Next week we will celebrate Thanksgiving Day. Established centuries ago as a national holiday, it commemorates Pilgrims offering thanks to God for the bounty of the earth and for seeing them through harsh weather in this strange new world.
The first winter the Pilgrims were in this new land, Native Americans brought them food because the Pilgrims had not brought enough to last. Then, a Native American named Squanto taught the new residents to catch eels and plant corn.
The indigenous people of this land showed mercy, hospitality and kindness to the strangers who arrived in their midst. They recognized the dangerous situation in which the new arrivals found themselves and knew they had to do something to help — even if their skin color was different and their language was strange.
What a blessing. And what a reason to truly give thanks.
Caring for strangers — How often do you recognize that going on today? Nearly 400 years have passed since that first Thanksgiving Day. Do you observe the same kind of care and concern shown for strangers? Do you recognize how lives are changed because of another’s hospitality?
I wonder: Does the same care and concern permeate our society as it did ages ago?
Read this paragraph and then stop to ponder a moment: If you were traveling in a foreign land and suddenly found yourself without money, food, water or a way to get a message home, how would you feel?
If a stranger, whose skin was different from yours and who spoke an unfamiliar language, offered you food and a warm dry place to rest, how would you feel?
I hope you would feel grateful and thankful. I hope you would one day return the kindness.
This Thanksgiving Day, remember what God has done for you in Jesus Christ. He has given you food and drink for your soul. He has given you the language of his heart. He has given you life beyond any kind you could hope or imagine.
For all this, be sure to give thanks.
The Rev. Mark Broadhead is pastor at Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church and First Presbyterian Church of Crestview.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: How do you treat strangers?