Top Comments: The Annual Thanksgiving Song (2025) Edition

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Monday November 24, 2025 · 7:00 PM PST

2025/11/24 · 19:00

no image description available — Without a doubt this will always be the most special rainbow ever. On the weekend after Thanksgiving 2009, Casa Brillig became a complete family as we met our son in person for the first time and visited the Ethiopian village/farm where he was born. This rainbow appeared over the countryside then.

Bread baked for annual Harvest Communion at brillig's UU congregation. — Scene from a prior Bread Communion circa 2016

On the Sunday before Thanksgiving, the UU church I attend has its annual bread communion, where members bring homemade loaves of bread and during the service people choose a piece to eat in a com communally. This year’s sermon prior to the breaking of bread together began with the idea of decolonizing Thanksgiving as a way of bringing our lives into better alignment with our values. From that came a discussion on developing a personal practice of deepening gratitude. One way is the ritual of giving thanks before eating. Which leads me to this annual diary...

My Top Comments diary every Thanksgiving week since 2015 (except for 2022) is a visit to one song I listen to primarily at this time of year... May The Light Of Love by David Roth (not THAT David Roth! THIS one!). It is the best musical "grace" or commentary on gratitude I've ever heard. We don’t routinely give verbal thanks before most meals but if we did, it would be like this.

Here’s the song, structured as five verses and a chorus:

YouTube Video

A little bit of trivia… not only did David Roth write this song at and for Thanksgiving, but he also did so mere miles from where I live:

Written during Thanksgiving weekend in Cambridge, MA for my first-ever appearances at Passim (formerly Club 47), the gratitude I was feeling at that time for all that I had in my life continues to this day. --David Roth

This one’s a long one, but I do hope you’ll read it all. Go grab a beverage, get comfortable with some nice warm socks and a fluffy blanket (or whatever one gets comfy in when it’s not freezing cold!) and join me over the fold…

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