A Thanksgiving Liturgy

 

For family near and here,

Lord, we give thanks.

 

For family far and gone,

Lord, we give thanks.

 

For the ones easy to love,

Lord, we give thanks.

 

For the ones we fight to love,

Lord, we give thanks.

 

For people who see as we see,

Lord, we give thanks.

 

For people we don’t understand,

Lord, we give thanks.

 

For people who don’t understand us,

Lord, we give thanks.

 

For easy conversation and expressed affection,

Lord, we give thanks.

 

For gentle discord within our discourse,

Lord, we give thanks.

 

For unity, not sameness,

Lord, we give thanks.

 

For charity in all things,

Lord, we give thanks.

 

For a world that reflects your goodness,

Lord, we give thanks.

 

For humankind that bears your image,

Lord, we give thanks.

 

For a day when we’ll delight in our differences and not just tolerate them,

For a gathering of every tribe and every tongue,

For a table and a feast today, anticipating the one we’ll someday enjoy with You,

Lord, we give thanks.

 

Amen.

 

(Taken from my book, The Space Between Us: How Jesus Teaches Us to Live Together When Politics and Religion Pull Us Apart)