Show Your Gratitude Before Thanksgiving Dinner With These Prayers
Your Thanksgiving table wouldn't be complete without the turkey and fixings, but as you rush into all the feasting of the holidays, it's easy to forget the "thanks" part of Thanksgiving. To remedy that here we give you 27 powerful Thanksgiving prayers and blessings for your gathering this year.
If you're wondering "What do you say during a Thanksgiving prayer" or "how do you say grace at Thanksgiving," it's always a safe bet to speak from your heart. But if you're looking for some blessings and prayer points to get you started, this list will help.
All of these poems, prayers, and Psalms are short and simple ways to articulate praise and thanksgiving for all of life's blessings. Some are scriptures that come from the Bible (for more on that, see our Thanksgiving Psalms and Thanksgiving Bible verses), while other prayers of thanksgiving are written more recently. Read them through and feel out which set of words is right for your Thanksgiving feast this year, whether you share them in the morning as the cooking begins or later in the day before (or after) your completed feast. Some of the prayers might be familiar to you and others fresh words for your festivities this year. Whichever ones you choose, we hope they help set the tone for a meaningful, celebratory day of giving thanks.
Frederick W. Goadby
O Thou, whose hand hath brought us
Unto this joyful day,
Accept our glad thanksgiving,
And listen as we pray.
Abigail van Buren
O, heavenly Father: We thank thee for food and remember the hungry. We thank thee for health and remember the sick. We thank thee for friends and remember the friendless. We thank thee for freedom and remember the enslaved. May these remembrances stir us to service, that thy gifts to us may be used for others. Amen.
Psalm 100
Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.
Traditional Catholic prayer
Bless us, oh Lord, and these Thy gifts which we are about to receive from Thy bounty through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Rabbi Naomi Levy
For the laughter of the children, for my own life breath, for the abundance of food on this table, for the ones who prepared this sumptuous feast, for the roof over our heads, the clothes on our backs, for our health, and our wealth of blessings, for this opportunity to celebrate with family and friends, for the freedom to pray these words without fear, in any language, in any faith, in this great country, whose landscape is as vast and beautiful as her inhabitants. thank you, God, for giving us all these. Amen.
Author Unknown
Thanksgiving is a time of gratitude to God, our Creator and Provider, whose guidance and care go before us, and whose love is with us forever. Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on the changes, to remember that we, too, grow and change from one season of life to another. Thanksgiving is a time of changing seasons, when leaves turn golden in autumn's wake and apples are crisp in the first chill breezes of fall. Let us remember the true meaning of Thanksgiving. As we see the beauty of autumn, let us acknowledge the many blessings which are ours, let us think of our families and friends, and let us give thanks in our hearts.
Harry Jewell
Our Father in Heaven, we give thanks for the pleasure of gathering together for this occasion. We give thanks for this food prepared by loving hands. We give thanks for life, the freedom to enjoy it all, and all other blessings. As we partake of this food, we pray for health and strength to carry on and try to live as You would have us. This we ask in the name of Christ, Our Heavenly Father.
John Cennick
Be present at our table, Lord. Be here and everywhere adored. Thy creatures bless and grant that we may feast in paradise with Thee.
Author Unknown
Thank you God for all that grows, thank you for the sky's rainbows. Thank you for the stars that shine, thank you for these friends of mine. Thank you for the moon and sun, thank you God for all you've done!
John F. Kennedy
Let us therefore proclaim our gratitude to Providence for manifold blessings—let us be humbly thankful for inherited ideals—and let us resolve to share those blessings and those ideals with our fellow human beings throughout the world. On that (this) day let us gather in sanctuaries dedicated to worship and in homes blessed by family affection to express our gratitude for the glorious gifts of God; and let us earnestly and humbly pray that He will continue to guide and sustain us in the great unfinished tasks of achieving peace, justice, and understanding among all men and nations and of ending misery and suffering wherever they exist.
Jane Crewdson
I thank Thee, o Thou whose bounty fills my cup with every blessing meet. I give Thee thanks for every drop—the bitter and the sweet. I praise Thee for the desert road, And for the riverside; for all Thy goodness hath bestowed, and all Thy grace denied. I thank Thee for both smile and frown, and for the gain and loss; I praise Thee for the future crown and for the present cross. I thank Thee for both wings of love which stirred my worldly nest; and for the stormy clouds which drove me, trembling, to Thy breast. I bless Thee for the glad increase and for the waning joy; and for this strange, this settled peace which nothing can destroy.
Madge P. Williams
Our Father, we give thanks for the time we have together to appreciate each other. We give thanks for your presence which is shared at our table. We give thanks for your abundant provisions. We pray your guidance toward paths of righteousness and wisdom. May our conversation be joyful, edifying and encouraging. Strengthen us, O God, to share your good news and to serve where you call us. We pray, humbly, in the name of Jesus, our Savior. Amen.
Samuel F. Pugh
O God, when I have food, help me to remember the hungry. When I have work, help me to remember the jobless. When I have a home, help me to remember those who have no home at all. When I am without pain, help me to remember those who suffer. And remembering, help me to destroy my complacency, bestir my compassion, and be concerned enough to help, by word and deed, those who cry out for what we take for granted. Amen.
from Seven Days in Utopia
For food in a world where many walk in hunger, faith in a world where many walk in fear, friends in a world where many walk alone. We give you thanks, Oh Lord. Amen.
Unknown Author
God is great, and God is good.
Let us thank him for our food.
By his hands we all are fed.
Thank you, Lord, for our daily bread.
Amen.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
For flowers that bloom about our feet, Father, we thank Thee. For tender grass so fresh, so sweet, Father, we thank Thee. For the song of bird and hum of bee, for all things fair we hear or see, Father in heaven, we thank Thee. For blue of stream and blue of sky, Father, we thank Thee. For pleasant shade of branches high, Father, we thank Thee. For fragrant air and cooling breeze, for beauty of the blooming trees, Father in heaven, we thank Thee. For this new morning with its light, Father, we thank Thee. For rest and shelter of the night, Father, we thank Thee. For health and food, for love and friends, for everything Thy goodness sends, Father in heaven, we thank Thee.
David Bennett
Omnipotent and eternal God, you watch over your children, with your tender and loving care. I thank you this day for your mercy and grace. I am grateful for your healing power, and for the abundant blessings you have given me. But most of all, I am thankful for the promise of salvation, given through your Son, our Lord. Through him, when all is completed, there will be no more sickness or pain. I pray in his name.
Mary Fairchild
Heavenly Father, on Thanksgiving Day we bow our hearts to You and pray. We give You thanks for all You've done, especially for the gift of Jesus, Your Son. For beauty in nature, Your glory we see. For joy and health, friends and family. For daily provision, your mercy and care—these are the blessings You graciously share. So today we offer this response of praise with a promise to follow You all of our days.
Psalm 107:1
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.
Brian F. King
O Lord, with humble hearts we pray Thy blessing this Thanksgiving Day and ask that at table place, where grateful folk say words of grace, that Thou will come to share the yield Thy bounty gave to farm and field. We pray Thy love will bless, O Lord, each hearth, each home, each festive board; and that Thy peace will come to stay where candles glow, Thanksgiving Day.
Author Unknown
Thank the almighty, for all that He gave in life, for the food that you eat, for the people you greet, for the love in the heart, for that wonderful start. Thank the Lord for everything, because it is the Thanksgiving Day!
Joanna Fuchs
We thank you for the turkey, the gravy, and the dressing. Dear Lord, this table overflows with Thy abundant blessing. Let us always be aware that all gifts come from You, and may we serve Your heavenly will in everything we do. Amen.
Walter Rauschenbusch
O God, we thank you for this earth, our home; for the wide sky and the blessed sun, for the salt sea and the running water, for the everlasting hills and the never-resting winds, for trees and the common grass underfoot. We thank you for our senses by which we hear the songs of birds, and see the splendor of the summer fields, and taste of the autumn fruits, and rejoice in the feel of the snow, and smell the breath of the spring. Grant us a heart wide open to all this beauty; and save our souls from being so blind that we pass unseeing when even the common thornbush is aflame with your glory, O God our creator, who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Patricia Gore
Thank you, God, for the food we are about to eat, for those who are here to share these blessings, for the generosity of our hosts that make this possible. Bless those who are here and those who are in our hearts, and all those who are not as fortunate on this day. Amen.
Karl Fuchs
We thank you, Lord, for food and friends, and for all of the joy this holiday lends. It's Thanksgiving Day and we can see the blessings you've provided our family. Thanks to you, Lord, for another good year; When you watch over us, there's nothing to fear.
Author Unknown
Bless the food before us, the family beside us, and the love between us. Amen.
Author Unknown
May our home be fully of joy,
May our hearts be knit with love,
As we give our grateful thanks
For Thy blessings from above.
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