Article November 20, 1943 Issue

Universal Thanksgiving

MARIANNE WIJNBERG

One Thanksgiving Day two students of Christian Science went together to their church. For one of them it was the first celebration of Thanksgiving Day in America. Her friend said to her, "I suppose that Thanksgiving Day does not mean so much to you as it does to us." She was, however, happily surprised to hear how much the day means to those students of Christian Science who live across the oceans.

She was told that because Thanksgiving Day, as observed in the United States, is not a holiday in Europe, the Christian Science church service provided for that day is held in the evening for this special occasion. The Lesson-Sermon for Thanksgiving Day found in the Christian Science Quarterly is read, in churches on the Continent, not once, but twice —first in English, and then in the native tongue. Many testimonies are given during the period allotted to them in the service, because people come from far around, just as they do when a Christian Science lecture is delivered. Though not everyone present is acquainted with the original meaning of the day, nevertheless all understand that it is a day set apart to give thanks to God for all the good which has been received during the past year.

Christ Jesus, whose pure teaching pointed the true way of freedom, justice, and security for the whole world, knew well the joy of gratitude. He understood that God is infinite good, and that man is created in His image and likeness, free, just, and whole. This divine understanding made him the Saviour of humanity, for in destroying the false belief that God knows or permits evil he healed sin and sickness and overcame death.

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