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8 • NOVEMBER 2020 - Senior Voice of Hernando County
Religion
Thanksgiving 2020 -
Celebrate It or Cancel It?
By Jerry Waugh, Pastor
of Care
Northcliffe Church -
Spring Hill
Let’s just admit it - the 2020
coronavirus pandemic has
been the pits. Whatever
we imagined the new year
would look like back on New
Year’s Eve 2019, I bet none
of us imagined it would look
like this. Social distancing;
to mask or not to mask;
businesses and restaurants
closed-opened-closed again-
reopened; stay-at-home
orders; safe to return to
public gatherings or still not
safe. And no one could have
anticipated “The Great 2020
Toilet Paper Crisis!”
More seriously, no one could
have conceived that in 2020
more than 220,000 people
would lose their lives in the
United States from of a virus
we had never heard of. By
any account, this has been
a difficult year. If we kept a
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diary or did journaling, we
might be tempted to tear out
all 2020 entries and burn them
in a fire on December 31st,
as an act of hope for a better
2021.
With all the difficulties of
2020, what are we to do with
Thanksgiving Day? Should
we still celebrate it or should
we cancel it? After all, how
long could our thanksgiving
list be this year?
A look back at the first
Thanksgiving can help
us decide what to do this
Thanksgiving. The pilgrims
landed at Plymouth Rock in
November 1620. Without
enough food or protection
from the cold, families
watched their loved ones
suffer and die. There were no
villages. No stores. No way
to restock their ship. Forty-
seven of the 102 pilgrims died
during the first winter. But the
native Indians were kind to
the pilgrims and showed them
how to plant and grow corn.
After the harvest in 1621,
despite a terrible year, they
had a meal together with their
new friends and thanked God
for their blessings. I would
say that the pilgrims’ 1620
was much more difficult than
our 2020, wouldn’t you?
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With all the
difficulties of 2020,
what are we to do with
Thanksgiving Day?
Five year-old Bobby was
asked if he would like to say
the prayer before the family
began their Thanksgiving Day “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa
dinner. As everyone bowed
their heads, Bobby looked
around the table at all the
food. He smiled when he saw whether we should celebrate
the turkey, mashed potatoes,
and pies. But he also saw
cranberry sauce, salad, and
even broccoli. Bobby began
his prayer, “God, I’m looking matter how bad things get in
around and I’m not sure I
like everything I see but I’m
still thankful. Amen.” Maybe
our prayer this Thanksgiving
might sound something like
Bobby’s prayer, “God, I’m
looking around and I’m not
sure I like everything I see,
but I’m still thankful.”
Her name was Virginia.
She was eight years old
and wrote a short letter to
The New York Sun asking
if there was a Santa Claus.
Her question and the editor’s
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reply have become one of the
most widely read letters to a
newspaper ever. It is entitled,
Claus.” If there was a Virginia
who lived in our area and
she sent me a letter asking
or cancel Thanksgiving this
year, my reply would be,
“Yes, Virginia, there will be
Thanksgiving this year! No
life, we always have things
to be thankful for. We need
Thanksgiving Day, this year,
as much as ever before.”
On the 26th of this month,
I will sit around a table
with family and celebrate
Thanksgiving as we thank
God from whom who all
blessings flow. We will not
allow COVID-19 to cancel
this special day for counting
our blessings. I hope you will
celebrate this special day, too.
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