Happy Thanksgiving!!! 

Today, let me share some thoughts to celebrate Thanksgiving to focus our hearts on our Lord. 

Easy Ways to Share Gratitude on Thanksgiving

*(revised from www.umc.org)

 

Thanksgiving Day elicits a bounty of wonderful memories for many people in the U.S. The crisp air. The smell of a turkey roasting and a pumpkin pie baking. The sound of a cheering crowd at a football game. All these can create warm feelings during this special time of year.

 

While the Thanksgiving holiday is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November in the U.S., thanking God for our blessings is a spiritual discipline that should not be limited to a single day. Along with expanding our waistlines, our preparation for and celebration of the holiday can be the impetus toward growing an attitude of gratitude that will carry over into the rest of the year. In his commentary on 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, John Wesley writes, “Thanksgiving is inseparable from true prayer; it is almost essentially connected with it.” Giving thanks is as essential to our spiritual growth as prayer, which 1 Thessalonians calls us to do continually. These creative ideas will help us get started this Thanksgiving.

 

• Take time for quiet reflection. As the big day approaches, things get busier. Set aside some time each day to say thank you to God for all he has provided.

 

• Make a Thanksgiving frame. As you and your family reflect on those things for which you are thankful, compile a list. A few days before Thanksgiving, neatly transfer the list onto a piece of paper you can then insert into a frame for a beautiful expression of gratitude to decorate your home.

 

• Send cards to those we miss.Remember those who are not able to be with you this year by making or purchasing cards for them. “On Thanksgiving Day,” Norton writes, “invite all who are gathered in your home to sign and/or write a note on the cards to those who are missing.” Mail them the next day to share the gratitude.

 

• Include children. Involve the children celebrating with you by sharing the Child’s Thanksgiving Prayer. Use this prayer at the kids’ table as a grace or an after meal blessing, having one of the older children lead. Then encourage the kids to write their own Thanksgiving prayers, with which they could lead the adults in prayer later in the day.

 

• Create a place tag for every person who will partake of the Thanksgiving meal in your home. On one side of the tag, write the name of the person. On the other side, place a word or phrase from a verse of Scripture. Ask each person to line up according to the verse of Scripture. This determines who sits by whom during the meal. Say the Scriptures together after everyone has been seated.

 

• Take a photograph of all who are gathered with you to celebrate Thanksgiving.  Label it “Thanksgiving 2016” and list on the back the names of all who are there and one thing each person is thankful for this year.

 

• Share your blessing with others. You may send a meal to our community Thanksgiving Dinner, hosted by our church on November 24^th, 2016, at 6:00 pm.

 

• Use the following as a litany of thanks prior to your Thanksgiving Meal:

 

Reader:  Today is Thanksgiving Day.  We are grateful to be together at this time of the year.

 

Reader:  Hear these words from the Bible:

“The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;

for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.”  (Psalm 24:1-2, NIV)

 

Reader:  As we light the candles on this table, let them be a reminder to us of God’s presence with us.

 

Reading: Let us go around and share one thing or more that happened in your life, that you are thankful of.

 

Reader:  Let us pray, “O God for all the blessings we enjoy, we give you thanks.  Help us look at the world around us in such a way that we see your hand in creation and in those we meet.  Help us be a blessing today to those gathered around this table and in all our days to those we meet at home, at school, in our church, and in our community.  AMEN. (End with the Lord’s Prayer).

 

 

However you can, find ways to give thanks to God for all of his blessings throughout your celebration this year. Instill the habit of an attitude of gratitude, which will extend far beyond Thanksgiving Day.