THE LORD HAS DEALT BOUNTIFULLY

"Consider & answer me, O Lord my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemy say, 'I have prevailed over him,' lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. But I have trusted in Your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me." (Ps. 13:3-6)

THE GIFT OF GRATITUDE

"Gratitude does not spring forth from sinful hearts. Gratitude does not start with you . . . Think about this profound truth:  the Lord gives good gifts to ungrateful sinners. He gives you gifts that you have not earned & do not deserve.

"Name one reason why the Lord God should have died for you, baptized you, claimed you, & made you His own. There is no reason why He should have done any of these things for you & one thousand reasons why He should not have. And yet, He did all this for you!

"The air you breathe, the peace you enjoy, the food you eat, the love you share, & the forgiveness you receive are all sheer gifts from the Lord! When you contemplate all you have been given, gratitude has a way of bursting forth.

"Lord, I praise & thank You for all the good gifts You have bestowed on us. Grant us gratitude. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer. Amen." Matthew Richard, Minute Messages

THINGS TO BE THANKFUL FOR

"Yes, we are still a free people. We have taken this for granted for too long. Our gratitude for our incomparable liberty and the prosperity it produces includes fighting to ensure that our children and their children will enjoy those same blessings. Our Founders fought a war for it. We can do no less. Happy Thanksgiving, America." Laura Hollis, Townhall

PRAYERS FOR THANKSGIVING

From My Prayer Book

With a heart full of appreciation because of Your goodness & with thanksgiving in our souls for Your boundless grace, I come on this national day of thanksgiving, God of loving-kindness & mercy, to join with heart & voice all the people of this country to praise & adore You as a wonderful God & understanding Father in Christ Jesu. Throughout the year You have opened Your hands & poured out on us blessing after blessing. You have provided us with all that we need to sustain body & life. You have opened Your heart & drawn us closer to Yourself, blotted out all our sin, cleansed our conscience from guilt, & spoken peace to our hearts. Richly & abundantly You have offered to us Gospel & Sacrament, that our souls be healed, our faith strengthened, our character developed, & our lives directed. Accept the thanks & praise of our grateful hearts. I sing of Your goodness, I shout for joy because of Your mercies.

Let our thanksgiving, however, go beyond words & give evidence in the sharing of our blessings with the hungry, the needy, the lonely. Give us the grace to continue to praise You as thankful children of Your love & with all the family of Your household to serve You with faithfulness & loyal devotion through Jesus, our Savior & Friend. Amen.

From Lutheran Book of Prayer

Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good & His mercy endures forever. Lord God, heavenly Father, You have created us & endowed us with all that we are or have as a pure gift of Your "fatherly, divine goodness & mercy, without any merit or worthiness in us." You sustain us from day to day with the gifts of daily bread in the food that we eat, the family that surrounds us, the friends we enjoy, the country where we live, & countless other benefits that we constantly receive from Your open hand. 

On this Day of Thanksgiving, cause us to gratefully remember the good gifts that You shower upon us. Deepen in us the knowledge of Your goodness, & awaken our hearts to praise You for all of Your gifts, especially the forgiveness of sins that You have purchased & won for us & the whole world in the atoning death of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Keep us mindful of Your mercies every day, & grant that we may thank, praise, serve, & obey You not only with our lips but also with lives dedicated to the service of our neighbor. To You, O Lord, Father, Son, & Holy Spirit, be all honor & glory, praise & thanksgiving, now & forever. Amen.

A Thanksgiving Collect from Lutheran Worship

Almighty God, whose mercies are new every morning & whose goodness, though undeserved, still abundantly provides for all our wants of body & soul, grant us, we humbly pray, Your Holy Spirit that we may heartily acknowledge Your merciful goodness toward us, give thanks for all Your benefits, & serve You in willing obedience; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives & reigns with You & the Holy Spirit, one God, now & forever. Amen.

A THANKSGIVING HYMN

For the Fruits of His Creation (LSB #894)

For the fruits of His creation, Thanks be to God. For His gifts to e4v'ry nation, Thanks be to Go. For the plowing, sowing, reaping, Silent growth while we are sleeping, Futur needs in earth's safe-keeping, Thanks be to God.

In the just reward of labor, God's will is done. In the help we give our neighbor, God's will is done. In our worldwide task of caring For the hungry & despairing, In the harvests we are sharing, God's will is done.

For the harvests of the Spirit, Thanks be to God. For the good we all inherit, Thanks be to Go. For the wonders that astound us, For the truths that still confound us, Most of all, that love has found us, Thanks be to God.