Happy Thanksgiving, fellow residents of the USA!

Whether you’ve got a public worship service today or not, this is a great day to pull out some extra prayers of thanksgiving.  In particular, this is great opportunity to make use of the “Litany of Thanksgiving”, or #114 in the Occasional Prayers section of our up-and-coming Prayer Book.  Here’s the full text, so you don’t have to dig around for it:

Let us give thanks to God our Father for all his gifts so freely bestowed upon us:

For the beauty and wonder of your creation, in earth and sky and sea,
We thank you, Lord.

For our daily food and drink, our homes and families, and our friends,
We thank you, Lord.

For minds to think, and hearts to love, and hands to serve,
We thank you, Lord.

For health and strength to work, and leisure to rest and play,
We thank you, Lord.

For all who are patient in suffering and faithful in adversity,
We thank you, Lord.

For all who earnestly seek after truth, and all who labor for justice,
We thank you, Lord.

For all that is good and gracious in the lives of men and women, revealing the image of Christ,
We thank you, Lord.

For the communion of saints, in all times and places,
We thank you, Lord.

Above all, we give you thanks for the great mercies and promises given to us in Christ Jesus our Lord;
To him be praise and glory, with you, O Father, and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.

You could use this in the Daily Office after the three Collects, in the Communion service as an extension of the Prayers of the People, in the Antecommunion service in place of the Communion Prayers, or simply in your own private devotions beyond the liturgy.  There are several other prayers of thanksgiving following this one in the Prayer Book collection; feel free to peruse and pray those too, today!  In a culture as materialistic as ours, we need to give thanks as much as we can, to counteract the I-need-more-stuff tendency that so easily creeps in.