There’s one song that is apropos for the times this Thanksgiving and Christmas season, given the mandates from government officials about how many are to be allowed at our dinner tables because of COVID-19, is Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” from 1970: “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone?”

How true. We take our blessings for granted until they are lost.

So what can we be thankful for today? In our collective American history, the Civil War didn’t stop some from giving thanks to God and praying the war would end. You may know that Abraham Lincoln issued a Thanksgiving Proclamation (written by his secretary of state, William Seward, declaring the last Thursday in November a day of Thanksgiving). Did you know the Thanksgiving holiday was not suspended during the Great Depression and two world wars?


Thankfulness should not be conditioned on how prosperous we are or on the number of blessings we receive. Think about the thankful spirit demonstrated by Bob Cratchit in Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” Though he had little in material wealth and had a son in need of surgery he could not afford, he and his wife expressed gratitude for what they had.


That we were born in or emigrated to America ought to evoke thankfulness by all of us. Looking around the world where does one find a society, culture, or economy that matches our own and offers the opportunities for anyone to succeed if they think, study, and behave in certain ways that promote their own, and ultimately, the general welfare of the nation?


Don’t know too many lyrics? Here’s one you might like. You could read it aloud as a prayer before your Christmas meal.


So, in 1636 a Lutheran preacher named Martin Rinkart wrote a hymn called “Now Thank We All Our God.” The lyrics are more impactful when one considers that the author wrote it during the bloody Thirty Years War between German Catholics and Protestants in the walled city of Eilenburg, Germany.

Even though he was often hard-pressed to provide for his own family, Rinkart tried to care for others. During the war, a severe plague struck the city. Rinkart was the only surviving pastor, conducting as many as 50 funerals in a day. In 1637, he performed more than 4,000 funerals, including that of his wife.

In the midst of the war which claimed an estimated one-third of the German population, Rinkart wrote these words:
“Now thank we all our God with heart and hands and voices, Who wondrous things has done, in Whom his world rejoices; Who from our mothers’ arms has blessed us on our way with countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.”

So what are we thankful for in spite of what has happened to us either personally or collectively in this difficult year?

As Knights, we should all be thankful for being entrusted to do good and charitable works for our church and community. I’m thankful for your presence here tonight. I’m thankful for your desire to be involved, and for your perseverance to strive to make our council a better one.