Dear Old South Church in Boston,
On the eve of our national day of Thanksgiving, I have much for which to give God thanks.
Among these, I am thankful for an Old South Church member named Thankful Fish. Thankful joined this church on July 9, 1727. Thank you, Thankful.
I am thankful for this entry in our church records: "Sabbath Evening, 1834, November 27, the Church and Congregation being requested by the Rev. Doctor Eckley to tarry, to express their mind if they would have a collection for the poor of the Church and Congregation on Thanksgiving Day. Voted, unanimously, they would."
I am thankful for this tidbit from 1721, also in our records: "A Thanksgiving Day having been appointed by the civil authorities, the question came up whether there should be two sermons, as heretofore had been the custom in the town, or only one. Judge Sewall, who was always earnest for the maintenance of the old customs, was for two sermons, but he was overruled."
I am thankful beyond words to serve as the 20th Senior Minister of Old South Church in Boston. I am thankful for you, dear church, that you have such a heart for the Gospel, a love of justice, and the courage of your Christian consciences.
As I will be with some of my family in Tennessee, I found a lovely 1904 Thanksgiving Day Proclamation from the then Governor of that great state. I am bringing copies of that to read aloud at our Thanksgiving table, along with the prayer below.
Wishing to one and all traveling mercies, the grace of a day of rest, and a sweet Thanksgiving.
Rev. Nancy S. Taylor
__________________________
THANKSGIVING DAY PRAYER
God be with you.
And also with you.
Let us give thanks to God, the Creator of all things visible and invisible, powerful beyond measure, good beyond all understanding. Let us pray.
We gather this Thanksgiving Day to worship you, O God, and to celebrate divine Gifts granted to us and to this earth, gifts that are greater than we can ask or think.
Almighty God, our Heavenly Creator, from whom comes every good and perfect gift, we call to remembrance your loving-kindness and your tender mercies which have ever been of old, and with grateful hearts we lift up to you the voice of our thanksgiving. For all the gifts which you have bestowed upon us; for the life that you have given us, and the world in which we live,
WE THANK YOU, O GOD.
For the work we are enabled to do, and the truth we are permitted to learn; for whatever of good there has been in our past lives, and for all the hopes and aspirations which lead us on to better things,
WE THANK YOU, O GOD.
For the order and constancy of nature; for the beauty and bounty of the world; for day and night, summer and winter, seed-time and harvest , and for the varied gifts of loveliness and use which every season brings,
WE THANK YOU, O GOD.
For all the comforts and gladness of life; for our homes, our families and all our home-blessings; for our friends and all pure pleasure; for the love, sympathy, and good will of others,
WE THANK YOU, O GOD.
For all the blessings of civilization: for just laws; for education, and all the privileges we enjoy through literature, science, and art; for the help and counsel of those who are wiser and better than ourselves,
WE THANK YOU, O GOD.
For the desire and power to help others; for every opportunity of serving our generation according to your will,
WE THANK YOU, O GOD.
For all the discipline of life; for the tasks and trials by which we are trained to patience, self-knowledge and self-conquest, and brought into closer sympathy with our suffering sisters and brothers; for troubles which have lifted us nearer to you,
WE THANK YOU, O GOD.
For the sacred and tender ties which bind us to the unseen world; for those absent from us in body, but present in spirit; for the faith which dispels the shadows of earth, and fills the saddest and the last moments of life with the light of an immortal hope,
WE THANK YOU, O GOD.
For a table laden with food that is both nourishment for our bodies and a delight to our senses; and for the refreshment of a holiday, a day of rest and gladness,
WE THANK YOU, O GOD.
God of all grace and love, we have praised you with our lips; grant that we may praise you also in consecrated and faithful lives. And may the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God, our Strength and our Redeemer.
AMEN.