Liturgy for Private or Family Worship
Thanksgiving Day November 23, 2023
Gathering Hymn (Choose a gathering hymn, e.g. TPH #103C, #254, #552)
Responsive Psalm: Psalm 107:1-9
Leader: Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!
Household: For His mercy endures forever.
Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy,
And gathered out of the lands, from the east and the west, from the north and the south.
They wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way; They found no city to dwell in.
Hungry and thirsty, Their soul fainted in them.
Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, And He delivered them out of their distresses.
And He led them forth by the right way, That they might go to a city for a dwelling place.
Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men!
For He satisfies the longing soul, And fills the hungry soul with goodness.
Prayer of Thanksgiving (From the URCNA Book of Forms and Prayers)
Our Sovereign God, who created all things for Your pleasure and who gives to all life, breath, and every good thing, we thank You for our creation, our preservation, and all the blessings of this life. For rain and sunshine, in abundance and in lack, we acknowledge that our times are in Your hands. You supply all of Your creatures with Your good gifts, the just and the unjust alike. Nevertheless, we especially give You praise for the surpassing greatness of Your saving grace, which You have shown to us in Christ Jesus our Savior. For our election in Him before the foundation of the world, for our redemption by Him in His life, death, and resurrection, for our effectual calling, justification, sanctification, and all of the blessings of our union with Him, we give You our heartfelt thanks. And we look with great anticipation toward that day when You will raise us to life everlasting, glorified and confirmed in righteousness, so that we may sing Your praises without the defilement of our present weaknesses, distractions, and sins. As You have given us these gifts, we ask that You would give us grateful hearts, so that we may serve our neighbors in love. This we pray in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior, who taught us to pray, saying:
Corporate Prayer: The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
Responsive Psalm: Psalm 138 (Different readers may be chosen to lead each section in larger families)
Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.
Oh, give thanks to the God of gods! For His mercy endures forever.
Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords! For His mercy endures forever:
Part 2: Creation
To Him who alone does great wonders, For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who by wisdom made the heavens, For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who laid out the earth above the waters, For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who made great lights, For His mercy endures forever—
The sun to rule by day, For His mercy endures forever;
The moon and stars to rule by night, For His mercy endures forever.
Part 3: Exodus
To Him who struck Egypt in their firstborn, For His mercy endures forever;
And brought out Israel from among them, For His mercy endures forever;
With a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who divided the Red Sea in two, For His mercy endures forever;
And made Israel pass through the midst of it, For His mercy endures forever;
But overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, For His mercy endures forever;
Part 4: Conquest
To Him who led His people through the wilderness, For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who struck down great kings, For His mercy endures forever;
And slew famous kings, For His mercy endures forever—
Sihon king of the Amorites, For His mercy endures forever;
And Og king of Bashan, For His mercy endures forever—
And gave their land as a heritage, For His mercy endures forever;
A heritage to Israel His servant, For His mercy endures forever.
Part 5: Providence
Who remembered us in our lowly state, For His mercy endures forever;
And rescued us from our enemies, For His mercy endures forever;
Who gives food to all flesh, For His mercy endures forever.
Oh, give thanks to the God of heaven! For His mercy endures forever.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Collect
O MOST merciful Father, who hast blessed the labours of the husbandman in the returns of the fruits of the earth; We give thee humble and hearty thanks for this thy bounty; beseeching thee to continue thy loving-kindness to us, that our land may still yield her increase, to thy glory and our comfort; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Scripture Reading: James 1:16-27
Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
Scripture Reading: Matthew 6:25-34
“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
“So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
Hymn (Choose a hymn, e.g. TPH #237 or O God of Earth and Altar)
Closing Blessing
May the LORD bless us, and keep us. May the LORD make his face to shine upon us, and be gracious unto us. May the LORD lift up his countenance upon us, and give us peace, both now and evermore.
Amen
Closing Praise: Doxology
