Gracious God, Giver of Every Good Gift,
We acknowledge that life, health, and joy
Are your pleasant favors to us.
Thus we thank You for parents, mates, and children,
For siblings, friends, and colleagues who bless our lives.
We affirm your greatness at sunrise and sunset,
Praise you for productive days and sweet rest that follows.
Yours is the glory and honor and majesty
For all the things we see and enjoy and savor.
We understand that work, responsibility, and the power to earn
Are granted to us by your sovereign goodness.
We praise you for all that has been provided to us
And for all you have enabled us to provide for others.
We also recognize the dark gifts that life brings to all
In the forms of loss and illness, lack and heartache.
While these are neither your intent nor work in our lives.
Even there we honor you for your faithfulness as our God.
We sense your strength when we are at our weakest,
And we experience your fullness best in our emptiness.
Thus we dare to sing in prison cells and laugh at death,
For you are the God of life beyond these mortal limitations.
If we sensed no pain, would we flee to you for comfort
If no imperfection, could we marvel at your excellence
If no insecurity, would we worship any gods but ourselves
If no sin, would we ever choose the path of redemption
On this Thanksgiving Day, then, we thank you for the sunshine and storm,
For Eden that gave us a glimpse of your beauty and holiness,
For Egypt that made us desire a Land of Promise,
For Gethsemane that revealed to us a sympathetic High Priest
Whatever the life situation with any one of us today,
Teach us the spirit of thanksgiving and gratitude and joy.
For all that we have and hope for, we praise you
For all that compels us to seek you, we praise you even more.
In the Blessed and Holy Name of Jesus we pray. Amen
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