A Prayer for the Thanksgiving Table

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A Prayer for the Thanksgiving Table

Accept, O Lord, our thanks and praise for all that you have done for us and how you have provided for us in this year that is past. 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 that demand our best efforts, and for leading us to accomplishments that satisfy and delight us. We thank you also for those disappointments and failures that lead us to acknowledge our dependence on you alone.

We give you thanks, most gracious God, for the beauty of earth and sky and sea; for the richness of mountains, plains, and rivers; for the wonder of your creatures, large and small; and for all the loveliness that surrounds us. We praise you for these good gifts, and pray that we may safeguard them for our posterity. Grant that we may continue to grow in our grateful enjoyment of your abundant creation, to the honor and glory of your Name, now and for ever.

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 conquered 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 Christ and make him known; and through him, at all times and in all places, may give thanks to you in all things.

And all the people said:

Amen.

 

Thanksgiving 2020

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Thanksgiving 2020 sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it?

It seems crazy to be grateful and joyful when so many things aren’t the way we want them to be.

And yet:

It is because things aren’t perfect—not in spite of imperfection—that thanksgiving is so important.

Some thoughts (and pics!) from Thanksgiving 2020.

 
 

When we stopped reading through Psalms in September, I started to read one psalm a day right over again. I set a little widget in my phone to remind me of what psalm I’m on—and last week on Thanksgiving Day I read Psalm 79, which is a bitter, desperate psalm. It begins like this:

Psalm 79

A Psalm of Asaph.

1 O God, the nations have come into your inheritance;
they have defiled your holy temple;
they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
2 They have given the bodies of your servants
to the birds of the heavens for food,
the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the earth.
3 They have poured out their blood like water
all around Jerusalem,
and there was no one to bury them.
4 We have become a taunt to our neighbors,
mocked and derided by those around us.

The psalmist is writing from the time of exile, after Jerusalem was destroyed by Babylon in 586 BC and the Israelites were carried off into Babylonian captivity.

After lamenting all the horror all around him and crying out for help, the last verse of the psalm pivots, and it caught my attention:

13 But we your people, the sheep of your pasture,
will give thanks to you forever;
from generation to generation we will recount your praise.

 
 

In exile, after seeing his nation destroyed and his loved ones killed, the psalmist still stubbornly refuses to give up giving thanks.

I think there’s a lesson there for us, as 2020 comes to a close.

 
 

One of our problems is that we are so comfortable that we have forgotten that most people, most of the time, haven’t been.

Most people throughout history—and most people in the world today—deal with constant discomforts. Unfortunately, we have become deluded into thinking that life should be free from discomfort, and so when things become difficult—as they inevitably do—we are unable to have proper perspective. Because there are things in our lives and in this world that are far from perfect, we have a hard time with the idea that we should nevertheless give thanks. We focus on what’s wrong rather than what’s right—we look at what we lack rather than what we have.

This tendency to focus on what’s wrong is why so many of us are so miserable—despite being wealthy beyond the wildest dreams of most people who have ever lived, despite never having to worry about food, shelter, clothing, or water, so many of us are unhappy for so much of the time.

 
 

One of the reasons we resist thanksgiving is that we (incorrectly) believe that giving thanks will make us complacent in the face of obvious wrongs in the world. On the contrary, however, thanksgiving doesn’t make us numb—it makes us grateful. And it is my experience that grateful people have greater strength to persevere when things get difficult. You want to make a difference in this world? You’ll need perseverance.

 
 

Bluebird Ranch

So, we were committed to give thanks this year, and we had a great Thanksgiving 2020, in spite of some major things in our lives not being how we want them to be.

Or, better: we had a great Thanksgiving 2020 because some major things in our lives are not how we want them to be.

We always head down to Bluebird Ranch for Thanksgiving—the ranch Elaine’s uncle and aunt have outside of Utopia, TX, about 2 hours west of San Antonio.

Normally, we have a huge Friendsgiving when neighbors from all along the valley join us in the barn for a great Thanksgiving dinner. This year things were different for obvious reasons and Friendsgiving was cancelled. Even though it was just our family around the Thanksgiving table, it was a blessing nonetheless.

  • I love seeing my kids run around outside from dawn to dusk;

  • I love being somewhere my phone doesn’t work and there’s no television;

  • I love seeing the night sky and hearing nothing.

Then, the Sunday evening after Thanksgiving we got our family Christmas tree back here in Dallas.

There’s just something about a Christmas tree that makes me feel hopeful. Despite all the ugliness in the world, there are still so many beautiful things that remain

So, this week I’ve been sitting in the dark by our lit Christmas tree every morning, praying and sitting still and thanking the Lord. I am so blessed.

May these next few weeks be a blessing to you and yours, too.

 
 
One good thing about drought conditions—the big fish are easier to catch, especially if you have an angling assistant.

One good thing about drought conditions—the big fish are easier to catch, especially if you have an angling assistant.

 
 
I’ve become a fish-kisser, I guess.

I’ve become a fish-kisser, I guess.

 
 
And yes, we threw this big papi right back in the water. Maybe next year we’ll catch him again.

And yes, we threw this big papi right back in the water. Maybe next year we’ll catch him again.

 
 
Texas immigrant + the Sam Houston of pastors.

Texas immigrant + the Sam Houston of pastors.

 
 
Local golf-cart chauffeur + your humble correspondent.

Local golf-cart chauffeur + your humble correspondent.

 
 
Sunset.

Sunset.

 
 
Moonrise.

Moonrise.

 
 
Back home. My early morning prayer chair on the right.

Back home. My early morning prayer chair on the right.

3 Questions for Your Thanksgiving Table

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[Munger Staff Thanksgiving Luby’s Lunch 2019. I am so blessed to work with these folks.]

[Munger Staff Thanksgiving Luby’s Lunch 2019. I am so blessed to work with these folks.]

It’s become a Munger staff tradition:

Every year before Thanksgiving we have lunch at Luby’s (thank you, Jesus, for Luby’s!). We sit at a big long table and go around and answer three questions. Everyone answers the first, then we all go around and answer the second, and then everyone answers the third.

I’m telling you: these questions would change the tenor of the conversation around your Thanksgiving table.

Three Thanksgiving Questions

  1. Where have you seen God at work this past year? What’s one thing you’re grateful for?

  2. What is an unexpected blessing you’ve received in the past year; in other words, what is something that happened to you that wasn’t what you wanted but has resulted in a surprising and unexpected blessing you couldn’t foresee at the time?

  3. What do you want to be thankful for next year, sitting at this table; in other words, what are you praying for?

My favorite of the three questions is #2—it is really moving to hear people talk about a difficulty they endured that has produced something good in their lives. Just thinking about that question helps reframe your past year and give it a redemptive perspective.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” [Romans 8:28]

What about you? Leave a comment below and let me know how you’d answer question #2.