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A Thanksgiving Reflection From Bishop Julian
I grew up in a country that does not have an official Thanksgiving holiday and does not stop on a prescribed day once a year to give thanks to Almighty God for his many blessings to each of us. I knew about the American Thanksgiving holiday, but it was not until I experienced Thanksgiving for myself that I appreciated the rich tradition and gift that Thanksgiving is to us as a nation.
We are thankful for family, thankful for opportunity, and thankful for a nation whose first President said, “…it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor…”
President Washington knew the Word of God directs God’s people to give thanks to him. The Old Testament prophet Isaiah said,
With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day:
“Give thanks to the LORD,
call upon his name,
make known his deeds among the peoples,
proclaim that his name is exalted.
“Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously;
let this be made known in all the earth (Isaiah 12: 3-5 ESV).
Giving thanks to Almighty God has always been foundational in the gathering of God’s people and in our worship of him. In the Siddur (Jewish prayerbook) we find the following prayer:
We gratefully thank You, for You, O Lord our God, are our fathers' God for all eternity, our Rock, our Shield of salvation generation to generation. We thank You and recount Your praise for our lives. We trust our lives into Your loving hand. Our souls are in Your custody and Your miracles are with us every day and Your wonders and goodness are with us at all times: evening, morning and noon. You are good, for Your mercies never fail us, and the Compassionate One, for Your loving kindness never ceases; forever we have placed our hope in You (Siddur Ashkenaz, Weekday, Shacharit, Amidah, Thanksgiving 1).
In the Book of Common Prayer, our Anglican reformers were careful to ensure that we offer thanks to God on numerous occasions during our services. In the liturgy of morning prayer, we render thanks for the great benefits we have received at his hands. In the burial service, we give thanks that it has pleased Almighty God to deliver the departed out of the miseries of this sinful world. And in the prayers of thanksgiving, we give most humble and hearty thanks for Almighty God’s goodness and loving kindness to us…but above all, for his inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory.
Over and above all things we give thanks for Jesus. In Him we find God’s favor towards the unworthy. In Colossians 1:17, Paul writes that Jesus is the sustainer of creation: in Him all things hold together. At the heart of the universe there is personality, there is authority, there is security and there is love. All these things exist in Christ and that little phrase all things underlines that there is nothing, absolutely nothing, outside the power and authority of Jesus.
Over and above all your Thanksgiving festivities, be thankful for Jesus and for those with whom we share fellowship in Him.
Let us pray together,
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 that demand our best efforts, and for leading us to accomplishments that 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 conquered 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 Christ and make him known; and through him, at all times and in all places, may give thanks to you in all things. Amen (BCP, 2019).
A blessed Thanksgiving to you all.
Bishop Julian Dobbs
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