8 day of 8 of our vigil and Retreat ! Welcome to the annual I am thankful for.....edition!

Good Evening Dear Family of Love,

Happy Thanksgiving one and all and yes even our readers in other countries. Today is also Being Thoughtful and Thankful Thursday! We have two special days that are key Thoughtful and Thankful Thursdays and they are Thanksgiving and Maundy Thursday. Everyday we should be Thoughtful and Thankful. Tonight let us take time to spend in silence reflecting upon what we are truly thankful for. Make out your I am thankful list and pray the list with slow reflection.  Your list should have two parts what you are thankful for and what you are grateful for. Don't write the list in order of importance but randomly. Let us begin.

I'm thankful for:

This Family of love
A faith that keeps me strong
A heart filled with love for everyone
A home
Clothing
Food
Walk With Me Our Journey
Being a child of God.
Feelings and emotions
Being cancer free.
The list is endless.......

I'm grateful for:
God and his calling me to write for God Walk With Me On Our Journey
Courage and strength
Everyday's challenges that make me a better person
Opportunities to serve God in God's Church, Cyberspace, and the World
Our family of love that loves, supports, and sustains each other by prayers, loving thoughts, and unity
Grateful for this country as fragile and broken it may be.
The gifts of those who show me the holy in the arts.
God's Cathedral of Life and all of God's creation.
For a newly health body, mind, and spirit.
That I can celebrate life in every breath that I take.

Now let us pray our lists reading them aloud or silently and  by responding to the first list We thank you God

 and 

The second list We offer out grateful hearts and praise to You O God of All.

Light a candle and make vigil, a vigil of gratitude and thanksgiving. 

Now let us listen these  hymns if you would like to sing along you may do so:We Gather Together and also We Plough the Fields and Scatter

Gracious God we come to you this night with many things on our hearts and minds. Lift our spirits as we reflect upon our celebration of Thanksgiving and the First Sunday of Advent's Eucharistic Celebration. May we see each of these as times of joyful expectation.

Gracious God we pray for our family throughout the world and that peace may prevail everywhere and in our own country.

Gracious God  we pray for  understanding between all peoples and that we begin to not be afraid of race, creed, color, gender, or sexual orientation.

Gracious God we offer our prayers and thanksgivings to you  remembering especially____________

Gracious God we pray for the least of these that they may find safe shelter, warm meals, and protective clothing. We pray that we may see you in them as we serve and love them without fear and judgement. 

Gracious God we pray for all who travel and that the weather will be in their favor.

Gracious God may we always be thankful and have an attitude of gratitude.

We pray these prayers and offer them in the Name of your Only Son who taught us the true meaning of thanksgiving by instituting the Holy Eucharist which means Holy Thanksgiving. Amen. 


These sets of prayers may be added.

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God help us to know and feel that we are yours and belong to you and are each other's keeper. Help us to recognize this sooner rather than later.

God we pray this night for all of our family members who don't have a sense of belonging and that we keep an eye on them so that they don't fall through the cracks and resort to joining negative and dangerous groups just to try to fit in.

God we pray that  as we who grieve may establish new normals that feed our souls, give us warmth, and that will soothe our tender hearts.

God we pray for peace in this world that  compassion, acceptance, love and mercy may enfold each of  our family members in a blanket of unity.

God we pray for our family members who are lost, lonely, alone, and feel invisible that we may bring them in and love them as you love them and as you love us.

God we pray that we may learn and educate ourselves on the history of holidays and that we may be sensitive to all indigenous peoples and seek to be forgiven of the wrongs we have committed.

God we pray and give thanks to you for our many blessings especially__________________

God we pray these  prayers from the BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER

For the Poor and the Neglected

Almighty and most merciful God, we remember before you

all poor and neglected persons whom it would be easy for us

to forget: the homeless and the destitute, the old and the sick,

and all who have none to care for them. Help us to heal those

who are broken in body or spirit, and to turn their sorrow

into joy. Grant this, Father, for the love of your Son, who for

our sake became poor, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For the Oppressed

Look with pity, O heavenly Father, upon the people in this

land who live with injustice, terror, disease, and death as

their constant companions. Have mercy upon us. Help us to

eliminate our cruelty to these our neighbors. Strengthen those

who spend their lives establishing equal protection of the law

and equal opportunities for all. And grant that every one of

us may enjoy a fair portion of the riches of this land; through

Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For our Enemies

O God, the Father of all, whose Son commanded us to love

our enemies: Lead them and us from prejudice to truth;

deliver them and us from hatred, cruelty, and revenge; and in

your good time enable us all to stand reconciled before you;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Thanksgiving Day

Almighty and gracious Father, we give you thanks for the

fruits of the earth in their season and for the labors of those

who harvest them. Make us, we pray, faithful stewards of

your great bounty, for the provision of our necessities and

the relief of all who are in need, to the glory of your Name;

through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with

you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

A Prayer attributed to St. Francis

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is

hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where

there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where

there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where

there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to

be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand;

to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is

in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we

are born to eternal life. Amen.

A General Thanksgiving

Accept, O Lord, our thanks and praise for all that you have

done for us. We thank you for the splendor of the whole

creation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life,

and for the mystery of love.

We thank you for the blessing of family and friends, and for

the loving care which surrounds us on every side.

We thank you for setting us at tasks which demand our best

efforts, and for leading us to accomplishments which satisfy

and delight us.

We thank you also for those disappointments and failures

that lead us to acknowledge our dependence on you alone.

Above all, we thank you for your Son Jesus Christ; for the

truth of his Word and the example of his life; for his steadfast

obedience, by which he overcame temptation; for his dying,

through which he overcame death; and for his rising to life

again, in which we are raised to the life of your kingdom.

Grant us the gift of your Spirit, that we may know him and

make him known; and through him, at all times and in all

places, may give thanks to you in all things. Amen.

For the Diversity of Races and Cultures

O God, who created all peoples in your image, we thank you

for the wonderful diversity of races and cultures in this world.

Enrich our lives by ever-widening circles of fellowship, and

show us your presence in those who differ most from us, until

our knowledge of your love is made perfect in our love for all

your children; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

God we lift up these our prayers in the name of Jesus the Christ our brother, friend, healer, redeemer and reconciler and role model of how we should live, move, and just be. May we be living examples of spreading the Good News and Shining God's Light to the world with compassion, acceptance, love, and mercy. Amen. 

Dearest God-

I'm thankful for You Lord and your wonderful and wonder-filled creation.

I'm thankful for opportunities to prayer walk and talk to you in the sweet and comforting breeze.

I'm thankful for my family all over the world and in cyberspace.

I'm thankful for the gifts both known and unknown that you continue to have me unwrap.

I'm thankful for this country and my ancestors who came to this country yearning to be free to believe.

I'm thankful for your love, comfort, and redeeming grace that sustains me day after day and in the night watches.

I'm thankful for my family who I'm knit together by blood.

I'm thankful for the many loved ones who now reside in the heavenly places.

I'm thankful for ______________________________

I pray  for all those who are alone, the widowed, divorced, and outcast.

I pray for those who have chronic pain and illness this day. I pray that they could enjoy some of the holiday.

I pray for_________________________________

I pray and give thanks for our faith communities and all religious leaders.

We pray for those who have to work this day. We pray that they may have time for rest and play.

Lord we lift these Thanksgivings and petitions to you this day and send them to you with love and compassion in our hearts. Amen.

From the Lectionary Page:

Almighty and gracious Father, we give you thanks for the fruits of the earth in their season and for the labors of those who harvest them. Make us, we pray, faithful stewards of your great bounty, for the provision of our necessities and the relief of all who are in need, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

When you have come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, and you possess it, and settle in it, you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his name. You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time, and say to him, "Today I declare to the LORD your God that I have come into the land that the LORD swore to our ancestors to give us." When the priest takes the basket from your hand and sets it down before the altar of the LORD your God, you shall make this response before the LORD your God: "A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous. When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labor on us, we cried to the LORD, the God of our ancestors; the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. The LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O LORD, have given me." You shall set it down before the LORD your God and bow down before the LORD your God. Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the LORD your God has given to you and to your house.

Psalm 100 Page 729, BCP

Jubilate Deo

1

Be joyful in the LORD, all you lands; *
serve the LORD with gladness
and come before his presence with a song.

2

Know this: The LORD himself is God; *
he himself has made us, and we are his;
we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.

3

Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
go into his courts with praise; *
give thanks to him and call upon his Name.

4

For the LORD is good;
his mercy is everlasting; *
and his faithfulness endures from age to age.

 Philippians 4:4-9

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

John 6:25-35

When the crowd found Jesus on the other side of the sea, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?" Jesus answered them, "Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal." Then they said to him, "What must we do to perform the works of God?" Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." So they said to him, "What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, `He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" Then Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always."

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."

Eat this bread, drink this cup - Taize

Eat this bread drink this cup those who come to Him will never be hungry

eat this bread drink this cup trust in Him and you will hold fast Jesus Christ Bread of Life Those who come to you will not hunger Jesus Christ Risen Lord Those who trust in you will hold fast Christ is the bread of life The true bread sent from above Eat this bread Drink this cup

Come to him and never be hungry Eat this bread Drink this cup Trust in Him and you will hold fast Our ancestors ate manna in the desert this is the bread that came from Heaven Jesus Christ Bread of Life Those who trust in him will not hunger Jesus Christ Risen Lord Those who trust in him will hold fast Eat this bread Drink this cup and Christ will raise you up on the Last Day Eat this bread

Drink this cup come to Him and never be hungry Eat ths bread Drink this cup Trust in Him and you will hold fast Anyone who eats this bread will live forever Jesus Christ Bread of Life Those who come will not hunger Jesus Christ Risen Lord Those who trust in you will not hunger If we believe and eat this bread we will have eternal life Eat this bread Drink this cup come to him and never be hungry eat this bread drink this cup trust in him and you will hold fast Jesus Christ Bread of Life Those who come to you will not hunger Jesus Christ Risen Lord Those who trust in you will hold fast

Taize

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Good night Family of love! Happy Thanksgiving! I love you and Give thanks to God for you always. 

Love,prayers, peace, and blessings be always yours,

Sara