Thanksgiving Day 2025

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 Imagine for a moment the scene of that very first Thanksgiving.

A small group of settlers, worn down by hunger and a brutal winter.
Native people who had shown them how to plant, hunt, and simply survive.
A fragile peace.
A table that was simple… humble… and probably not all that full.
And yet they gathered—together—because despite everything, they chose gratitude.

And that brings us to a question worth asking this morning:

As Americans today, how are we different from the people who celebrated the first Thanksgiving…
and how are we the same?

How We Are Different

Those early Americans lived with real scarcity.
Food could run out. Illness could sweep through a community. Shelter wasn’t guaranteed.
We, on the other hand, live surrounded by comforts and conveniences they could never imagine.

Their world was unpredictable—one harsh winter could be the end.
We can insulate ourselves with technology, insurance, savings, and plans.

They also knew, every single day, that they needed each other.
No one survived alone.

We, with all our independence, can forget that.

How We Are the Same

Yet for all the differences, we share so much with them.

Like them, we still face uncertainty—not from hunger or cold, but from a world that feels anxious, divided, and fragile.

Like them, we long for community—for belonging, for connection, for something deeper than the noise of life.

And like them, we must choose gratitude.
Not because life is perfect, but because God is faithful.

The Gospel: Ten Are Healed, One Returns

In today’s Gospel, Jesus meets ten lepers—ten people on the margins of society.
He heals them all. Every single one.
But only one comes back to give thanks.

And it’s a Samaritan—the outsider, the unexpected one.

Why is he the only one who returns?

Because gratitude is more than a feeling.
Gratitude is a return.

He comes back to the source of the blessing.
He places himself again at the feet of Christ.
He recognizes that the greatest gift he received wasn’t just his healing—it was the love of the One who healed him.

Thanksgiving Is About Returning

The first Thanksgiving was exactly that—a return.
A return to God in gratitude.
A return to community after hardship.
A return to humility, to dependence on something greater than ourselves.

And today, we are invited to make that same return.

The table may be fuller.
The houses warmer.
The world more complex.
But in our hearts, we are no different from those early Americans or the Samaritan in today’s Gospel.

We still need God.
We still long for healing.
We still depend on grace.
And we still need to return.

So How Are We the Same?

We are people who know what it is to depend on God.

How Are We Different?

We have more abundance—but not necessarily more gratitude.

A Simple Thanksgiving Invitation

So today, before the turkey, before the football, before the noise of the day begins, let us return—like that Samaritan—
back to the feet of Jesus.

To acknowledge:

  • the blessings we did not earn,

  • the mercies we did not deserve,

  • the love we cannot repay.

Because the measure of our Thanksgiving isn’t the size of the feast,
but the depth of our return to God.

May our gratitude lead us back to Christ today…
and may it lead us to live as grateful people every day.

Happy Thanksgiving, and God bless you!


Location: Morrisonville, NY, USA

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