2020 Thanksgiving Prayer

Post Author: Alison VanBuskirk Philip

“Thanksgiving Drive” by katmeresin is licensed under CC BY 2.0

God of all of us,

Life as we knew it has changed.

Thanksgiving as we knew it is different this year.

We have lost people we love.

We have lost gathering in the ways we used to gather.

Some of us have lost jobs or trust or optimism.

So we grieve today, even as we give thanks.

We lament today, even as we hold onto moments of joy.

You are a God who hears and knows our lament.

We also lament the state of our nation and the division among us.

We don’t want to move too quickly to unity

without addressing the pain that lies under that division.

We give you our hurt. We give you our anger.

May your hearing of our prayers and our pain

open the way for healing and new hope and restored community.

God, Thanksgiving as we knew it is different this year.

And yet, still, we give thanks.

We give thanks for the people we love

and the connection between us

and the smells and tastes of fall

and the promise that while the days get shorter

as winter approaches,

you are with us for every one of them.

We give thanks for the breath that we breathe

and the energy in our hearts that moves us forward

and the love in our lives that brings us together across distance.

Thank you for the relationships that hold us together

when life as we knew it keeps unraveling around us.

Thank you for bringing us into your presence again and again,

and thank you for never leaving us to our own devices.

God, make our Thanksgiving this year, as different as it might be,

one that is filled with gratitude for you and for life and for people.

Make it one that brings joy alongside lament.

Make it one that blesses us with assurance of your presence.

Amen.