(Free!) A Family Liturgy of Thanksgiving
Making the Holiday Meaningful
Here’s a repost from last year. It’s free for a few days!
I love the Thanksgiving holiday. In fact, I love the entire week. When Monday of Thanksgiving week rolls around, I start getting excited as the anticipation builds to the big day. We put the turkey to thaw in the refrigerator, start making the cooking schedule, and always take a trip to a special market where we select our herbs and spices for the meal.
This year is extra special since our firstborn, Evan, is home from his first semester in college! Evan and Gideon also have birthdays that usually fall during the week of Thanksgiving adding to the joy. At some point, the Christmas decorations also start going up. The whole week is a holiday in our home!
Like most families, we also have our special traditions on Thanksgiving day. They include the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, the dog show (we watch it for Rhonda’s sake), and football. Most cherished, however, is the tradition we have when we gather around the table. Friends and family sit down surrounded by wonderful decorations, beautiful table settings, and counters laden with the most delicious food. Before we dig into the dishes, though, we take time to give thanks.
Over the years, our family has developed a liturgy for Thanksgiving. I am so thankful that we did. I suspect that we would feel out of place, and that our sons would balk if we dispensed with it.
I know that’s the case because I tested it today. I asked them what they would think if we dropped it. Accompanied by frowns and puzzled looks, I got these answers:
“Why? That doesn’t make any sense. I don’t understand why we would do that.”
“We can’t. That’s our tradition.”
“But this how we give thanks to God. If we don’t do it, then we are saying what we are thankful for.”
“This is how we physically manifest our thanks.” (Yes, that was actually said.)
To be clear, they were opposed to any changes, and were very relived when I let them know that this was just an experiment. That’s the way it should be. That’s when you know that a liturgy is taking hold. It has become such an integral part of our celebration that without it, the celebration would be significantly less. Indeed, I think we could probably dispense with the parade and the dog show and maybe even the smoked turkey and still have Thanksgiving. (I said maybe.) If we dispensed with the liturgy, though, the family would tell us that we’ve missed the whole point.
Establishing a liturgy of thanksgiving has oriented our family to the real reason for the holiday. Yes, the food, the football, the laughter, the food, the parade, the pie, the games, the family, the turkey, the naps, the food…. They are all a part of it.
It is the liturgy of thanksgiving, though, that shapes the whole event and fuels every other part of the feast. The liturgy of thanksgiving imbues all of these actions of celebration with meaning. This makes them even more significant and, quite frankly, gives us freedom to engage in all of these things with even more gusto!
Do you have a liturgy of thanksgiving for your friends and family? I strongly recommend it. Christian philosopher James K. A. Smith has pointed out that our world around us foists cultural liturgies upon us every day to form us into the kinds of people the world wants us to be. In 21st century USA, that is usually amounts to partisan voting consumers. That’s a pretty thin vision of human life.
What liturgy do you employ to counter that formation? What liturgy binds your family together and orients them towards worship and love of the Triune God? What liturgy reminds you all that you are more than what you consume and your political allegiance? That you are indeed humans made in the image of God intended to flourish? That you have been loved into being by the Creator?
If you do not have a liturgy of Thanksgiving for your family, it is never too late! Develop one this year. It will be awkward the first time, but I promise it will be worth it. You might want to search the internet to get some ideas. Below, I share one that we use in our home.
Happy Thanksgiving!
A Liturgy for Thanksgiving
Here is our family’s Liturgy for Thanksgiving. It is put together from different sources and has become a valuable part of our celebration. You are welcome to adopt it, tweak it, or otherwise use it for inspiration for your context.
Items Needed:
A small cup: this can be a stemmed water class, custard bowl, or other piece. A clear vessel is best.
Fresh cranberries (or other small items that fit your family; I’ll explain why we use cranberries below)
Printed copies of the Liturgy of Thanksgiving (below)
Preparation:
Fill the cup or bowl nearly full with cranberries
Place one cranberry at each place at the table
Place the printed liturgies at each place at the table
Liturgy of Thanksgiving:
Leader: Blessed be God: + Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All: And blessed be his kingdom, now and forever. Amen. Leader: Family, you are all welcome here. All: We have come together in the bonds of love to give thanks. Leader: Friends, you are all welcome here. All: The Spirit makes us one. We are here to give thanks. Leader: The table is open to all. All: There are no strangers here. Leader: Welcome within these gates and under this roof. All: We are gathered secure in God’s care, warmed by His love, and rejoicing with thanksgiving. Leader: The Lord be with you. All: And also with you. Leader: Let us pray: All: Most merciful Father, we humbly thank you for all your gifts so freely bestowed upon us: for life and health and safety, for strength to work and leisure to rest, for all that is beautiful in creation and in human life; but above all we thank you for our spiritual mercies in Christ Jesus our Lord; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, forever and ever. Amen. (From the Book of Common Prayer, 2019) The Cup of Blessings The leader takes the cup of cranberries (or other tokens) and begins the thanksgiving with these or similar words: Leader: Beloved, this is the Cup of Blessings. Notice that this Cup is nearly full. These are the many blessings we have enjoyed throughout the year. You have at your place a [cranberry]. Let this represent to you one particular blessing for which you especially wish to give thanks. When the Cup of Blessings comes to you, share your blessing for which you wish to give thanks and place your cranberry in the Cup and pass it to your right. The leader then begins by sharing his/her thanks and placing the cranberry in the cup then passes it to the right. When all have shared there thanks, the leader takes the cup and lifts it up. Leader: We are blessed! Surely our cup overflows! All: Our cup overflows! Leader: May we always remember His kindnesses All: And always give thanks. Leader: May we remember His generosity All: And share with all, friend and stranger alike. Leader: Let us pray. All: Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we your unworthy servants give you humble thanks for all your goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all whom you have made. We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for your immeasurable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. And, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies, that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up our selves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days; Through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory throughout all ages. Amen. (From the Book of Common Prayer) It would be appropriate to conclude the liturgy with a toast! Then dig in and let your mouths be filled with laughter and all good things! Consider these Scripture readings as options for the toast or to include elsewhere in the liturgy. • “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” (Nehemiah 8:10 NIV) • “Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do.” (Ecclesiastes 9:7 NIV) Why the cranberries? We use cranberries as the tokens in our liturgy because I grew up in the state of Washington. On the coast, there is a sizeable industry in cranberries. Cranberries are native to Washington, and the state is the 5th largest producer in the US. Every Thanksgiving, Rhonda makes a delicious cranberry sauce from fresh cranberries that she cooks herself. Thus, it just seemed appropriate for us to use cranberries when we started this tradition early in our marriage. A bag of cranberries is more than enough for the sauce she makes, so we have plenty to use for the liturgy. You can use cranberries or maybe there is some other token that is fitting for your gathering.