Nearly every year since 1928, there has been a Thanksgiving Day service at Rockefeller Chapel. The event was started by the Council of Hyde Park Churches and Synagogues, which later became the Hyde Park & Kenwood Interfaith Council. We love having this event each year, and have had amazing speakers over the years! A full list of speakers (since the beginning) can be found on the bottom of this page.
| YEAR | NAME | ORGANIZATION | PRESENTATION TITLE |
| 2017 | Eboo Patel | Interfaith Youth Core | Prejudice, Pluralism, and the Promise of America |
| 2016 | Dr. Robert Henderson | Baha’i Community | |
| 2015 | Rabbi Frederick Reeves | KAM Isaiah Israel | Authentic Voices in Respectful Multicultural Settings |
| 2014 | Dr. JoAnne Marie Terrell | Chicago Theological Seminary | The Gift of Each Other |
| 2013 | Taigen Dan Leighton | Ancient Dragon Zen Gate | The Synergy of Thanksgiving |
| 2012 | Reverend Freddy Washington | St. Ambrose Catholic Church | |
| 2011 | Reverend Shanta Premawardana | Urban Pastoral Education | |
| 2010 | Reverend Celeste A. Frazier | Power of Oneness Spiritual Center | More than Meets the Eye |
| 2009 | Rabbi Batsheva Appel | KAM Isaiah Israel | Serving God with Gladness |
| 2008 | Reverend Deborah Derylak | Spiritual Care, University of Chicago Hospitals | Seeds of Hope and Change |
| 2007 | Ken Dunn | Resource Center | |
| 2006 | Reverend Calvin Morris | Community Renewal Society | |
| 2005 | Reverend Leroy Sanders | Kenwood United Church of Christ | |
| 2004 | Eboo Patel | Interfaith Youth Core | Saving Others, Saving Ourselves |
| 2003 | Reverend Daphne Burt | Rockefeller Chapel | Love One Another |
| 2002 | Reverend Nina Grey | First Unitarian Universalist | Our World is One World |
| 2001 | Rabbi Elliot Gertel | Rodfei Zedek | |
| 2000 | Swami Varadananda | Vivekananda Vedanta Society | |
| 1999 | Rabbi Caspers C. Funnye, Jr. | Beth Shalom B’nai Zaken | |
| 1998 | Reverend Susan Thistlewaite | President of Chicago Theological Seminary | |
| 1997 | Rabbi Arnold Jacob Wolf | KAM Isaiah Israel | |
| 1996 | |||
| 1995 | Father Jack Ferry | St. Thomas the Apostle School | |
| 1994 | Dean Bernard O. Brown | Rockefeller Chapel | Always Having Before our Eyes, our Commission and our Community |
| 1993 | Rabbi Daniel I. Leifer | Hillel Jewish Center | Giving Thanks: Keeping Company with Jacob on the Road to Israel |
| 1992 | Reverend David Ramage | Parliament of World Religions | Looking for a Rainbow! |
| 1991 | Father John Boyle | Archdiocese of Chicago | Living Thanks |
| 1990 | Thomas Chulak | Unitarian Universalist Association | Thanks Giving |
| 1989 | Reverend Susan B.W. Johnson | Hyde Park Union Church | Yet Shall We Tread Upon High Places |
| 1988 | |||
| 1987 | |||
| 1986 | Susan Lockwood Wright | Cornell Baptist Church | Remembering Where We Came From |
| 1985 | Dean W. Clark Gilpin | University of Chicago Divinity School | Quiet Revolutions |
| 1984 | Vernon Kurtz | North Suburban Synagogue Beth El | |
| 1983 | Dean Bernard O. Brown | Rockefeller Chapel | Connections |
| 1982 | C. Harvey Lord | Villa Park Christian Church | Our American Experience of Grace |
| 1981 | Joseph Stitler | University of Chicago Divinity School | Reflections on Being Thankful |
| 1980 | |||
| 1979 | |||
| 1978 | |||
| 1977 | Reverend Charles Shelby Rooks | President, Chicago Theological Seminary | |
| 1976 | Reverend Gordon A. Humphrey | Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church | |
| 1975 | Reverend Emery A. Percell | United Methodist Church | |
| 1974 | Jack Mendelsohn | First Unitarian Church | |
| 1973 | Rabbi Philip N. Kranz | Temple Sinai | |
| 1972 | |||
| 1971 | Reverend James V. Lyles | United Methodist Church | |
| 1970 | |||
| 1969 | Reverend Thomas J. Fitzgerald | St. Thomas the Apostle | |
| 1968 | Reverend Edgar H.S. Chandler | Church Federation of Greater Chicago | The Lord’s Song in a Strange Land |
| 1967 | Rabbi Hayim Goren Perelmuter | KAM Isaiah Israel | |
| 1966 | Reverend Jack A. Kent | First Unitarian Church | |
| 1965 | Reverend Joseph A. Buckles | Hyde Park Methodist Church | |
| 1964 | Rabbi Ralph Simon | Rodfei Zedek | What is an Authentic Thanksgiving? |
| 1963 | Reverend Samuel L. Gandy | Kenwood Ellis United Church of Christ | Covenant and Renewal |
| 1962 | Rabbi Samuel E. Karff | Sinai Temple | The Grounds of Gratitude |
| 1961 | Reverend Keith L. Pearson | Augustana Lutheran Church | Thanksgiving: Symptom of Symbol |
| 1960 | Rabbi Bernard Martin | Sinai Temple | The Grateful Heart |
| 1959 | Dean E. Spencer Parsons | Dean of Rockefeller Chapel | The Grace of Gratitude |
| 1958 | Reverend David Bryan | Lest We Forget | |
| 1957 | Rabbi Hayim Goren Perelmuter | KAM Isaiah Israel | Thanksgiving Formula: Gratitude Plus Attitude |
| 1956 | Reverend W. Douglas Larson | Augustana Lutheran Church | In Community We Thank |
| 1955 | Reverend William D. McLean Jr. | St. Michael’s Episcopal Church | The Grace of Gratitude |
| 1954 | Rabbi Jacob Weinstein | Kehilath Anshe Maariv | Thanksgiving: For What and To Whom? |
| 1953 | Reverend E. Jerry Walker | For This, We Are Thankful | |
| 1952 | Reverend Paul L. Higgins | ||
| 1951 | Rabbi Ralph Simon | Rodfei Zedek | |
| 1950 | |||
| 1949 | Reverend Wallace A. Robbins | The Liberty to Be Thankful | |
| 1948 | Rabbi Louis L. Mann | When Other Virtues Cease | |
| 1947 | Reverend Jitsuo Morikawa | A Dangerous Trust | |
| 1946 | Rabbi Jacob Weinstein | Kehilath Anshe Maariv | |
| 1945 | Reverend F.R. Steiger | First Baptist Church | |
| 1944 | Reverend Leslie T. Pennington | First Unitarian Church | |
| 1943 | Lieutenant Julius Mark | USNR Great Lakes Naval Training Center | |
| 1942 | Reverend Irvin E. Lunger | University Church Disciples of Christ | |
| 1941 | Rabbi Morton M. Berman | Values that Cannot Fall | |
| 1940 | Reverend J. Richard Drees | Hyde Park Methodist Church | A Thanksgiving Pastorale |
| 1939 | Reverend Thomas W. Pender | St. James Methodist Episcopal Church | Thank God and Take Courage |
| 1938 | Reverend George M. Gibson | United Church of Hyde Park | The Ancient Faith and the Modern Mood |
| 1937 | Rabbi Joshua Loth Liebman | A Threefold Faith for a Confused World | |
| 1936 | Reverend F.C. Benson Bells | Trust in God | |
| 1935 | Reverend Thomas W. Pender | St. James Methodist Episcopal Church | Guidance of God |
| 1934 | Rabbi Gerson B. Levi | The Thanksgiving of the Spirit | |
| 1933 | |||
| 1932 | Reverend Norriss L. Tibbits | In God We Trust | |
| 1931 | Reverend Douglas Horton | United Church | The Dimensions of Thanksgiving |
| 1930 | Reverend Albert W. Palmer | President, Chicago Theological Seminary | How Far Right Were the Puritans? |
| 1929 | |||
| 1928 | Reverend Alfred Lee Wilson | Kenwood Church |
