A Prayer for Thanksgiving ...

Thanksgiving festivities are in full swing at Saint David's. Late yesterday and early this morning some 8th graders were distributing pies to families in the Lobby while the rest were busy on the 4th floor packing some 200 boxes with cans and food stuffs collected from all the grades over the past several weeks, in preparation for delivery tomorrow, along with frozen turkeys, ham, and bacon, to Incarnation Parish on the West Side and Bethel Gospel Assembly Church in Harlem. Later this morning, I accepted an invitation to join Pilgrims (Omega) and Wampanoag (PreKindergarten) for their annual feast in the PreK room. They were fully decked out in costumes, all sitting at table enjoying the "fruits of their friendship." It was a wonderful treat.

The pilgrims and Wampanoag at Plymouth Plantation, Massachusetts in 1621 would have been impressed had they visited our school this morning. In all of our Chapels today, I shared a Thanksgiving prayer with the boys. It follows:

A Prayer of Thanksgiving

Let us pause and give thanks

for all we have been given.

In the silence of our hearts,

let us reflect on the many

Gifts we so often take for granted -

for family, for food, for freedom.

With uplifted hearts, as we gather around

our table this Thanksgiving, let us give thanks -

not only for the gift of food,

but for the great gifts of life itself -

friendship, love, laughter, health and hope.

On this Thanksgiving holiday

A day that unites us as a nation

We thank God for the goodness of the human spirit -

for people who make our world a better place -

for those who search for peace where only war is known

for a world where good can always triumph over evil

Where hope trumps despair

and the laughter of children

overcomes the many sounds of fear.

We thank you

For all those who will gather at our table,

Who by their presence in our homes

have added to the quality of our lives and brightness of this Thanksgiving day.

Let us give thanks

for the food

we are about to eat

and the company

we are about to keep.

Happy Thanksgiving.

The inspiration for this prayer is loosely based on one my daughter brought home from her school. The original author is unknown.

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