Thanksgivings

 

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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

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

February

For the first hints of spring, for the tough little flowers of winter and the promise of life to come...

March

For the power of the wind and its fresh breathing, for the coming of rain and its life bringing...

April

For the leaving of the Redwing and the leaving of winter, for the coming of the swallow and the coming of spring...

May

For the earth coming to life, for the abundance hid within and the growing of the harvest yet to ripen...

June

 

For the sun and its warmth, for the feeling of heat on skin long wrapped from cold...

July

For the fragrance of summer and the sweet smelling flowers, for the nectar-drinkers and the insects flying...

August

For the deep depths of summer, for the deep dry brown, for the dying coming in the midst of living...

September

For harvest and fruit, for berry and apple, for the eruption of mushroom and the ripening of nut...

October

For the falling of leaves and the colours of autumn, for yellows and reds and the swoosh of the leaves at our feet...

November

For the dying of the year, for the trees gaunt and bare, for the ending of life and the coming of dark...

December

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...

 

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

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...

Babies, children and young people

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...

Builders and craftsmen

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...

Carers and medics

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

Community activists

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...

Leaders and people with power

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...

Older people and their carers

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...

People who work on the sea

For sailors and seamen, for pilots and navigators, for all who travel the seas and all who work on the mighty waters...

People who work the land

For farmers and foresters, for gardeners and conservationists, for all who nourish the earth and make fruitful the green world...

People working with children

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...

Police and criminal justice

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...

Politicians and activists

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...

Public sector workers

For planners and sewage workers, for road sweepers and administrators, for all the people who keep our world clean and orderly, safe and livable...

Questioners and seekers

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...

Scientists and technicians

For the investigators of the unknown. For the meticulous and a methodical. For the inductive and the deductive. For the inspired and the precise...

Soldiers and diplomats

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…

The people we love

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...

 

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

For this season of Advent; preparing, examining, waiting... for the expectation, for the promise: we thank you, we thank you

Christmas

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...

Epiphany

For the light, for the light shining, for the light of God revealed in human form at Epiphany...

Ordinary time

For ordinary time, for fallow time to live and work and be... and follow Christ in the ordinary spaces of our life...

Lent

For Lent. To stop and think. To pray and fast. To turn once more to the source of life with open hearts...

Easter

For Jesus risen. For death splintered. For hope in the midst of hopelessness, and life in the midst of lifelessness...

Rogation

For the seed sown. For the ground prepared. For rain and sun. For the birth of your life within our hearts...

Pentecost

For the Spirit whispering. For the Spirit roaring. For the Spirit coming in all her common and uncommon ways...

Harvest

For the goodness of the earth. For the fruitfulness of the land. For the gift of your nurture...

Ordinary time

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...

All Souls

For those who have gone before. Who have given us birth and have nurtured our lives. For the love which receives them into eternity...

Saints

For the Saints. For Saint N. For human life lived to the full and the fullness of life lived in the Spirit...

The Church

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...

The Trinity

For God in relationship. For Creator. For Word. For Spirit. For unity. For Trinity. For all the unimaginable splendour in diversity of God...

Humanity

For human being. For the creation in love of one humanity, many coloured, many cultured, male and female, saint and sinner…