A General Thanksgiving from the Book of Common Prayer. This prayer is very appropriate for use at your Thanksgiving gathering:
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 for the blessing of family and friends, and for
the loving care which surrounds us on every side.
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 also for those disappointments and failures
that lead us to acknowledge our dependence on you alone.
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.
As I expect that it will fall to me to say the Blessing, I shall print this out– a compliment!– and use it as a “template.” I’ll add some like “this table as an expression of the bounty of Your creation” and concern for those who have not (para 1); specificity re “family and friends” with special emphasis on those not present– e.g. my son– (para 2), and those with particular concerns. The rest I’ll leave pretty much unchanged. I particularly like para 3 & 4. Too infrequently are we thankful the blessing of (meaningful) work… and less so for the “lessons” embedded in “disappointments and failures.” Well done Robert; I MIGHT even cite my source. A blessed Thanksgiving to you and Isabel! (P.S. I don’t think I mentioned how much I liked and appreciated the column by your mother you posted a couple of weeks ago.) Cheers!!!
Don’t quote me as the source. This is the General Thanksgiving from the Book of Common Prayer.
May I say thank you for all that you do!
Very kind. None of it counts without you all listening.
That is a very beautiful prayer. Thank you for sharing.
I would like to add that we need to pray constantly for our leaders and representitives that they might do what God wants and help lead this country back to where He wants us, and we need to be willing to serve Him in whatever way He gives us opportunity to do so.
We always love you posting this prayer from The Book of Common Prayer Robert. Will miss you and Isabel . John and Layla will be here. Have had Madison with me this week and she has helped me cook.
Thanks for sharing the Thanksgiving prayer. Do please continue the good work of providing great information for Texans.