Glenn Thompson: “I thank my brother in the Lord from Colorado for hosting this Special Order tonight, during a special week where we…”

“I thank my brother in the Lord from Colorado for hosting this Special Order tonight, during a special week where we commemorate the Holy Word, the Bible. Mr. Speaker, since 1941, every President since Franklin Delano Roosevelt has declared the week of Thanksgiving as National Bible Week. It is fitting that we celebrate this week along with the national day of Thanksgiving. Both the Bible and this annual holiday provide us with the time to reflect on what is most important in our lives: our faith, our creator, our family, and our love for one another. Mr. Speaker, part of my family lineage can be traced back to those Pilgrims who set out for the New World in search of religious freedom. They endured both hardship and sacrifice at a heavy cost to be able to freely worship without persecution. Forty-five of the 102 Mayflower passengers died in the winter of 1620 to 1621, and the Mayflower colonists suffered greatly during their first winter in the New World from lack of shelter, scurvy, and general conditions of hardship. They brought with them, though, their faith and several Bibles. The event that Americans commonly call the First Thanksgiving was celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first harvest in the New World in October of 1621. This feast lasted 3 days, and, as accounted by attendee Edward Winslow, it was attended by 90 Native Americans and 53 Pilgrims. Thanks to William Bradford's journal, we have knowledge of how these Pilgrims gave thanks.…”