11/24/63

Scripture: Psalm 67: 1-5; Ephesians 5: 15-20.

Two years ago, I read from this pulpit the following Thanksgiving Proclamation:

“By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

“It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord.

“More than three centuries ago, the pilgrims, after a year of hardship and peril, humbly and reverently set aside a special day upon which to give thanks to God for their preservation and for the good harvest from the virgin soil upon which they had labored. Grave and unknown dangers remained. Yet by their faith and by their toil they had survived the rigors of the harsh New England winter. Hence they paused in their labors to give thanks for the blessings that had been bestowed upon them by Divine Providence.

“This year as the harvest draws near its close, and the year approaches its end, awesome perils again remain to be faced. Yet we have, as in the past, ample reason to be thankful for the abundance of our blessings. We are grateful for the blessings of faith and health and strength and for the imperishable spiritual gifts of love and hope. We give thanks, too, for our freedom as a nation; for the strength of our arms and the faith of our friends; for the beliefs and confidence we share; for our determination to stand firmly for what we believe to be right and to resist mightily what we believe to be base; and for the heritage of liberty bequeathed by our ancestors which we are privileged to preserve for our children and our children’s children.

“It is right that we should be grateful for the plenty amidst which we live; the productivity of our farms, the output of our factories, the skill of our artisans, the ingenuity of our inventors. But in the midst of our thanksgiving, let us not be unmindful of the plight of those in many parts of the world to whom hunger is no stranger and the plight of those millions who live without the blessings of liberty and freedom. With some we are able to share our material abundance through our food-for-peace program and through our support of the United Nations freedom-from-hunger campaign. To all we can offer the sustenance of hope that we shall not fail in our unceasing efforts to make this a peaceful and prosperous world for all mankind.

“Now, therefore, I, John F. Kennedy, president of the United States of America, in consonance with the joint resolution of Congress approved December 26, 1941, which designates the fourth Thursday in November of each year as Thanksgiving Day, do hereby proclaim Thursday, the 23rd day of November of this year, as a day of national Thanksgiving.

“I urge all citizens to make this Thanksgiving not merely a holiday from their labors, but rather a day of contemplation. I ask the head of each family to recount to his children the story of the first New England Thanksgiving, thus to impress upon future generations the heritage of this nation, born in toil, in danger, in purpose, and in the conviction that right and justice and freedom can, through man’s efforts, persevere and come to fruition with the blessing of God.

“Let us observe this day with reverence and with prayer that will rekindle in us the will, and show us the way, not only to preserve our blessings, but also to extend them to the four corners of the earth. Let us by our example, as well as by our material aid, assist all peoples of all nations who are striving to achieve a better life in freedom.

“In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed.

“Done at the city of Washington this 27th day of October in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and sixty-one, and of the independence of the United States of America the one hundred and eighty-sixth.

John F. Kennedy

By the President

Dean Rusk

Secretary of State

I assume that the late Mr. Kennedy may, before his death, have issued a presidential proclamation concerning our observance of a national Thanksgiving Day on November 28th of this year. If so, I have not yet seen it. But since he did proclaim the day two years ago and would undoubtedly have been in similar temper this year, there is a kind of appropriateness in giving thanks for those blessings of life which we can count now.

Just at present, we are conscious of the national mourning which is mixed with our praise. It was, until last Friday, more than 6 decades since a President of the United States had fallen by an assassin’s bullet. It is nearly a century since the Great Emancipator, Abraham Lincoln, was killed. We utterly abhor that kind of violence and we are stunned that it should have happened now. We approve those precautionary measures that are taken to insure the safety of the president and we are grieved that they did not, this time, suffice to prevent the tragedy that shocks and saddens the world.

There are many sobering thoughts that crowd to mind. Justice demands, of course, that the assassin, whether one or more than one, be apprehended and after due trial and conviction, punished. But beyond this lies a burden on the national conscience. When any segment or portion of the population gives over to hatred, there is bred a climate of thought and emotion which encourages those who may tend toward violence. It is like a virus which tends to spread farther through the body politic.

Responsibility in a free society such as ours is an inescapable part of our liberty. I think it was James Madison, the fourth president of the United States, who said: “We have staked the whole future of America, not on the power of government -- far from it --- but on the capacity of mankind for self-government.” We still believe that, here in America. Our whole concept of government, democratic and representative of the people, is based on our belief in the capacity for self-government. And we are sobered by the appearance of those forms of extremism which encourage, or stir up, or even permit, hatred.

It must be profoundly disquieting to Wisconsin citizens that there could have been reported on the radio and in the press an account of a man appearing last Friday afternoon in our own Capital building in Madison wearing a swastika and creating a disturbance. Arrested, he is reported to have said that he was celebrating the death of Kennedy and that this was a miracle wrought for the white race. Surely we must wish to reject such an expression. But our rejection does not completely absolve us from some sober reflection as to the general climate of opinion in which that kind of thing could occur.

When Lincoln was assassinated, there was not only shock and sorrow; there was an outbreak of vengeful passion which was at variance with everything that Abraham Lincoln had stood for. We should have our guard up against any such outbreak at this time.

It seems to me that the message which is reported to have been sent to Mrs. Kennedy by the leader of one right wing group, offering not only condolence, but also the assurance that the assassination of her husband was part of a communist plot, was ill advised. I have no doubt that our Federal Bureau of Investigation will explore that possibility, and every other lead toward solution of the crime that took Mr. Kennedy’s life and deprived the nation of his service.

But, until the investigation has been completed, it seems to me that it would be wise for responsible citizens to disassociate themselves from any such position and from those who make the assertion. Indeed one essential government agency has, early this morning, issued a statement that there is no evidence that any foreign power is involved in the slaying of the President.

We are now plunged by violent tragedy into a period of national mourning. Tomorrow will be a time of prayer for hosts of Americans, as a fallen leader is remembered at worship and commended to the care of Almighty God, and his body then laid to rest. We shall not quickly or easily recover from the shock and shame that his life could thus have been taken in our own land.

But our living must be strong and steady. We do well to remember the address delivered by another martyred President, when Abraham Lincoln, only 40 days before his violent death, concluded his brief second inaugural speech with these treasured words: “With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; --- to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations.”

I asked that the Scripture lesson for this morning begin with the 67th Psalm: “May God be gracious unto us and bless us and make His face to shine upon us.” The authorized, or King James version of the Bible translates it in these words: “God be merciful to us, and bless us; and cause His face to shine upon us.” Probably much of our prayer has been offered in this spirit as we see one leader fallen, and another hand coming to the helm of our nation’s ship of state.

When confronted with some great sorrow or sore trial, I often rely on the truth of what Paul wrote to the Romans when he said: “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God.” [Romans 8: 28]. This is not to say that a tragedy or an obvious evil is to be called good. It is not. Evil is still evil; tragedy is tragedy; wrong is wrong. Assassination is a heinous crime; murder is monstrous. But there can usually be discerned rays of light, or strands of good, in and through and around the tragedy. It is well to look for these evidences of the good. They can be the ground for an authentic thanksgiving.

It was not good that approximately half of the first company of Pilgrims perished in the bitter cold and primitive hardship and short rations of their first New England winter. But it seems that they found plenty for which to give thanks before the season was out.

It is not a good thing that our late President Kennedy has been slain. It is sheer evil. But it is right to look for the good that persists, and to give thanks for it. The blessings of faith; of the health and strength still given to us who live; the spiritual gifts of love and hope -- things enumerated in the presidential proclamation of two years ago -- for these we are thankful. For the opportunities and ability to help with our understanding, our encouragement, our SOS offerings and gifts, we may be thankful. For the freedom to spend a day in thanksgiving and contemplation, in renewal of family ties and national devotion, we can be grateful. We can be thankful, further, for the freedom to disagree in party politics and the liberty to work together, despite differences, for the common good.

I, for one, am thankful for much that became inherent in the presidency of Mr. Kennedy. It was in the exercise of our democratic process in choosing a leader that he was elevated to leadership. Like any other president he was praised and he was criticized. But, despite the criticisms leveled at him, there was a hope of improved relationships becoming apparent to the nation. After some very firm stands with the communist world, there has appeared, at least since this past summer, some ground for cautious hope that the east-west tensions of the world might relax a little. We have had to face frankly the matter of racial justice in our own nation. And, though it is painful, I think this is one of the “goods” that must be pursued.

I am thankful that we live in a land where the government does not have to fall, even when an assassination has occurred. The vice president, by constitutional provision, immediately becomes president, and the government carries on. Were he, in turn, to be disabled or eliminated, there is regulated congressional provision for further succession to the presidential office. So our government is not without a head.

I am thankful that President Johnson has come to the office with a great deal of sorely-needed experience in various facets of government. So we have a warrant for hope that the well-being of our nation will be continue.

I am thankful for the assurance of such a man as former President Eisenhower that the nation is basically sound, and able to carry on despite our shock. I am thankful that he is ready with his counsel when it may be needed or desired by the new President.

I am thankful for the appearances of support from other living former presidents; for the friendly concern of heads of state from abroad. And I hope that we shall rise to our full responsibility as citizens.

Let the peoples praise thee, O God;

let all the peoples praise thee!

Let the nations be glad ..... for thou dost ....

guide the nations upon the earth.

Let the peoples praise thee, O God;

let all the peoples praise Thee! [Psalm 67: 3-5].

It is not easy to say what is “wise” at a time of great personal or national shock. And it is vitally necessary that we be not carried away into anything rash by the stress of emotion. “Look carefully how you walk,” wrote Paul to the people at Ephesus whom he loved, “not as unwise men but as wise.” [Ephesians 5: 15]. Many a philosopher and moralist has pleaded for wisdom. “How much better it is to get wisdom than gold.” [Proverbs 16: 16]. But there is more than one understanding of wisdom. Paul can praise wisdom when it flows from Christian faith, and at the same time can denounce the wisdom of the world.

In the days when the Christian faith confronted the greatness of Rome and Greece, its great rival for the minds of men was the wisdom of those whose schools were in Athens and Alexandria. We still read the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle and admire the lofty moral precepts of the Stoic Philosophers. Much of the Greek wisdom was carried into Christian thinking. It represents man’s climb upward to the realms of the divine. But the Christian gospel has another word to the mind of mankind. It assures us of the “divine descent.” We not only have to struggle to an understanding of God. But God in His goodness comes to us, with His compassion, His healing, His forgiveness, His opening of our understanding.

We are under obligation to live with as much wisdom as possible concerning the character of our time. Christian faith gives no license to laziness. The Christian must be as vitally aware of the world in which he lives as he is receptive to the revelation of God. The reading of the newspaper is important to him, as well as the reading of the Bible.

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” [Ephesians 5: 15-17]. For it is the constant demand upon Christian conscience to redeem the time, to beat back evil, to establish goodness, justice, peace in the life of the earth.

Let there be no emotional drunkenness. Let us give ourselves to honest sorrow at our nation’s tragedy. Let us hold out the hand of sympathy and understanding to those whose personal loss is greatest. Let us hold up the hands of our new president with expectation that he lead us rightly. Let us be filled with overflowing gratitude that we live in a nation that demands our responsible use of liberty. Let us learn from our sorrows, and praise God for our blessings.

“Always and for everything giving thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.”

Amen.

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Delivered in Wisconsin Rapids, November 24, 1963.