On Thanksgiving, Giving Thanks, and a Thanksgiving Litany - 2025

 

(The following is from my letter to my congregation today, 25 November 2025)

Thursday is our national day of thanksgiving. The Westminster Confession of Faith reminds us that legitimate worship of God includes things such as, “thanksgivings upon special occassions, which are, in their several times and seasons, to be used in an holy and religious manner” (21.5). Therefore, as our nation has opened itself up to establishing a countrywide holiday (old English for holy day) to give thanks, we should heartily jump in and help others engage the day “in an holy and religious manner.”

 

So, at the least, we all ought to be praying for our country over this four-day weekend. Pray that God would use this season to rouse the hearts of the citizens and inhabitants of this country to actually realize that we owe thanks to our Creator, who has bestowed on us certain unalienable Rights, among which are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness (The Declaration of Independence). That, as a people, we owe thanks to Nature’s God who has enriched us plentifully on so many levels, even with multitudes of things we take for granted (food, clothing, health care, air conditioning, central heating, clean drinking water, education, a generally lawful society, and more). Therefore, when your family and friends sit down to eat, take up a short Scripture reading that would be fitting and read it before feasting. Consider one of these passages: Colossians 1:9-14, 3:12-17; Psalm 148; Proverbs 11:23-28; 1 Timothy 6:17-19; Deuteronomy 8:7-18. Next, go around and invite the guests gathered at the table to declare one thing they thank God for. And finally, give a prayer of gratefulness.

 

But, also, because we are Christians, and not deists, civil-religionists, or bland spiritualists, our thanksgiving should include the Trinity and especially the centrality of Jesus. One option for your family worship, or personal devotions, or family gathering, is to use a responsive thanksgiving. Here is one I put together for you. It revolves around gratitude, is Trinitarian and gospel-centered, and it’s short. Try it on for size and see how it fits:

 

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;

for his steadfast love endures forever!

 

The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

The LORD is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.

 

The LORD upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down.

The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season.

 

You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing.

The LORD is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works.

 

The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.

He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;

 

he also hears their cry and saves them.

The LORD preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.

 

To God the gracious Father,

who made us "very good,"


to Christ, who, when we wandered,

restored us with his blood,


and to the Holy Spirit, who doth upon us pour
his blessed dews and sunshine, be praise forevermore.[1]

 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! 

 

Pastor Mike


[1] Taken from 1 Chronicles 16:34; Psalm 148:8-9, 14-20; Trinity Hymn #716, “Sing to the Lord of Harvest”


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