什麼是感恩節？What Is Thanksgiving Day?
作者：Stephen Nichols 譯者：駱鴻銘
感恩節是一個美國人的節日，可以一直追溯到美國立國之前。清教徒在1620年登陸美洲。他們面對極惡劣的情況，是他們完全沒有意料到的。第一年有將近一半的人過世。然後他們迎來一個豐收的玉米收穫。在1621年的十一月，他們決定要舉行一個感恩的宴饗。Thanksgiving is an
American holiday that stretches all the way back to a time long before America
became a nation. The Pilgrims landed in 1620. They faced brutal conditions and
were woefully unprepared. Roughly half of them died in that first year. Then
they had a successful harvest of corn. In November of 1621 they decided to
celebrate a feast of thanksgiving.
Edward Winslow是在1621年吃第一頓感恩節大餐的人之一。他提到：Edward Winslow was
among those who ate that first thanksgiving meal in 1621. He noted:
「我們在收穫莊稼後，總督派了四個人去打獵，這樣我們在收穫勞苦耕種的果實後，可以用特別的方式共同慶祝…...雖然那時的收成不如現在那麼豐盛，但是靠著上帝的恩典，我們絲毫沒有感到欠缺。」“Our harvest being
gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a
special manner rejoice together after we gathered the fruit of our labors. …And
although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by
the goodness of God, we are so far from want.”
第一次的感恩節除了有野禽可吃外，印第安人也帶來五頭鹿，作為這節慶的奉獻。他們應該也吃了玉米。In addition to the
fowl eaten that first Thanksgiving, the Indians also brought along five deer as
their contribution to the feast. Presumably they also ate corn.
幾個世紀以來，美國人都會在秋天慶祝感恩節。有些總統發表一些宣言。亞伯拉罕•林肯則發布了一篇文告，宣布把感恩節定為國定假日。在1863年，隨著美國被南北戰爭所撕裂，他宣告說：Over the centuries,
Americans continued to celebrate feasts of thanksgiving in the fall. Some
presidents issued proclamations. Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation for a
perpetual national holiday set aside for thanksgiving. In 1863, with the nation
torn apart by the Civil War, he declared:
「我因此邀請美國各地的同胞，以及那些在海上的，還有那些在外地漂流的，把十一月的最後一個禮拜四分別出來，當作感謝和讚美那住在天上的、我們慈善的父親的日子。」“I do therefore
invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those
who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and
observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise
to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”
因此我們就有了一個在極大苦難和掙扎的時期中孕育並誕生的節日。我們也許會以為在苦難和掙扎的日子裏會讓人忘恩負義，而富裕的日子才會使人感恩。很不幸，事情剛好相反。美國的卡通電視節目《辛普森一家》，有一幕令人心寒的戲證明了這點。有人請辛普森為一頓飯作謝飯禱告，他很快禱告說：「親愛的上帝，我們自己為這頓飯付出了所有的辛勞。所以，我們沒有什麼好感謝的。」So we have a
holiday of thanksgiving born in and further nurtured during times of great
adversity and struggle. We might think that times of adversity and challenge
would spawn ingratitude, while times of prosperity would spawn gratitude.
Sadly, the reverse is true. A chilling scene from the animated television show
The Simpsons demonstrates this. Bart Simpson was called upon to pray for a
meal, to which he promptly prayed, “Dear God, We paid for all of this stuff
ourselves, so thanks for nothing.”
富裕帶來的是忘恩負義。海德堡要理問答的作者深明此理。問答28問到，我們知道上帝創造並眷顧萬物，那對我們有什麼益處呢？答：「我們可以在患難中忍耐，在富足時感恩。」摩西也知道這點。在申命記裏，他為以色列展望一個物質豐裕的時代，然後在聖靈的默示下嚴厲地警告他們，不要忘記上帝。「恐怕你心裡說：『這貨財是我力量、我能力得來的。』」（申八17） 這些全是靠我們自己完成的。沒有什麼好感恩的。人類的本性傾向於忘恩負義。Prosperity breeds
ingratitude. The writers of the Heidelberg Catechism knew this. Question 28
asks what it benefits us to know that God creates and sustains all things. The
answer is it gives patience in adversity and gratitude in prosperity. Moses
also knew this. In Deuteronomy, he looks ahead to times of material prosperity
for Israel, then sternly warns, inspired by the Holy Spirit, not to forget God.
“Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have
gotten me this wealth’” (Deut. 8:17). We did this all ourselves. Thanks for
nothing. Human nature trends toward ingratitude.
另一個使我們不知感恩的罪魁禍首是我們的「福利文化」（entitlement culture），簡單來說，就是我們為什麼要為我們所配得的、為我們有權得到的來感恩呢？我們的文化告訴我們，這是別人欠我們的，因此我為什麼要感謝別人？Another culprit
breeding ingratitude is our entitlement culture. Simply put, why should we be
grateful for what we deserve and what we have a right to? I was owed this, goes
the culture, therefore why would I say thank you?
第三個罪魁禍首是加州戴維斯大學心理學教授羅伯特•沂蒙斯所稱的，「向誰」的問題。在他最近對於感恩的科學研究中，沂蒙斯認識到，感恩會引發一個單一卻很重要的問題：當我們說謝謝你，我們到底是在向誰感恩呢？A third culprit
concerns what UC Davis professor of psychology Dr. Robert Emmons calls the “to whom” question. In his scientific study of gratitude,
Emmons came to the realization that gratitude raises a singular and significant
question: When we say thank you, to whom are we grateful?
這裡有趣的是，倘若我們回去追溯這個「向誰」的問題，就像是在拉某件織品的線頭，我們會在每條線索的盡頭找到唯一的答案，那就是上帝。我們要向誰感恩？從終極的意義來說，我們是向上帝感恩。The interesting
thing here is that if we trace this “to
whom” line of
questioning back, like pulling on the threads of some tapestry, we find a
singular answer at the end of each and every thread. The answer is God. To whom
are we grateful? We are grateful in an ultimate sense to God.
我們的施恩者「常施恩惠，從天降雨，賞賜豐年，叫你們飲食飽足，滿心喜樂。」（徒十四17）神學家稱此為普遍恩典。上帝是創造主，祂眷顧所有的造物，並提供我們一切的需要。祂賜給我們每個人生命和氣息。Our Benefactor does
“good by giving you rains from heaven and
fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness” (Acts 14:17). Theologians call this common
grace. God as creator cares for all His creation and provides for our needs. He
gives us our very lives and our very breath.
我們的施恩者也通過賜予祂最寶貴的禮物，也就是祂的愛子來行善。神學家稱之為救贖恩典。禮物通常會讓禮物者破費。聖父差遣祂的兒子來到世上。是一件何等昂貴的禮物。因此保羅讚歎說，「感謝上帝，因祂有說不盡的恩賜！」（林後九15）Our Benefactor also does good by giving His
most precious gift, the gift of His Beloved Son. Theologians call this saving
grace. Gifts often cost the giver. What a costly gift the Father has given us
in sending the Son. So Paul exclaims, “Thanks be to God for his inexpressible
gift” (2 Cor. 9:15).
當我們把上帝視為我們應該「向誰」感恩的對象，我們就會明白感恩的必要，以及感恩所欠缺的。一個越來越轉向世俗的文化，會越來越不知道感恩。我們以為是靠自己完成了一切，這是何等的虛妄；我們以為自己配得到一切，或這是基本的權利，這是何等的錯誤。倘若我們追根究柢，也會知道在那線索的盡頭是什麼。我們知道我們必定會面對一位創造者。我們知道我們必定要對一位創造者負責任。我們說謝謝你，意味著我們是倚靠他人的，不是獨立自主的。但我們寧可做個不知感恩的人。保羅說我們從上帝留給我們的證據都認識上帝，但是我們卻不把祂「當作上帝榮耀祂，也不感謝祂」（羅一21）。如此一個向下墮落的螺旋就開始了。一個不知感恩的文化會更向下傾斜，直到衰敗為止。When we consider
God as the “to whom” we are thankful, we may well be seeing both
the necessity of thanksgiving and the eclipse of thanksgiving. As culture veers
more and more towards a secular state it shrinks back from gratitude. So vainly
we think we did this all ourselves. So wrongly we think we deserve, or even
have a fundamental right to, all of this. We also know what is at the end of
the string if we pull on it long enough. We know that we will be confronted
with a Creator. We know we will be accountable to a Creator. Saying thank you
means we are dependent, not independent. We would rather be ungrateful. Paul
says we know God from all the evidence He has left of Himself, but we don’t
want to “honor him or give thanks to him” (Rom 1:21). Then the downward spiral
begins. A culture of ingratitude careens ever downward into decline.
我們不應該成為這樣的人，就是把十一月的第四個星期四看成不過是一個觀賞美式足球或過度放縱的日子的人。我們應當把這一天分別出來，為我們所擁有的一切而感恩，並且明白我們所擁有的一切都是上帝賜給我們的。當然，這樣的感恩不應該只限於三百六十五天裏的一天。We should not be
counted among those who see the fourth Thursday in November as nothing more
than a day of football and over-indulgence. We should be thankful for one day
set apart to consider all that we have and realize that all that we have has
been given to us. Of course, such gratitude should in no wise be limited to one
day out of 365.
在被囚禁在納粹集中營六尺寬、九呎長的囚室裏，長達一年四個月零十八天之後，潘霍華（Dietrich Bonhoeffer）寫下了這段文字，提醒我們感恩節的意義：Having been
imprisoned for one year, four months, and eighteen days in a Nazi cell
measuring 6 ft. x 9 ft, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote what is certainly a reminder
of the meaning of the Thanksgiving holiday:
你們千萬不要懷疑上帝帶領我所走過的路，我是帶著感恩和歡喜的心一路走來的。我過去的一生充滿了上帝的恩典，而我的罪是被基督釘十字架所顯明的赦罪之愛所遮蓋的。對我所遇見的人，我充滿感恩，而我只盼望他們不必為我傷心，但願他們也能和我一樣，總是對上帝的憐憫和赦免充滿確定和感恩。」“You must never
doubt that I’m traveling with
gratitude and cheerfulness along the road where I’m being led. My past life is brim-full of God’s
goodness, and my sins are covered by the forgiving love of Christ crucified.
I’m so thankful for the people I have met, and I only hope that they never have
to grieve about me, but that they, too, will always be certain of and thankful
for God’s mercy and forgiveness.”
尼克勞斯（Stephen J. Nichols）博士是Reformation Bible College的校長，也是Ligonier Ministries的教務主任，並主講5 Minutes in Church History這個播客頻道。
參看：
從感恩節的由來看我們向清教徒學習什麽
文 /林慈信
