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Thanksgiving Worship
Howard Vanderwell and Norma de Waal Malefyt

Both the Canadian and U.S. churches take a special time to observe a Day of Thanksgiving which usually involves a worship service. Thanksgiving Day in Canada is October 11 this year; in the U.S. it is November 24. Sometimes worship planners find thanksgiving services easy to plan because they are so focused and their theme is so obvious. Yet they also find that it can be difficult to retain freshness in thanksgiving worship year after year.

In the interest of aiding your Thanksgiving worship planning (for this year and beyond) we are providing a variety of ideas from which you can select, or which will stimulate your own thinking and creating other fresh ideas.

Theme of This Service

The theme of a Thanksgiving service is obvious—thanks to God! However, fully developing this theme requires some clear thinking.

It must be clear that the thanks is given to God and not a celebration of our own achievements. Our God-concept must include him as the great gift-giver and source of all bounty who delights in hearing our response. Though this seems obvious, it can be easy to slip away from it when the call to thanks comes from a national leader and the event seems more national/political than spiritual.

The causes that stimulate our thanks must be clearly identified. Most national calls to thanksgiving exhort us to give thanks for the "bounties of divine providence," which usually is a reference to the economy, good crops, and the freedoms of the land. However, in our worship services we usually desire to broaden this beyond material goods to include other areas such as health; relationships in our homes, families, and communities; protection and safety in our land; the welfare of the church; and the blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

While these themes are developed, worship leaders must be sensitive to the fact that while some have prospered and are filled with great thanks, others are suffering loss and disappointment and may find this day a very difficult one. Such worshipers must gently be led to understand how it is that they are called to give thanks also. The story behind the well-known hymn "Now Thank We All Our God" (PsH 454) is a powerful one and can well be told at every Thanksgiving service. When, during the Thirty Years' War, Pastor Rinkart was called on to preside at over four thousand funerals in a year, and sometimes fifty per day, and could still write this hymn of thanks, we are led in a powerful lesson! (See the story in the Psalter Hymnal Handbook, ed. Emily Brink and Bert Polman, CRC Publications, 1998.)

Sermon Suggestions

Here we suggest four possible Thanksgiving sermons. You will likely think of many others. Perhaps these ideas will stimulate your thinking for this year and for the future.

1. Dear Moses, . . . (Deuteronomy 7:7-9, 12-13; 8:10-19)

Sometimes Thanksgiving services require a unique kind of freshness. You may want to consider engaging in a sermonic dialog with Moses, who, in the words of Deuteronomy, is speaking to an Israel that is richly blessed and in danger of forgetting. His intent is to remind them of God's goodness and stir up within them the desire to follow God in grateful obedience.

Exercise your imagination, and after recreating the setting of Moses' address to Israel, change the scene and explain that you'd like to engage in a dialog with Moses. Write a few letters to him, each beginning with "Dear Moses, . . ." Use those letters to reflect on our contemporary experiences, God's goodness to us, and our constant temptation to forget. Be honest in the letters and tell Moses that we easily fall into all the same traps Israel did—grumbling, complacency, ingratitude, and idolatry. Perhaps you can end the letters with a request such as "Do you have any word of the Lord for us on this?" and then respond with the reading of the Scriptures, especially the warning of Deuteronomy 8:10-20.

2. Wise Folks Remember (Psalm 107:43)

Psalm 107 begins a new section of the book of Psalms, but it is very similar to the psalms that immediately precede it. Here the psalmist provides material for liturgical use so that Israel, at its religious festivals, could recount its history and recall the generous love of the Lord. Many agree that the psalmist has in mind the return from Babylonian exile, but similar experiences appeared repeatedly in Israel 's history. In six stanzas the benevolence of God is proclaimed in the recounting of history. Finally the psalmist declares that the wise will never forget such things but always remember and recount the experienced love of the Lord.

A good Thanksgiving is impossible without a keen memory. Only when we stir up our memory of the events of the past year, and recognize the hand of the Lord in them, will we be prompted to declare our thanks.

3. A Year of Pleasant Places (Psalm 16:5-6)

Since psalms are a fertile field for Thanksgiving sermons, we offer a second possibility. Psalm 16 is a psalm of trust that takes the form of a prayer for protection. Yet, in the middle of the psalm, David makes an exclamation that gives voice to his awareness of how generous and benevolent the Lord has been to him. He understands that the Lord's generosity has given him security, protection, and prosperity. He broadens it out to include Israel 's joy at the inheritance of the promised land the Lord has provided.

A sermon like this requires forethought to recall God's gifts. We encourage you to “assign” the congregation an exercise a week or two ahead of time to reflect on the events of the past year, to recall the points of God's greatest benevolence, and to express praise and thanks for such times.

4. Storytelling Time (Mark 5:19-20)

The story of the demon-possessed man in Mark 5:1-20 forms the basis for this sermon. Tell his story in a way that will aid others to walk in his shoes and feel his sense of terror and hopelessness, his surprise at Christ's deliverance, and his delight at being freed! You may even want to do a sermon like this in first-person narrative, speaking it all from the perspective of the man himself. Then focus the message on the instruction of Jesus in verses 19-20, in which the delivered man is instructed to tell his story, and to begin with those closest to him (his family at home).

Every person in our Thanksgiving worship has a story. Some stories are more dramatic and public than others, but all have a story. Too often we are so reluctant to tell our stories. Our stories should center on what the Lord has done for us and "how he has had mercy" (v. 20). Thanksgiving is a time to tell those stories in order that God the gift-giver may receive glory.

Music/Song Suggestions

Glossary of Hymnal Abbreviations:
PH        The Presbyterian Hymnal (Presbyterian Church USA; Westminster/John Knox Press)
PsH      The Psalter Hymnal (Christian Reformed Church; Faith Alive Christian Resources)
RL        Rejoice in the Lord (Reformed Church in America; W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Company)
RN        Renew! (Hope Publishing Company)
SFL      Songs for LiFE (children's songbook; Faith Alive Christian Resources)
SNC      Sing! A New Creation (Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, Christian Reformed Church,
             Reformed Church in America; Faith Alive Christian Resources)
TH        Trinity Hymnal (Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Presbyterian Church in America; Great
            Commission Publications)
TWC     The Worshiping Church (Hope Publishing Company)
UMH     The United Methodist Hymnal (United Methodist Publishing House)
WOV     With One Voice ( Augsburg Fortress)

The congregational song suggestions for this service will be organized by tune name (where possible) and title of hymn/worship song. Organ, piano, choral, and bell selections on those melodies will be given, as well as additional suggestions that are consistent with the theme of Thanksgiving.

AR HYD Y NOS (“For the Fruit of All Creation”) SFL 235, TWC 379, WOV 760
Organ:

Piano:

Alternative Harmonizations for Organ:

Alternative Harmonizations for Piano:

ASH GROVE (“Let All Things Now Living") PH 554, PsH 453, RN 48, TH 125, TWC 53
Organ:

Piano:

Handbells:

Alternative Harmonizations for Organ:

            Ferguson, John. Hymn Harmonizations for Organ, bk. 3. Ludwig O-10 [1986].

Alternative Harmonizations for Piano:

DIX (“For the Beauty of the Earth”) PH 473, PsH 432, RL 5 (5 st ., descant); SFL 90, TH 116 (5 st .); TWC 353 (6 st .); UMH 92
Organ:

Handbells:

Alternative Harmonizations for Organ:

FAITHFULNESS (“Great Is Thy Faithfulness”) PH 276, PsH 556, RL 155, RN 249, TH 32, TWC 60, WOV 771, UMH 140
Organ:

Piano:

Handbells:

Choral:

GENEVAN 134/OLD HUNDREDTH (“Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow”) PH 591/592, PsH 638, RL 556, RN 83, SFL 11, UMH 95
Organ:

Piano:

Handbells:

Alternative Harmonizations for Organ:

“Give Thanks” RN 266, SNC 216, TWC 496
Piano:

Handbells:

“I Will Enter His Gates/He Has Made Me Glad” SNC 13, SFL 9
Piano:

KREMSER (“We Gather Together/We Praise You, O God”) PH 559, PsH 237, RL 63, TH 363, TWC 376, UMH 131
Organ:

LASST UNS ERFREUEN/VIGILES ET SANCTI (“All Creatures of Our God and King”) PH 455, PsH 431, RL 4, RN 47, TH 115, TWC 356, UMH 62
Organ:

Piano:

Handbells:

Alternative Harmonizations for Organ:

Alternative Harmonizations for Piano:

LOBE DEN HERREN (“Praise to the Lord, the Almighty”) PH 482, PsH 253, RL 145, RN 57, TH 53, TWC 77, UMH 139
Organ:

Piano:

Alternative Harmonizations for Organ:

LOBET UND PREISET (“Praise and Thanksgiving”) PsH 631, RL 20, SFL 83

NUN DANKET (“Now Thank We All Our God”) PH 555, PsH 454, RL 61, SFL 33, SNC 228 (refrain only), TH 98, TWC 374, UMH 102
Organ:

Piano:

Handbells:

Alternative Harmonizations for Organ:

ROYAL OAK (“All Things Bright and Beautiful”) PH 267, PsH 435, SFL 90, WOV 767, UMH 147 (4 st .); RL 15, TH 120 (5 st .)
Organ:

Handbells:

Choral:

Alternative Harmonization for Piano:

ST. GEORGE'S WINDSOR (“Come, Ye Thankful People, Come”) PH 551, PsH 528, RL 18, TH 715, TWC 381, UMH 694
Organ:

Handbells:

TERRA BEATA/TERRA PATRIS (“This Is My Father's World”) PH 293, PsH 436, RL 14, SFL 95, TH 111, TWC 384, UMH 144
Organ:

Handbells:

Other SATB Choral Suggestions:

Children's Choir Suggestions:

Other Handbell Choir Suggestion:

Liturgy Suggestions

As you design this service of worship, please remember the weight of the entire liturgy. The sermon will talk about our thanks, the songs will express our thanks, but the entire liturgy must create an event of thanksgiving before the Lord. We suggest that you consider a number of factors that will enrich such a liturgy.

1. Preparation. A good Thanksgiving will take several weeks of preparation. Use bulletin inserts or letters in the mailboxes of all members to explain the intent of the Thanksgiving service. Provide some devotional guides to direct their thoughts. Encourage them to write and submit some of their experiences and testimonies so worship planners can know them as they plan. Many of these comments can be included, either written or verbally, in the service.

2. Participation. This is not a service for anyone to be passive. Let there be a lot of singing. Include voices from the congregation in litanies and readings. Plan for expressions of thanks that are spoken in unison.

3. Prayers. Speaking directly to God with our thanks can be done by many. Some churches prefer to invite all worshipers to participate in the prayer of thanks. Others will have an open microphone for the prayers of the people. Still others will have several appointed prayer leaders who will prepare their prayers from the written comments others have submitted.

4. Testimonies. Ask those who have a special story to tell to share it. This is a time for "testimonies" in worship. Several can be selected and prepared ahead of time, or an open invitation can be issued to anyone who may want to share their thanks (though, admittedly, there are some risks in this way).

5. Gifts. Thanks is expressed in words and in song, but we must also be encouraged to express it tangibly with gifts for others. A thanksgiving offering can be a powerful testimony of our commitment to others out of the bounty God has given us. Encourage all to come with supplies for the local food back, or some other benevolent cause, and provide a time for them to bring their gifts forward during worship.