I represent my church on our clergy association, and each year we collaborate on a large, regional, Interfaith Thanksgiving service. It is being held later today.

This year, I’m delighted to say that at my suggestion, and for the first time, everyone will be singing two hymns from the wonderful Christian Science Hymnal (#199 and #520).

And I’ve written and will lead the “Litany” during the service, which is a type of repetitive responsive reading (which we don’t really do in our tradition). I had expressed a desire to lift up the focus of the service’s prayers for gratitude, and this was the form others were comfortable with me doing that. I’ll read the longer sentences up at the microphone, and the congregation with repeat with, “God, we thank you.”

You can read what I prepared here:

Litany for Interfaith Thanksgiving service 2023

For being marvelously ever-present and all powerful, for guiding, guarding and governing us…

God, we thank you

For the gift of our families and loved ones, for keeping them healthy and safe, and for supporting them when they struggle…

God, we thank you

For our capacity to do meaningful work, for strengthening us to serve, and for aiding us in laboring for a better world…

God, we thank you

For nurturing in us wisdom, awareness, flexibility, creativity, curiosity, and clarity…

God, we thank you

For opportunities to learn, for helping us face our fears, and for encouraging us to embrace progress…

God, we thank you

For developing in us joy and delight, satisfaction and hope, dignity and integrity, inspiration and mercy, generosity and stamina…

God, we thank you

For the sun and water, for the bounty of food that grows, and for the beauty of nature all around us…

God, we thank you

For requiring us to be good stewards of your abundant resources, for distributing it equitably, and for insisting on sustainability…

God, we thank you

For correcting our mistakes, for sorting out our problems, and for being patient with us…

God, we thank you

For somehow solving our impossible disputes, for interceding in our wars, and for moving our hearts away from polarity and dualism, towards unity and peace…

God, we thank you

For being the author of forgiveness, and for encouraging us to be kind, empathetic, and compassionate, both towards ourselves and all mankind…

God, we thank you

For relieving us from pain, for aiding us in practical ways, and for healing us…

God, we thank you

For consoling our grieving hearts, and comforting us through any strife…

God, we thank you

For showing us ordinary, everyday miracles, even in the smallest details, and for inspiring us to be mindful of present good…

God, we thank you

For being impartial and universal, for making each one of us worthy and unique, and for showing us our oneness within our diversity…

God, we thank you

For being a living, transformative power, as close as our next breath, and the very presence of love…

God, we thank you

For establishing us, cherishing us, for being inseparable from us, and for consecrating us to know, do, and be Your will…

God, we thank you!