happen at the moment but in heart and mind we can still give thanks for all god's blessings and we can in the encouragement of the culture of another think yes this is a good day to not only think of them and wish them well but to think of all those in our extended families across the world or around us that we won't be able to see and to remember that many of the things which are done at thanksgiving in the united states are in the heartland of how we in england celebrate christmas there are special foods there are special traditions from family to family it will be different this year and we can plan for that difference but our memories will think of feasts and times gone by the the tables in the united states will be filled with reminders of that 1621 meal turkey potatoes stuffing squash corn green beans cranberries pumpkin pie we've tried this here in the house sometimes when we've had americans staying on this day or had american members of staff and so when we look at our own harvest well of course it's different but we give thanks for the things which we're provided and certainly our lovely turkey who is walking around here is not being prepared for the table she's become too much of a beautiful friend for us and the pigs themselves of course are enjoying everything around and there is actually one particular part of the american feast that uh winston himself loves and i've sort of hidden it from him really um he'd have a go at the pumpkins if he could and that's been known in the past but around here is a basket of of older potatoes and remember they came from the states so winston here we are come and have a potato here he's not realised what this is yet come on come on oh he's not seeing it gosh come on winston there we are i think the corn is too much for him really this morning i've never i've never known him so well behaved so we'll we'll put these around so that later on he'll realize exactly what they are and chomp into them and they'll all have a go i'll put them back quietness reigns except for our friend the duck because uh she is missing her friend the turkey who's come on to the boys side this morning as a reminder of this particular day one of the things which is always used at thanksgiving and any kind of service is the doxology which we we all know bishop ken's toxology which is often sung to music by thomas tallis but you will know the words praise god from whom all blessings flow praise him all people here below praise him above you heavenly host prayers father son and holy ghost that song of thanksgiving rises to heaven and we ourselves share in that this morning as we sit amongst the signs of the fruits on other in other parts of the world but in our hearts and minds are longing to be together again and let's make this a day of encouraging one another perhaps reaching out and giving thanks for all god's blessings for thanksgiving itself is an encouraging thing and we're encouraged always to begin our prayers with thanksgiving so as we say our prayers on this should we call it a special day leaving intentions which i can add again tomorrow but bringing in your hearts and minds a spirit of thanksgiving for all those who care for you for the benefits of all that we receive in way of bounty and god's blessings and i'm going to say together the prayer of the general thanksgiving and some of you will know this in your hearts and minds and others will join in with the thanksgiving it expresses so let us pray almighty god father of all mercies we your unworthy servants give you most humble and hearty thanks for all your goodness and loving-kindness we bless you for our creation preservation and all the blessings of this life but above all for your immeasurable love in the redemption of the world by our lord jesus christ for the means of grace and for the hope of glory and give us we pray such a sense of all your messes that our hearts may be unfaintedly thankful and that we show forth your praise not only with our lips but in our lives by giving up ourselves to your service and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days through jesus christ our lord to whom with you and the holy spirit be all honor and glory forever and ever amen so we say each in our own language joining together across all the boundaries of culture and distance the prayer our lord taught us our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory for ever and ever are men so in the silence use this as a time this morning to give thanks for something or someone on whom you focus the peace of god which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of god and of his son jesus christ our lord the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be upon you upon those whom you love and those whom you would pray for today and always amen [Music] is [Music] [Music] um [Music] oh [Music] amen [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] you