Hebrews 12:28-29 NLT

'Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. For our God is a devouring fire.'

Every November here in St Cuthbert’s Oratory we prepare for Thanksgiving. I know this is traditionally an American festival celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November, but due to Jayne’s American family ties we have been celebrating it for several years now. We usually take the final weekend in November, given that unlike the USA, we do not have a public holiday at this time of year.

We invite guests and have a traditional turkey meal with all the trimmings. While there’s some serious feasting, there are no gifts. Originally this proved a really useful opportunity to bring Jesus into our family conversation ahead of Christmas. We found that Christmas Day was a difficult day to focus on Jesus with children, since it is so commercialised. Thanksgiving offered us the first of a number of ways to accompany Jesus into Christmas as a family.

During our Thanksgiving feast, we take time between courses to do two significant things. Firstly, we invite everyone present to share something they especially want to give thanks for from the year past. Once everyone has contributed, one of us will pray a general prayer of thanksgiving for all the love and grace we have experienced over the year. Later in the meal, we pause again and offer the opportunity for each person to share something they are looking for from the year ahead. There is no compulsion to share, but most do. After we have finished, we invite prayers around the table for what has been shared, so we pray for one another as an expression of our shared faith in God. We also keep a book of those requests, again if folk want to write them in, as a reminder to ourselves of what we are looking to God for in the coming year. This book is then opened and read the following year.

QUESTION: Can you organise a thanksgiving meal to celebrate God’s faithfulness and be grateful for God’s provision?

PRAYER: Thank you for your goodness, and help us to cultivate expressions of thankfulness and gratitude in our lives.