I am thankful for the three United Methodist universities I attended and for all of the United Methodist ministers and professors who encouraged me to do no harm to others, to actively do good in the world, to have an open mind, and to be accepting of persons who have different experiences of the world and orient themselves to religion in different ways. I am thankful that through their wisdom and guidance, I do not feel compelled to attempt to make everyone have the same views about the world and the Divine Mystery.

I am thankful for my Unitarian Universalist parents and all of my UU friends who helped show me the importance of seeking truth wherever it may be found and that love, compassion, and justice are ways of being in the world open to all persons. I am thankful for my Muslim friends who have shown me a sacrificial commitment to God and to love and service of others in the world that leaves me in awe and gratitude. I am thankful for my Jewish relatives and friends and for the prophets of the Hebrew Bible who remind me of the importance of the liberation of the oppressed and justice for the poor and vulnerable among us. I am thankful for my Buddhist friends who have taught me about mindfulness, being fully present to the moment, letting go of unhelpful attachments, living a simple life, and having a deep and abiding compassion for others and all sentient beings. I am thankful for Sikh neighbors who have expressed some of the deepest levels of hospitality I have ever witnessed. I am thankful for my encounters with friends in the Hindu tradition who have taught me so much about the power of non-violence and satyagraha. I am thankful for my indigenous friends who have shown me a deep commitment to community and care for the earth in the midst of ongoing attempts to annihilate their traditions, language, and culture. I am thankful for my atheist and agnostic friends and family who are often more loving and compassionate to people and the community of all life than those who identify themselves as religious.

I am thankful for Jesus for continuing the way of the Hebrew prophets by bringing good news to the poor, liberation to the oppressed, and loving care for the most vulnerable. I am thankful for Jesus’ teachings about peacemaking, humility, and justice. I am thankful for his willingness to turn over the tables of greed and corruption, and for not acquiescing to the oppressive power of empire, even to the point of being brutally and publicly executed owing to his resistance to the ways of the empire. I have faith that Jesus’ way of love and justice in the world will never die no matter how many times the empire attempts to kill it or co-opt it. I can only hope to follow Jesus’ way of love and justice in the world with similar courage and care and to grow in love for others that brings justice and liberation in this world.

I trust that the Divine Mystery is such that nothing will be ultimately lost of the love, compassion, and justice that is lived out by the billions of people on Earth who orient themselves to religion differently. I also trust that the Divine Mystery has no desire, compulsion, or plan for the eternal suffering of anyone just because they have different beliefs about religion and the cosmos. My faith is in the power of love that can bring us together in just and beloved community in which we all care for one another in the midst of our beautiful diversity, and I pray that the power of this love will bring us salvation from the harm and death that the ways of hatred, fear, and greed are bringing to both our human community and the broader ecological community of which we are all a part. I am thankful for all you who are sharing in this struggle for beloved community, and I pray that love will win.