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Sunday before Thanksgiving. Themes can include gratitude to God, gratitude for loved ones, gathering the family together, breaking bread together, Native American perspective on the holiday, Puritans, remembering those less fortunate.

From Tapestry of Faith Curricula

Unitarian Universalist Perspectives

Guest at Your Table

Guest at Your Table is an annual tradition in which congregation members take home a box featuring people that the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) has worked with recently. These people are your 'guests,' and you are asked to share your blessings with them each meal by putting your spare change in the box. As you give to your guests, you can learn about them by reading the Stories of Hope booklet. UUSC uses the funds raised through this program to support their human-rights work in the United States and around the world!

Most congregations begin their Guest at Your Table celebration on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, but please check your congregational calendar for your opening date.

Some congregations celebrate bread communion at this service. This ritual can include the breaking and passing around of bread throughout the congregation. Congregants eat the bread, or feed it to one another, while being led in a reflection about gratitude, sharing and being together in community.

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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4

  • From above, seven people hold hands around a table before eating.
    Once upon a time there was a family. Maybe this family had not quite enough to eat. Or maybe they had just about enough. Or … perhaps they had MORE than enough. You might not have been able to tell. THEY might not have been able to tell. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if you have enough or not.
    Story | By Dawn Star Sarahs-Borchelt | April 3, 2020 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 6th Principle (World Community), Abundance, Family, Generosity, Home, Hospitality, Humanism, Inclusion, Secular, Stewardship, Thanksgiving, Unitarian Universalism, Wealth
  • A table filled with cups, casseroles, and soup being ladled out
    “There’s a hunger beyond food that’s expressed in food, and that’s why feeding is always a kind of miracle. It speaks to a bigger desire.” Note: one version of this quote, quasi-attributed, appears in Take This Bread (p. 23) by Sara Miles.
    Quote | By William E. Swing | June 1, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Abundance, Body, Communion (Christian), Direct Experience, Food, Food Justice, Generosity, Hospitality, Humanism, Searching, Secular, Stewardship, Table Grace, Thanksgiving
  • On a towel, a freshly baked loaf of bread. Behind it is a small dish of butter.
    We light our chalice as a symbol of gratitude as we celebrate the abundance of our lives together. In this sanctuary we harvest bushels of strength for one another, and offer our crop with the hands of compassion and generosity....
    Chalice Lighting | By Katie Sivani Gelfand | May 31, 2018 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Abundance, Christianity, Communion (Christian), Community, Generosity, Grace, Gratitude, Stewardship, Strength, Table Grace, Thanksgiving, Unitarian Universalism
  • a bowl full of kale soup, spoon sticking out
    This script is intended to take place over the arc of a worship service or children's chapel. People Needed: Narrator (can be Worship Leader) and Five Villagers....
    Script | By Tiffany Sapp | January 11, 2016 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 6th Principle (World Community), Abundance, Community, Food, Generosity, Gratitude, Stewardship, Thanksgiving, Unity, WorshipWeb