Happy Thanksgiving Day!

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays of the year, and while I enjoy all of the traditional aspects--a large parade followed by family, food, and football--we should not forget that today is, first and foremost, "a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording [the People of the United States] an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness" (from George Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1789).

With this in mind, I would like to share with you the following prayer:

Father all-powerful, Your gifts of love are countless and Your goodness infinite. On Thanksgiving Day we come before You with gratitude for Your kindness: open our hearts to concern for our fellow men and women, so that we may share Your gifts in loving service.

Bless our nation and make it true to the ideas of freedom and justice and brotherhood for all who make it great.

Guard us from war, from fire and wind, from compromise, fear, confusion.

Be close to our president and our statesmen; give them vision and courage, as they ponder decisions affecting peace and the future of the world.

Make me more deeply aware of my heritage; realizing not only my rights but also my duties and responsibilities as a citizen.

Make this great land and all its people know clearly Your will, that they may fulfill the destiny ordained for us in the salvation of the nations, and the restoring of all things in Christ.

Amen