Hi! Most of my litanies appear on my Patreon as part of my 2019 #yearofwritingsustainably, but every now and again I’m posting one for everyone. This is my gift that I hope you, dear reader, will use and enjoy and share widely.

If you are unaware of the history of the Thanksgiving holiday, now is a great time to educate yourself. This prayer is borne out of the hope that we can resist colonization's forces in our minds, dinner tables, and conversations; making way for a new level of gratitude that resists entitlement, white supremacy, and earth-exploitation.

God, we acknowledge that everything we think we possess,
Was always yours to begin with;
That the land we dwell in was inhabited by Native Peoples before us,
Who minded its welfare and appreciated it;
That the water we use daily has passed through plant, animal, and human,
Before it ever reached our bodies;
That the food on our tables is a gift of the earth,
Dependent, as we are, upon the earth’s bounty and health.

We didn’t do anything to deserve what we have been given,
And yet we strive to own and consume ever more and more.
Our consumption
Is consuming us.
Our destruction
Is destroying us.

We waste our blessings,
And toss away our gifts,
Then complain that we don’t have enough,
And pretend we can’t share.

Awaken gratitude in our hearts, Oh God,
That we may become mindful people;
Mindful of the least privileged among us,
Mindful of future generations,
Mindful of history’s lessons,
Mindful of the earth.

All the resources of earth are yours, God.
And all the people, plants, and creatures.
Every good and perfect thing
Sprang from your imagination.
So we open our hands
And give them all back to you,
In hopes that we might come to know wisdom
Once we are empty.

Amen

Hi! As you may have noticed,
I’ve moved much of my work over to Patreon.
This is part of my effort to make 2019 a #yearofwritingsustainably
So thanks for reading and subscribing.
You can find archived litanies here, and purchase my book here.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Gratitude is Spirituality 101. You want to grow spiritually, to expand your capacity for love and compassion, start paying attention to things you can appreciate. Attention -> appreciation -> gratitude -> love.

And I love it when the Lectionary backs up my pre-conceived notions ;) I mean just check out Luke 17.

See, you can’t be grateful unless you’re paying attention. And you can’t love something without first appreciating it. And you can’t love the world without first paying attention to it. And you can’t stay hopeful or optimistic while you’re paying attention to reality (‘cause I mean look at the chaos and systemic injustice we’re dealing with) without also looking for good things to practice gratitude for.

Gratitude is our best hope for not succumbing to cynicism and melancholy. It doesn’t always come naturally. This is why we call it a PRACTICE. We practice it so our synaptic pathways can remember it when we need it most. And when we practice gratitude, we lay the groundwork for love.

Oh God, you have kept us among the living,
Though we’ve lost many;
Though we’ve gone through fire and water,
You’ve brought us to a spacious place -

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