Thanksgiving 2025: That All Might be Fed
+Bishop Dee Pederson
Praise and Thanksgiving
- Praise and thanksgiving, God, we would offer for all things living, you have made good:
harvest of sown fields, fruits of the orchard, hay from the mown fields, blossom and wood. - God, bless the labor we bring to serve you, that with our neighbor we may be fed.
Sowing or tilling, we would work with you, harvesting, milling for daily bread. - Father, providing food for your children, by Wisdom’s guiding teach us to share
one with another, so that, rejoicing with us, all others may know your care. - Then will your blessing reach ev’ry people, freely confessing your gracious hand.
Where you are reigning, no one will hunger; your love sustaining showers the land.
-ELW 689
Text: H. Francis Yardley, 1911-1990; Frank J. Whiteley, b. 1914, alt. © H. Francis Yardley.
Duplication in any form prohibited without permission or valid license from copyright administrator.
All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #737666-A.
One of the great joys of serving as your bishop is driving across the territory of this synod to be with you – and witnessing the changing landscape through the seasons. I get to see fields move from winter rest to spring planting, lush summer growth, and now into this especially beautiful season of fall. The corn, beans, and beets are harvested; fields lie bare, and winter wheat is beginning to rise in some places. This year’s cycle of labor is complete. The harvest is in. Together, we are helping to feed our neighbors and the world. It is time to give thanks.
And yet, even as we offer our gratitude for God’s abundance, we also feel the weight of worry. We are mindful of concerns around agriculture, markets, tariffs, health care, rising costs for everything, and the reduction of food benefits for members of our communities who are most in need. Many of you have responded by starting new food drives and creating space in your churches for food pantries. A number of grant proposals approved by our Endowment Fund Committee this year focused on support for community food ministries. Many congregations are collecting gift cards to share.
In this season of abundance, we hear the call of scripture again and again to love and care for the neighbor; remember those who are widowed, without family, and newly arrived; to give as we have received; to open our hand to those in need; and to recognize that as we care for all of these, we care for Jesus himself.
One of the options for the Dismissal at the end of worship is, “Go in peace. Remember the poor.” May we do more than simply go and “remember.” May we turn our prayers into action and make a difference, so that God’s blessings may indeed “reach ev’ry people.”
As you prepare to celebrate another Thanksgiving, I invite you to consider how you can participate in your church’s food ministries. And if your congregation does not yet have one, consider how to begin – and partner with others who are doing the same. Share with ELCA World Hunger or ELCA Good Gifts.
This is the vision of God’s reign:
“They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore…For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” - Rev. 7:16-17 NRSVUE
During Thanksgiving 2025, may you be “blessed to be a blessing.”
+ grateful to God for you,
Rev. Dee Pederson, D.Min.
Bishop, Southwestern Minnesota Synod, ELCA
