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Thanksgiving
These thanksgivings grew out of an
alternative evensong in Stoke Newington, London. They are rooted in the belief
that thanksgiving is one of the most important spiritual practices in our
modern age. Without denying the Christian roots of thanksgiving they seek to be
inclusive and generally secular in nature, believing that thanksgiving itself
draws us into the presence of God; the thanksgivings for the church year at the
end bring in more explicitly Christian themes. They have here been slightly
adapted to make them relevant to more than one small corner of cosmopolitan
London! The three initial Thanksgivings were inspired by a poem by e.e.
cummings and this was used week by week and then followed by appropriate
selections from the alternatives given below. Others can also, of course, be
composed in the same vein.
Thanksgivings through the year
For the land and green and growing things,
for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes!, we thank
you… we thank you
January
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For the cold depths of winter, for the
sleep of the earth and the deep, dark, hidden renewal of life: we thank you, we thank you
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February
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For the first hints of spring, for the
tough little flowers of winter and the promise of life to come...
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March
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For the power of the wind and its fresh
breathing, for the coming of rain and its life bringing...
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April
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For the leaving of the Redwing and the
leaving of winter, for the coming of the swallow and the coming of spring...
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May
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For the earth coming to life, for the abundance
hid within and the growing of the harvest yet to ripen...
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June
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For the sun and its warmth, for the
feeling of heat on skin long wrapped from cold...
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July
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For the fragrance of summer and the sweet
smelling flowers, for the nectar-drinkers and the insects flying...
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August
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For the deep depths of summer, for the
deep dry brown, for the dying coming in the midst of living...
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September
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For harvest and fruit, for berry and
apple, for the eruption of mushroom and the ripening of nut...
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October
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For the falling of leaves and the colours
of autumn, for yellows and reds and the swoosh of the leaves at our feet...
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November
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For the dying of the year, for the trees
gaunt and bare, for the ending of life and the coming of dark...
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December
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For fire in the midst of the darkening
year, for energy and light and heat and the warmth of homes when the night is
cold...
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Thanksgivings for the world of human activity
For city and its questing people, for the
town and its longing people, for the village and its searching people, for
everything which is question, which is struggle, which is how?…
Artists
and creativity
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For artists and writers, designers and
dancers, singers and speakers: for all through whose gifts of creativity
beauty is brought into the world; and for the artistry, the poetry, the
creativity, the dancing, the singing that is within each one of us...
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Babies,
children and young people
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For the newborn who bring us the promise
of new life, for children who question our easy answers, for young people who
struggle to find their way in a world they did not make...
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Builders
and craftsmen
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For construction workers and skilled
craftsmen. For all who build with brick and stone and wood. For all who make
with steel and glass and plastic. For the strong arms and the quick eye...
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Carers
and medics
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For all who care and tend the broken in
heart or mind or body. For emergency services, and medical services and all
who offer the ordinary service of human compassion, we thank you we thank you
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Community
activists
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For the forgotten and the excluded who do
not give up hope. For the marginalized who refuse to keep silent. For all the
little people who will not be kept small...
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Leaders
and people with power
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For all who lead with integrity. For
people in authority who combine wisdom with compassion. For people with power
who do not forget those who are excluded from power...
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Older
people and their carers
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For old people who have struggled and
fought and worked to create this society we have today. For all who support
and care for older people when they have lost the strength to support
themselves...
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People
who work on the sea
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For sailors and seamen, for pilots and
navigators, for all who travel the seas and all who work on the mighty
waters...
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People
who work the land
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For farmers and foresters, for gardeners
and conservationists, for all who nourish the earth and make fruitful the
green world...
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People
working with children
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For parents and all who take
responsibility for children. For teachers and play workers and youth workers.
For all who protect and encourage and inspire children...
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Police
and criminal justice
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For those who are on the front line of
combating crime, who day by day confront humanity at its worst, maintaining
order, administering justice and protecting the innocent from merciless
greed...
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Politicians
and activists
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For all fighters for justice and
advocates of peace. For all who struggle for the good in the messy world of
politics and all who give voice to the cries of the poor, the marginalized
and the excluded...
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Public
sector workers
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For planners and sewage workers, for road
sweepers and administrators, for all the people who keep our world clean and
orderly, safe and livable...
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Questioners
and seekers
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For the questioners and the skeptics. For
the restless and the unsettlers. For the people who keep asking the questions
we do not want to hear and for the people who have the courage to face the
darkness...
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Scientists
and technicians
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For the investigators of the unknown. For
the meticulous and a methodical. For the inductive and the deductive. For the
inspired and the precise...
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Soldiers
and diplomats
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For those who talk that war might be
averted. For those who fight when we are safe. For those who take the
impossible decisions. For those who bear the heavy load…
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The
people we love
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For the people we love and who love us.
For the communities and families where we experience love. For the comfort
that love gives and the challenge that love brings...
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Thanksgivings for the Church Year
For the church of the centuries and its
living witness, for everything which is faith, which is hope, which is love…
Advent
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For this season of Advent; preparing,
examining, waiting... for the expectation, for the promise: we thank you, we thank you
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Christmas
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For Jesus, for Jesus born as a baby in
our midst, for all that he was, for all he is, for all that he is yet to
be...
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Epiphany
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For the light, for the light shining, for
the light of God revealed in human form at Epiphany...
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Ordinary
time
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For ordinary time, for fallow time to live
and work and be... and follow Christ in the ordinary spaces of our life...
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Lent
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For Lent. To stop and think. To pray and
fast. To turn once more to the source of life with open hearts...
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Easter
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For Jesus risen. For death splintered.
For hope in the midst of hopelessness, and life in the midst of
lifelessness...
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Rogation
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For the seed sown. For the ground
prepared. For rain and sun. For the birth of your life within our hearts...
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Pentecost
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For the Spirit whispering. For the Spirit
roaring. For the Spirit coming in all her common and uncommon ways...
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Harvest
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For the goodness of the earth. For the
fruitfulness of the land. For the gift of your nurture...
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Ordinary
time
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For green time. For Ordinary Time. For
fruitful time and labouring time. For all the times of Christ in the world
and we in Christ...
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All
Souls
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For those who have gone before. Who have
given us birth and have nurtured our lives. For the love which receives them
into eternity...
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Saints
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For the Saints. For Saint N. For human life lived to the full
and the fullness of life lived in the Spirit...
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The
Church
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For the Church in all its variety.
Catholic and Evangelical. Anglican and Orthodox. Baptist and Methodist.
Reformed and Pentecostal. For all our attempts to follow Christ in unity and diversity...
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The
Trinity
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For God in relationship. For Creator. For
Word. For Spirit. For unity. For Trinity. For all the unimaginable splendour
in diversity of God...
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Humanity
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For human being. For the creation in love
of one humanity, many coloured, many cultured, male and female, saint and
sinner…
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