Thanksgiving and the Eucharist: Hospitality as Migrant Solidarity

Thanksgiving is often imagined as a national moment of reunion and gratitude, yet Christian tradition invites us into a deeper understanding of thanksgiving that flows from the Eucharistic table.

The Eucharist teaches us that gratitude is not simply a response to personal abundance but a participation in the life of God who receives us in generosity and love. Alexander Schmemann, the renowned orthodox theologian of the 20^th century, explains that Eucharist is the true state of humanity and the life of paradise. In Communion the church journeys into the realm of the Kingdom where the world’s meaning is restored through worship and grace.^[1] When Christians gather for Communion, they acknowledge that the goodness of God, rather than the security of their circumstances, is the foundation of their gratitude. For this reason, Thanksgiving becomes more than a cultural holiday and instead becomes a practice shaped by the table where God welcomes all people without condition.

Anglican theologian Rowan Williams helps us recognize that in the Eucharist we are always guests who have been received with tenderness and kindness. He explains that to share in Holy Communion is to know that we are welcomed and desired by Christ who hosts us with joy.^[2] This recognition shapes Christian identity because those who are welcomed by God are sent to welcome others in the same spirit of grace. Williams writes that having experienced the hospitality of God in Christ, the church is set free to become truly hospitable in its own life and witness.^[3] In this light Thanksgiving becomes an occasion to reflect on the gift of divine welcome and to ask how such welcome should reshape our posture toward migrants, refugees and all who live in movement and vulnerability. In doing so, we remember that vulnerability is a universal condition, not confined to those labeled ‘migrant’ or ‘refugee.’ All of us live within the God-given rhythms of movement and change, learning to receive and extend hospitality along the way.

The Eucharistic table forms the church into a community of belonging, reconciliation, and shared identity. Pentecostal theologian Chris E.W. Green notes that the Lord’s Supper is a community making meal because in these gatherings believers receive God and receive one another in Christ.^[4] The Eucharist does not remain a symbolic act at a distance from daily life but calls believers to imitate Christ in ordinary and persevering acts of companionship and service.^[5] Because the Spirit draws the church into unity at the table, the church becomes compelled to live lives marked by radical hospitality that mirrors the generosity of God.^[6] Even in the fullness of God’s final reign, Christ rules through hospitality, humility and love, which means that the Eucharistic life is inseparable from a commitment to welcome others in the same spirit.^[7] The table therefore confronts individualism and invites the church into practices that create shared life and mutual recognition.

Many migrant communities across the world understand the significance of the table in profound ways. Migrants often carry with them stories of forced displacement, economic hardship, war, persecution or natural disaster, and these stories shape their experience of belonging and community. When migrants gather at the Eucharistic table they bring their histories of struggle, resilience and hope, and these become part of the church’s collective memory. Hispanic (diaspora) theologian Wilmer Estrada Carrasquillo reminds the church that its gathering must be centered at the table because it is at the table that doctrine becomes embodied and where identity is formed through relationship and shared presence.^[8] The experiences of migrant communities enrich the church by reminding all believers that Christian identity is itself a migrant identity, as Scripture repeatedly calls God’s people to remember their own experience as strangers who were welcomed by God.

The biblical narrative reinforces the connection between thanksgiving and hospitality toward the stranger. In Deuteronomy the people of Israel are commanded to love the stranger because they themselves were strangers in the land of Egypt.^[9] Jesus teaches that to welcome the stranger is to welcome Him and that acts of mercy offered to vulnerable people are received by Christ as personal acts of love.^[10] The early church broke bread with gladness and simplicity of heart while caring for the needs of those who were hungry or displaced in their midst.^[11] These scriptural witnesses show that gratitude is inseparable from justice, compassion and welcome, and that gratitude reaches its fullness only when expressed through acts of mercy. Thanksgiving therefore becomes an invitation to a way of life that reflects God’s consistent concern for the marginalized and uprooted.

Peruvian theologian Darío López writes that Jesus calls us out of indifference and apathy and into a commitment that is grounded in compassion and action.^[12] Such a shift away from self-protection and toward compassionate engagement is at the heart of Eucharistic formation. A Thanksgiving that remains content with private abundance while ignoring those who hunger for refuge or dignity becomes disconnected from the Gospel. Jesus not only welcomes others with hospitality but also awakens hospitality in those who encounter Him, and this awakening becomes the pattern the Church seeks to embody.^[13] When Christians gather at the Lord’s table they are shaped by the One who feeds the multitudes, receives sinners and comforts the brokenhearted, and this shaping becomes a call to extend God’s welcome into the world.

Eucharistic Thanksgiving also challenges the myths and divisions that fracture societies and distort the public imagination. I have noted in the past that at the table of the Lord, harmful myths can be defeated, divisions can be healed, and Jesus can be encountered as the center of a reconciled community.^[14] The Eucharist therefore becomes a prophetic act in a world where migrants are often feared, politicized, or dehumanized. Migrants and refugees across continents experience vulnerability, displacement and uncertainty, yet the Eucharist proclaims a God who makes room for the outsider and provides sanctuary for the weary. The church is called to reflect this divine pattern by opening its tables, its homes and its communities to those who seek refuge and belonging. When Christians extend hospitality to migrants, they participate in the very life of Christ who identifies Himself with the least and the lonely.

Systematic theologian Kevin Vanhoozer writes that Scripture provides the script for the drama of God’s saving action and that doctrine equips the church to participate in this drama faithfully in the world.^[15] The Eucharist trains the church to rehearse God’s story of welcome and redemption and sends believers into daily life as actors in that drama of grace. When the church receives the bread and the cup, it practices gratitude and prepares to embody the generosity of God in concrete and communal ways. Thanksgiving therefore becomes an extension of Eucharistic practice and a moment to align our tables with the Lord’s table in order to let gratitude overflow into hospitality. In this vision the holiday becomes a witness to the Kingdom of God where all people are invited to taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

To live Eucharistic Thanksgiving is to remember that our lives are sustained by the bread that God provides and the Word that speaks life into our hearts. It is to acknowledge that Christ welcomes us with unbounded generosity and calls us to extend that same welcome to others. It is to understand that true gratitude expresses itself in open tables and open hearts and that hospitality deepens when it grows into solidarity with those who are displaced. Thanksgiving becomes authentic when it leads to acts of mercy, communities of welcome, and a Church that reflects the hospitality of God. In this vision the Eucharistic table becomes the pattern for every table where Christians gather and the place where the Church learns to offer the world a foretaste of God’s abundant grace.