A 4-Step Guide To Pulling Off A Christian Thanksgiving Gathering
By Joel Settecase
Do you have a family Thanksgiving tradition? Below, I lay out a guide for getting started in establishing a Christian Thanksgiving order.
Putting The Thanks In Thanksgiving
Picture this: it’s 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving. The turkey is just out of the oven. All the trimmings are ready, piping hot. Maybe the rolls need a couple more minutes. However many people are gathered together this year, you’re grateful for them all, and you’re hungry. However, before you all dig in, you want to commemorate the occasion and, this being Thanksgiving, actually give thanks to God with everyone gathered. So what are you going to do?
How I Came To Write My Own Thanksgiving Liturgy
Back in 2017, when my kids were younger and I was working as a pastor full-time, I decided I wanted to do something meaningful and spiritual at for the afmily. After all, the holiday is a national one, but it is also a Christian one. More than just a day to monge on delicious food , it’s a day whose meaning is bound up with both theology and history, and I wanted our observance as a family to reflect that. I wanted to create a family Thanksgiving tradition that my children could carry on to future generations, if they so desired.
It also needed to be brief and compelling enough to hold the attention of young kiddos (and let’s face it, us adults too).
So I looked up a children’s version of the events behind the first Thanksgiving, as well as some relevant Scripture and a song to sing, and I compiled a liturgy. The plan has changed some since the first year , but the general idea remains the same: tell the story, read Scripture, sing a song or two, and thank God.
One change we’re making this year is that, rather than read a Psalm and sing a hymn, we’re going to sing a Psalm. Recently, by God’s grace I stumbled upon the Scottish Metrical Psalter from 1650 on my YouVersion app, which has all 150 Psalms in lyrical form based on the language of the KJV—I encourage you to read about it here. Using this Psalter, my family has been singing Psalms to the tunes of common hymns and other songs in common meter, and we’re going to do that this year for Thanksgiving.
Establishing a tradition like this is a great way to direct your family’s attention toward the Lord, right at the kick-off of a season (between Thanksgiving and New Year’s) which can be dominated by busyness, materialism and all too often, even sadness.
So here we go. I’m sharing our family’s four-step liturgy with you. This is the one we’ll be using this year. Feel free to use it, modify it, or be inspired by it to create your own.
Step 1: Tell the Story of the First Thanksgiving
Long ago, in the early 1600s, a group of people in England wanted to pray and worship God in their own way. The King controlled the Church of England, and everyone was ordered to go to the same type of church. Anyone who dared to disobey would be sent to jail.
The group of people who wanted to free the Church of England from the King’s rule, making it “pure” were known as the Puritans. To escape the rule of the King and his church, around 100 men, women and children left their homeland, with their dream of religious freedom. They sailed on a ship, the Mayflower, on a pilgrimage to the New World.
These brave travelers, the Pilgrims, landed in Plymouth after their long six-week journey. It was December 11, 1620. The cold winter had set in. The land was strange to them and nothing seemed familiar.
The winter was long, cold, and very hard for the Pilgrims. Luckily, Native Americans helped by supplying them with seeds and food, teaching them about their new home, and giving them the skills needed to survive in a strange, new land.
The first year in their new home was hard for the Pilgrims. Many died. With seeds and plants received from the Native Americans, the Pilgrims planted crops. The fall harvest was a good one. To celebrate their good fortune, the Pilgrims had a feast of thanksgiving.
Many foods were cooked for the feast — wild turkey, duck, and venison were probably served, along with fish, pumpkins, squash, corn, sweet potatoes, and cranberries.
Captain Miles Standish, the leader of the Pilgrims invited all of the Native Americans who had helped them so much during their first year. Everyone had a good day of thanksgiving. The feast lasted for three days.
This harvest feast in 1621 is often called the “First Thanksgiving.”
—from Herald Extra.
Over the years, the day we now celebrate as Thanksgiving became an important tradition in the United States.
The Pilgrims came to America so they could worship the Lord. Like the Pilgrims, we also want to worship the Lord, and we too have so much to be thankful for.
We thank the Lord for our food, clothing, and home, our family, friends, and work, and much more.
2 Peter 1:3 says that, “His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”
The greatest gift God has ever given us is His own Son, Jesus Christ.
See we don’t deserve to know God, because we have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory, and the wages (or reward) of sin is death.
However, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Now everyone who calls on the name of the Lord Jesus--who believes in his name--will be forgiven--and will become children of God. He gives all his children the Holy Spirit to live inside them!
The Pilgrims knew this, and they praised God on the first Thanksgiving. Let’s praise God this Thanksgiving by singing to him.
Step 2: Sing a Psalm
To the tune of “Amazing Grace.”
The Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want.
He makes me down to lie
In pastures green: he leadeth me
the quiet waters by.
My soul he doth restore again;
and me to walk doth make
Within the paths of righteousness,
ev'n for his own name's sake.
Yea, though I walk in death's dark vale,
yet will I fear none ill:
For thou art with me; and thy rod
and staff me comfort still.
My table thou hast furnished
in presence of my foes;
My head thou dost with oil anoint,
and my cup overflows.
Goodness and mercy all my life
shall surely follow me:
And in God's house for evermore
my dwelling-place shall be.
© British and Foreign Bible Society 2015/Learn More
Step 3: Give Thanks to God
Everyone tell something you’re thankful for this year. You can do this in whatever order you choose: oldest to youngest, youngest to oldest, or just around the table.
After everyone voices his or her thanks, the head of the household prays (or invites someone to pray) for the meal.
Step 4: Sing The Doxology
There is no better way to close out a worship service!
Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow.
Praise Him, all creatures here below.
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host.
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Amen.