A Day of Public Thanksgiving and Prayer

Turkey Day? How far the mentality of the citizens of the United States of America has drifted from the time of the founding of the nation.

In 1789 both Houses of Congress voted to urge the president to proclaim a day of public thanksgiving and prayer. The text of President Washington’s proclamation along with some comments is posted here.

His proclamation, given at the urging of Congress, is worthy of reading again. The last full paragraph is of special importance.

It saddened me to see the extreme emphasis that has been made this year on “Black Friday.” It was reported that people were lining up outside of Best Buy on Wednesday to be ready for the store’s opening on Friday so as to be able to grab greedily the special sale items. Some people completely bypassed the National Day of Thanksgiving so as to be ready to grab Black Friday specials.

As I post below, the true Black Friday treasures are available every Lord’s Day, and those who want them can partake of them freely. Black Friday, the day when retailers say that they move from the accounting status of Red to Black, is a minor reflection upon the one true and great Black Friday of history when Christ paid the world’s debt of sin so that by faith forgiveness is received of all debts everlastingly.

Is this not worthy of standing in line to receive, far and above any specials offered at Best Buy or Sears or Walmart? Once upon a time in this country such appears to have been the focus of Thanksgiving. For some, it still is.