When you hear the word “Thanksgiving,” what comes to mind? As a child, the word immediately brought to my mind’s eye a huge turkey, roasted golden brown. I saw potatoes, stuffing, peas and onions, gravy, and of course pumpkin pie. I saw children and parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles happily gathered around the table. I was unaware that everyone was white, just like the famous Norman Rockwell painting. But then I learned more about the Pilgrims and Wampanoags gathered around the table at the first Thanksgiving feast, and that fleeting moment of peace, friendship and mutual gratitude..But through the years, new images come to mind:
- Native Americans amassing in Plymouth, Massachusetts, for a National Day of Mourning—mourning for their ancestors and the theft of their lands.
- Undocumented children being separated from their parents at the border of this country.
- Trans women, fleeing the violence of their countries, seeking safety in this country, only to be brutalized and left to die in detention camps.
- The faces of so many others in our times, who like the Pilgrims, come to this land seeking freedom from violence and oppression, shelter, a new home, and a new life.
Today, I want to lift up gratitude for this congregation for choosing, in our words and actions, to become a sanctuary congregation.
Whatever our nation or race or religion or language we are all one family, and we have to help one another.
Join us this Sunday, as we lift up the theme of gratitude.
