I read about a kindergarten teacher who prepared her class for Thanksgiving by telling them all about the Pilgrims coming over on the Mayflower and settling at Plymouth Rock. She told how the Pilgrims endured their first winter and celebrated their blessings in a feast with the local Indians. One little girl went home and told her mom every detail that she could remember. Her mother asked what the Pilgrims and Indians ate that first Thanksgiving. Stumped by the question, the little girl said, “I can’t remember, Mommy, but you can ask my teacher. She was there!”

Well, the teacher might not have been there, but we would all do well to remember what happened there on that first Thanksgiving.

Many Americans have forgotten that it was to God that the Pilgrims gave thanks. In the famous “Mayflower Compact” that they adopted on November 11, 1620 are these words: “We whose names are underwritten...having undertaken for ye glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith...a voyage to plant ye first colony in ye northern parts of Virginia...covenant and combine  ourselves together into a civil body politick...”

The Pilgrims settled at Plymouth in order to advance the Christian faith. They celebrated the first Thanksgiving to give thanks to God for His blessings. We weren’t there when it happened, but let us never neglect their spirit of gratitude. “The earth has produced its harvest; God our God blesses us... and all the ends of the earth will fear Him.” (Psalm 67:6-7, HCSB).

(Copyright 2011 by Bob Rogers. Email: brogers@fbcrincon.com. Read this column each Friday in the Herald. Read old “Holy Humor” columns by visiting www.fbcrincon.com and clicking on “Holy Humor.”)