Faith, Religion & Scripture, Thanksgiving

“Sacrifice the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving”

Recently, some words I had read before in Psalm 107 struck me with new force: “Let them sacrifice the sacrifice of thanksgiving” (Psalm 107:22). I’m sure the Psalmist wasn’t thinking of our American Thanksgiving holiday when he wrote; neither the nation nor its holiday existed then. And I’m not thinking primarily of the thank offering to which he probably referred. (See Leviticus 7:11-21; a thank offering was a “peace offering for thanksgiving.”) I’m not Jewish, and that was thousands of years ago. Still, I have wondered: What could my “sacrifice of thanksgiving” be, and how might I offer it? And for what ought I to be thankful?