Pastor: Richard Hurd
The Midweek Message is an On-Line Ministry
Of Pastor Dick Hurd and the “Caton Church”
A Global Methodist Community of Faith
November 4, 2026
As we approach this season Thanksgiving I have become more and more aware of the sheer abundance that surrounds us every day. It is an abundance that many of us have become so accustomed to that that we consider it to be normal.
As I walked through the grocery store the other day the thought occurred to me that most of the world has no idea what an American grocery store even looks like. They have no concept of food of every kind piled high on shelf after shelf with freezers filled to capacity with frozen foods and seemingly endless displays of fresh produce from around the world, all of it constantly restocked over and over again.
This is all provided and protected in a climate-controlled building maintained for the comfort of shoppers and employees alike. Many of them consider it all to be just another Human right guaranteed by our birthright as Americans.
It is amazing to me that when prices go up for whatever reason we gripe, complain, and try to find someone to blame. The reality is that even though at times things get a little tougher, those shelves are still fully stocked and we still are well fed. We simply have to readjust our priorities, and life goes on and we remain the richest country in the world.
Now, I am not blind to the fact that even in America some people are hungry. Some people don’t have the luxury of buying groceries every week, or being able to have the medicines they need. This reality saddens me, but I also know that in America we give away more food to those in need than any other place in the world. I know that even those in poverty in America are better off than most of the rest of the world.
Surely, those facts do not make those who need help feel any better. It does not lessen their suffering. It does not fill the empty stomachs of their children. And I am sure that when you are hungry you don’t feel particularly blessed.
But the fact that children do go to bed hungry in America should prick the conscience of every one of us who frequent those abundant grocery stores every week and buy everything we need and even what we just want. It should remind us that for those who have much, much is required. It should remind us that Jesus told us to care for the widows and orphans. It should remind us that He said when you do it for the least of these my children you do it for me!
I don’t say these things to point fingers at anyone, I say it because I need to be reminded myself. I say it because I often forget how blessed I am, and I sometimes forget what that blessing requires of me! And so, I simply ask, How blessed are we today? What does the Lord require of us, not only in this season of thanksgiving but in every season?
Yours in the Love of Christ,
Pastor Dick
Breath Prayer; Lord help me to be truly thankful and truly giving. Amen
