10 Thanksgiving Prayers

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday!  Gratitude is uplifting and healthy!

Below are a variety of famous and not so famous options for your thanksgiving prayers or every day blessings. I most often pray off the cuff, but having a bit of structure to focus my thoughts is an added “blessing”.  Whether we write our own prayers, outline them in our minds or pray someone else’s prayer, a little planning can make bring order and peace to the mealtime flow.

If your preference is a simple prayer or more traditional/formal prayer, I hope you gratefully enjoy your family time. Cherish it fully.

1.  Blessing from Seven Days in Utopia. (A simple prayer)

For:
…Food in a world where many walk in hunger,
…Faith in a world where many walk in fear,
…Friends in a world where many walk alone,
We give you thanks, Oh Lord.
Amen.

3.  With Gratitude by Madge P Williams

Father, we thank you for your abundant mercy and grace toward us.
We honor you this day as we gather together in a family full of gratitude.
We thank you for this meal and the hands that prepared it.
We thank you for your bountiful provisions.
We ask that you equip and encourage us to serve others who are in need.
May we be good stewards of your creation and of all our talents and blessings
We  proclaim glory and honor to you..
In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen

3.  The Lord’s Prayer (all could join in praying after another prayer)

Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us,
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

4.  Traditional Catholic Prayer

Father in Heaven, Creator of all and source of all goodness and love, look kindly upon us and receive our heartfelt gratitude in this time of giving thanks.
Thank you for all the graces and blessings. You have bestowed upon us, spiritual and temporal: our faith and religious heritage. Our food and shelter, our health, the love we have for one another, our family and friends.
Dear Father, in Your infinite generosity, please grant us continued graces and blessing throughout the coming year.
This we ask in the Name of Jesus, Your Son and our Brother. Amen.

5.  Psalm 100

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

6.  We Gather Together, Traditional Thanksgiving Hymn (could be read)

We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;
He chastens and hastens his will to make known;
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing,
Sing praises to his name: He forgets not his own.

Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
Ordaining, maintaining his kingdom divine;
So from the beginning the fight we were winning;
Thou, Lord, wast at our side, All glory be thine!

We all do extol thee, thou leader triumphant,
And pray that thou still our defender wilt be.
Let thy congregation escape tribulation;
Thy name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!
Amen

7. Your Presence Be with Us by Madge P. Williams

Our Father, we give thanks for the time we have together to appreciate each other.
We give thanks for your presence which is shared at our table.
We give thanks for your abundant provisions.
We pray your guidance toward paths of righteousness and wisdom.
May our conversation be joyful, edifying and encouraging.
Strengthen us, O God, to share your good news and to serve where you call us.
We pray, humbly, in the name of Jesus, our Savior.  Amen

8.  Thankful by Madge P. Williams (For a time of recent loss or struggle)

We recognize that although we have struggles, you have rescued us and give us hope.
As we gather together during this difficult season we pray for your Holy Spirit to comfort us and others who are in need.
We honor those who have gone before us and we thank you for our family and friends.
We thank you for this meal and ask that you nourish our bodies with this food and nourish our spirits with comfort and joy at this table.
We honor you and give you glory.
In Christ’s name we pray.  Amen

9.  We Give Thanks by Harry Jewell

Our Father in Heaven,
We give thanks for the pleasure
Of gathering together for this occasion.
We give thanks for this food
Prepared by loving hands.
We give thanks for life,
The freedom to enjoy it all
And all other blessings.
As we partake of this food,
We pray for health and strength
To carry on and try to live as You would have us.
This we ask in the name of Christ,
Our Heavenly Father.

10.  A Prayer of Gratitude by President John F. Kennedy

Let us therefore proclaim our gratitude to Providence for manifold blessings–let us be humbly thankful for inherited ideals–and let us resolve to share those blessings and those ideals with our fellow human beings throughout the world.

On that(this) day let us gather in sanctuaries dedicated to worship and in homes blessed by family affection to express our gratitude for the glorious gifts of God; and let us earnestly and humbly pray that He will continue to guide and sustain us in the great unfinished tasks of achieving peace, justice, and understanding among all men and nations and of ending misery and suffering wherever they exist.

–Thanksgiving Day, 1963

 thanksWhat is your favorite Thanksgiving prayer?  Please share it!  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! -Madge

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