Did you know that for hundreds of years the Thanksgiving holiday was celebrated primarily with a church service? Last year we restarted this tradition in our parish. We will once again gather to give thanks to God for his great bounty this Thursday at 9:00AM. Please join us for this simple but moving service if you’re in town. I also wish to offer a Thanksgiving Litany to help start our Thanksgivings around the table.
A THANKSGIVING LITANY
All things come from Thee, O Lord, and of our own do we offer Thee.
1 Chronicles 29:14
Accept, O Lord, our thanks and praise for all that you have done for us.
We thank you for the splendor of the whole
creation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life,
and for the mystery of love.
We thank you, Lord.
We thank you for the blessing of family and friends, and for
the loving care which surrounds us on every side.
We thank you, Lord.
We thank you for setting us at tasks which demand our best
efforts, and for leading us to accomplishments which satisfy
and delight us.
We thank you, Lord.
We thank you also for those disappointments and failures
that lead us to acknowledge our dependence on you alone.
We thank you, Lord.
We thank you for all the blessings of this life and year.
(The family may here thank God for anything they wish)
We also remember those who are no longer with us at this table but who are seated with you at the heavenly banquet.
Above all, we thank you for your Son Jesus Christ; for the
truth of his Word and the example of his life; for his steadfast
obedience, by which he overcame temptation; for his dying,
through which he overcame death; and for his rising to life
again, in which we are raised to the life of your kingdom.
Grant us the gift of your Spirit, that we may know him and
make him known; and through him, at all times and in all
places, may give thanks to you in all things. Amen.
(The blessing of the meal is then said here.)