Giving Thanks for Food ...and those who pick and prepare it

A Resource from the National Farm Worker Ministry

Leader: We gather this Thanksgiving season with friends and family for a new way of doing Thanksgiving – via socially distanced gatherings or zoom gatherings or something extra special and new.

All: We will all remember the year of 2020 and how we found new ways to give thanks and praise God.

Leader: Thanksgiving as we celebrate it is a me of sharing food and fellowship.

All: A me to share with loved ones and a me to reach out and share with those in need – whether physical or spiritual. And a me to give thanks.

Leader: We give special thanks for the farm workers who pick our food,

All: Who toil in the rain and cold, and under the scorching sun.

Leader: We recognize the legacy of slavery in our treatment of farm workers who remain exempt from state minimum wage protecon,

All: And are oen housed in crowded, substandard housing, offering lile privacy and risking spread of disease in this moment of COVID-19.

Leader: We give thanks for the poultry processing workers and other food workers who have goen the food from the fields to our stores.

All: We know the dangers these essenal workers have endured for our food.

Leader: We give thanks for grocery store workers, more essenal workers, who have made sure we could purchase food on a regular basis.

All: We will remember to thank our grocery store workers.

Leader: We give thanks for those who prepare our food – at home, at a restaurant or at a soup kitchen.

All: We recognize the love that goes into preparing our food.

Leader: We give thanks to God from whom all blessing flow. As Psalm 107 verse 1 says,

All: Give thanks to God, for God is good. God’s love endures forever.

Leader: This Thanksgiving, we will give thanks for those who picked, processed, sold and prepared our food. And we give thanks to God for the food for our bodies and the food for our souls. Bless this food, bless these people. Bless this Thanksgiving.

All: Amen.