Lesson/Family Home Evening: Thanksgiving

Opening Check-Ins

We support each other no matter what.  Invite everyone to share something that made them happy and/or something that made them sad this past week.  You might invite the children to share something they are grateful for and/or what they are doing for Thanksgiving.  They don’t have to share if they don’t want to. We are here to support each other in prayer and presence.

Centering in Silence and Song

If you have a household altar, I recommend using it.  If not, a sense of ritual and sacred time can be initiated by lighting a candle and ringing a bell (three times is usually a good way to help everyone settle into silence). Share a few minutes of silence together. You may sound the bell again when silence is over.  Children often enjoy the responsibility of these tasks (and should be supervised and assisted as appropriate).


You may also listen to this song and discuss what it brings up for each of you:

Prayer of Jesus

If you have a particular version of the prayer that you use, you are encouraged to use it.

This is the "children's translation" that I wrote and use with my students:

God all around us with many sacred names
We roll up our sleeves to create a beautiful world with you
Please care for us and our needs and forgive us when we don’t do our best
Please help us to be forgiving of others, too.
Help us to be good, loving, and safe so we can help create a loving and safe world for everyone.
Amen.

Sacred Story

Background:

Does anyone know the story of Thanksgiving? Why do we celebrate this holiday?

A holiday for gratitude
a history story
time with family
harvest festival-- yummy food!

When I was little, we told stories about Pilgrims and Indians. That there was a big feast and everyone shared their resources and got along. It’s a very nice story and I think it shows how we wish things always went between colonists and native Americans. I think it’s important to remember that indigenous people in this country were not always treated well by European people who settled here. While we like to tell stories about people being kind, we can’t do it in a way that helps us pretend that European Americans were always kind to Native Americans.

Have you guys learned interesting things about native americans in school?

So we don’t really know exactly how the first Thanksgiving happened, kind of like we don’t always know how stories from the Bible really happened. But we tell these stories because we know they teach us important lessons, right? We know it’s important to be thankful, to spend time with our families, and to eat healthy, seasonal food. It is a holiday that helps remind us that sharing and gratitude are important.

Are there books in the Bible that are about thanks?

Psalms are about many things, but they are a collection of songs and poems, and many of them thank God for things. We’re going to read a couple of stories based on Psalms 100 and 104 to think about ways people have said thank you to God.

Bible Story:

Read together "Thank You, God!" in Growing in God's Love: A Story Bible (p. 152-153)

Also read together "God cares for the earth" in Shine On: A Story Bible (p. 130-131).

So today we are going to read TWO story books before our craft.

The first story is about a native American family. I like this story because it tells some of the story of the Americas from the perspective of indigenous people, not white people. I also like it because it celebrates family and being together and gratitude, which are all Thanksgiving themes!

Read together: “When We Were Alone”

And our next books is called “Giving Thanks,” and I think that title kind of explains it.

Read together: “Giving Thanks”

Read together "God is beauty" in Images of God for Young Children (p. 54-55)

Craft:  

"Harvest Corn" with pipe cleaners and beads.  We had a bunch of everything in our craft closet.

Closing Prayer

“Dear God, thank you for healthy food and for harvest festivals that fill our bellies. Thank you for special time with family and friends and for a break from school and work a little bit. Thank you for the Native American communities who were and are stewards of this land. Help us to live and work in peace with all of our brothers and sisters around the world. Thank you for all of our blessings. We will try to be especially thankful this coming week. Amen.”




Curriculum texts used:  

• Shine On: A Story Bible
• Growing In God's Love: A Story Bible by Elizabeth F. Caldwell and Carol A. Wehrheim
• Images of God for Young Children by Marie-Helene Delval

Special Texts used:

• “When We Were Alone”
• “Giving Thanks”