not just for Thanksgiving Day anymore!

If the only prayer you ever say is thank you, it will be enough ~ Meister Eckhart

We hold hands.  We are grateful for all our gifts.  We are safe, calm, and patient.  We trust in the process of Life.  Peace and harmony fills us and surrounds us. All is well. Amen.

– a UUSS family’s grace for 23+ years

O Thou, who has given us so much, mercifully grant us one more thing: a grateful heart.

~George Herbert, revised.

“I give thanks … for the abundance of good in my life.  I am thankful for…”  [you take it from there]

–Tom Rapsas

Today, I make my Sacrament of Thanksgiving.
I begin with the simple things of my days:
Fresh air to breathe,
Cool water to drink,
The taste of food,
The protection of houses and clothes,
The comforts of home.
For all these I make an act of Thanksgiving this day! – Howard Thurman

O we give thanks for this precious day, for those gathered here and those far away. For the time we share, with love and care, o we give thanks, for this precious day.  O we give thanks for this precious food  [etc..] –Wendy Luella Perkins (Hymn #1010 in Songs for the Journey)

We light our Chalice as a symbol of gratitude as we celebrate the abundance of our lives together.

May we be grateful for the ways we nourish and uplift each other.

—Katie Gelfand, excerpted (uua.org/worship)

Father, Mother, God, Thank you for your presence
during the hard and mean days. For then we have you to lean upon.
Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days,
for then we can share that which we have with those who have less.
And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days, for then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends.
For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.  For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.
For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing. For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.
For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them
the light of hope. Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most — Peace.   ~ Maya Angelou

Dear God, Thank you for this food and for all that

went into bringing it to our table. – 1st Unitarian Church of Oakland

Sung to the tune of “Frere Jacques”:

We are grateful, we are grateful, for this food, for this food,

and our many blessings, and our many blessings.  Amen. Amen

A Unitarian Universalist Grace by Jan Evans-Tiller

Bless our food,

Bless our friends,

Come, Spirit, be with us.

May our hearts fill with peace,

Let your presence surround us.

Spirit of Love, may you bloom and grow.

Bloom and grow forever.

Bless our food,

Bless our friends,

Bless our lives forever.