As people of faith, we are “people rescued by God.”; we are reliant upon God; we are in relationship with God. At the very heart of our faith story is the gift of God moving in and among God’s people, redeeming, renewing, and restoring. Understanding this, our viewpoint of the world shifts. No longer about me, but about us. It is a reminder from whom and where all our blessings flow.
November 23, 2025
The Welcome Table
“Thanksgiving for the Harvest”
Deuteronomy 26: 1-11
Rev. Dr. Heather W. McColl
Deuteronomy 26: 1-11
Once you have entered the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you take possession of it and are settled there, take some of the early produce of the fertile ground that you have harvested from the land the Lord your God is giving you, and put it in a basket. Then go to the location the Lord your God selects for his name to reside. Go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him: “I am declaring right now before the Lord my[a] God that I have indeed arrived in the land the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us.”
The priest will then take the basket from you and place it before the Lord your God’s altar. Then you should solemnly state before the Lord your God:
“My father was a starving Aramean. He went down to Egypt, living as an immigrant there with few family members, but that is where he became a great nation, mighty and numerous. The Egyptians treated us terribly, oppressing us and forcing hard labor on us. So we cried out for help to the Lord, our ancestors’ God. The Lord heard our call. God saw our misery, our trouble, and our oppression. The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, with awesome power, and with signs and wonders. He brought us to this place and gave us this land—a land full of milk and honey. So now I am bringing the early produce of the fertile ground that you, Lord, have given me.”
Set the produce before the Lord your God, bowing down before the Lord your God. Then celebrate all the good things the Lord your God has done for you and your family—each one of you along with the Levites and the immigrants who are among you.
Thanksgiving for the Harvest Deuteronomy 26: 1-11
This may seem like an odd text to choose for Thanksgiving Sunday. After all, it doesn’t really mention thanksgiving. Usually for Thanksgiving Sunday, we like something which reminds us to give thanks, you know like Paul’s letter to the Philippians, where he tells them to rejoice always, to give thanks in prayer. Or if it really is about our personal preferences for particular Scriptures and the corresponding holiday, we would definitely prefer one of the psalms, probably Psalm 100, which tells us to enter the house of the Lord with thanksgiving. How could we not? It sets the tone for celebration and glad tidings, reminding us that we are God’s, reminding us of God’s goodness, reminding us that God’s love endures forever. It’s simple. It’s short and to the point. It isn’t complicated like everything else in our lives and in the world right now. And if we are being completely open and honest with ourselves right now, that’s what we need. That’s what we want because let’s face it…we know there will be even more complications waiting for us as we gather around the table this week with family and friends. Grief, loved ones passed, relationships, old hurts, tender feelings, the strain of being polite. There will be an avoidance of politics so we can hopefully keep the peace. There will be unwritten rules about who to keep separate and who can sit where and the piece de resistance…someone finally saying, “For the love of God, can we not just have one meal where we get along?’
All of this is waiting for us this week as we gather around the Table to give thanks. All these complications in our relationships, in our families, in our homes, in our world, just waiting to pull up a chair and join us as we sit down to give thanks. I know what everyone is thinking, myself included…Can we not just have one Sunday where it is simple, where it doesn’t stretch us, where we can just reside in the good news of God’s love and grace? Can we just have one text which invites us to find sanctuary, to find renewal, to find strength and purpose?
Yes And…we find such strength, such renewal, such peace in our text from Deuteronomy. It may not be our “traditional” Thanksgiving text, but it does embody the idea of thanksgiving, reminding us to give thanks for all that is good in our lives. It also goes one step farther and gives us the why behind our thanksgiving, grounding it in ritual, story and faith, moving our Thanksgiving from going through the motions and obligations to responding to God’s grace in our lives. Sure, like the other Thanksgiving texts we may prefer, it reminds us that God is God and we are not. It also reminds us that since the beginning, God has been moving in and among God’s people, guiding us, leading us. It also reminds us that the foundation of our giving thanks is not about who we are and what we have accomplished but rather whose we are and how that knowledge shapes our identity in community. And it does all that through these particular verses:
“My father was a starving Aramean. He went down to Egypt, living as an immigrant there with few family members, but that is where he became a great nation, mighty and numerous. 6 The Egyptians treated us terribly, oppressing us and forcing hard labor on us. So we cried out for help to the Lord, our ancestors’ God. The Lord heard our call. God saw our misery, our trouble, and our oppression. The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, with awesome power, and with signs and wonders. He brought us to this place and gave us this land – a land full of milk and honey. So now I am bringing the early produce of the fertile ground that you, Lord, have given me.”
As people of faith, this text reminds us that our good news, our saving grace, our core identity, is that we are “people rescued by God.” We didn’t get here by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. We didn’t get here all on our own. We are here, given life by the grace of our God, our God who loves us more than we could ever imagine.
This text from Deuteronomy reminds us that as people of faith, we are in relationship with God, that at the very heart of our faith story is the gift of God moving in and among God’s people, redeeming, renewing, and restoring. This knowledge is awe inspiring. It is humbling. It is renewing. It is too wonderful to comprehend. This knowledge is what shapes our thanksgiving because it reminds us that it is not about us. It has never been about us. It has always been about who God is and the gift of God’s transforming grace in our lives.
With this understanding our relationship with God shaping our narrative, our viewpoint on the world, of the world shifts. We realize that we are renewed, redeemed and reconciled Not because God had to but because God wanted to, because God did, because God still is. Let me say that again…Today, we are renewed, strengthened, encouraged, redeemed, not because God had to but because God did, and God is continuing to do so, bringing healing and wholeness, not for a select few but for all of God’s people.
That is why we give thanks. We know that God saw God’s own people being oppressed and would not let that indignity stand or continue. We know that God has given us a promise that this world will not have the last word. We know that love and light will always overcome because of who our God is.
Or in the words of someone way smarter than me…as people of faith, we can and we do embrace the complication of life not because of who we are but because we know God is moving in and among God’s people, bringing forth new life like God has done since the beginning of time. When we approach life’s complications in such a way, we realize this narrative of thanksgiving can and does change our world. “BECAUSE IF YOU’RE GRATEFUL, YOU’RE NOT FEARFUL, AND IF YOU’RE NOT FEARFUL, YOU’RE NOT VIOLENT. IF YOU’RE GRATEFUL, YOU ACT OUT OF A SENSE OF ENOUGH AND NOT OF A SENSE OF SCARCITY, AND YOU ARE WILLING TO SHARE. IF YOU ARE GRATEFUL, YOU ARE ENJOYING THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PEOPLE, AND YOU ARE RESPECTFUL TO EVERYBODY. When we approach life’s complications in such a way, we realize that God’s Beloved community is coming to fruition in and among God’s people. See simple right? And all it takes is us, giving thanks because we know God is here, because we know God acted not because God had to but because God wanted to, and that God is continuing to do so bringing healing and wholeness. See simple right? It just takes us giving thanks to whom all blessings flow. Amen.
See also: Theology Tuesday for Sunday, November 23, 2025 – Thanksgiving for the Harvest Deuteronomy 26: 1-11.
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