Thanksgiving, a Time to Count Blessings

“Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

Serve the Lord with gladness: come before His presence with singing.

Know ye that the Lord He is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves;

We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him and bless His name.

For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth to all generations.”

Psalm 100 (KJV)

I memorized Psalm 100 when I was in third grade at Choestoe School. In those days, it was not “against the law” to have Bible reading in at the beginning of each school day, have the pledge of allegiance to the flag (we learned these for both United States and Georgia flags), and have quote the Lord’s Prayer in unison.

Furthermore, my third grade teacher in our one-room country school, Mrs. Mert Collins, was my teacher in public school and also in Sunday School at Choestoe Baptist Church. At both places, she encouraged her pupils to memorize verses from the Bible. Among those I memorized early was Psalm 100. At a program for our parents and community citizens at our school at Thanksgiving, the children stood on the raised platform before our gathered guests and quoted Psalm 100. In those early years, it became a favorite passage and I wanted early to live by the precepts noted in the Psalm.

I learned long after my wonderful seven years at Choestoe School when I studied Bible in college that this Psalm was specifically “A Psalm for Giving Thanks.” Although of Israelite origin, the Psalm invites people “of all lands” to join in thanksgiving and to sing praises to God. The Psalm makes it clear that we are “the sheep of His pasture,” a metaphor used in several places in the Scriptures, and noteworthy in “The Shepherd Psalm,” Psalm 23. A shepherd gingerly and carefully looks after his sheep, leading them beside still waters and to green pastures. In like manner, the Lord provides for those who love Him. And for His care and provision, we ought always to give thanks.

Besides memorizing and quoting Scriptures in our country school, we also learned songs of Thanksgiving. A favorite was “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come,” with words written by Henry Alford (1810-1873) and set to the music “St. George’s Windsor” by George J. Elvey (1816-1893).

Since we lived in a farming community, we could relate well to the words of this Thanksgiving hymn. We loved to sing this song when our parents and neighbors came to hear our Thanksgiving program at school. Mrs. Mert Collins had to explain the meaning of some of the words in the hymn to us, but when we learned the words and tune, you can imagine that we sang it with gusto. She told us that to sing hymns like this one was a good way to give thanks to God: “Come, ye thankful people, come, Raise the song of harvest home!/All is safely gathered in, Ere the winter storms begin; God, our Maker, doth provide For our wants to be supplied;/Come to God’s own temple, come, Raise the song of harvest home.”

What is your favorite Thanksgiving Scripture? Your favorite Thanksgiving hymn? Would it not be timely to share them as you gather this Thanksgiving to celebrate? -Ethelene Dyer Jones 11.21.2015