Gracious God,
On this day of gratitude, we gather as one people, united across traditions and communities, to lift our hearts in thanksgiving. You are the giver of every good gift, the One who calls us to remember the blessings we enjoy and also the neighbors who are still waiting for justice, dignity, and daily bread.
Teach us to give thanks not with words alone but with lives that reflect your compassion. Open our eyes to families who hunger, to fragile and poor people, to women who are despised, to forgotten and ill people and our elders, to grieving ones, to migrants seeking safety, to those pushed to the margins by systems of inequality, and to every person whose humanity has been overlooked or denied. Move us to act with courage, to advocate with love, and to build a table wide enough for all your children.
As we receive the abundance of this season, remind us that true gratitude moves outward, becoming generosity, solidarity, and hope. Make us instruments of peace in a divided world, bridge-builders where there is conflict, and healers where creation groans.
Bless our gatherings tonight. Bless every united home. And bless our shared commitment to walk humbly, love mercy, and do justice, in the way of Jesus Christ, our savior and our guide. Amen.
Warmly,
Rev. David Gaitan
