Apr 6 2019 The General Thanksgiving

And, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies, that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives

After the psalms and scripture readings, Morning Prayer goes through some standard daily prayers. The Nicene Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, praying for the good of others, and finally a concluding prayer or two. One of the prayers is called the General Thanksgiving. It is credited to Bp. Edward Reynolds from Norwich England, inspired by a private prayer of Queen Elizabeth I, and added to the Prayer Book in 1662. Now, 350 years later, it’s prayed daily, and its words still ring true. 

I like that some of these historical prayers remain in my daily practice. It ties me through time and space with people in the Anglican Communion around the world, and through time. People everywhere pray that same prayer, maybe even while I’m sitting in my prayer chair in the morning stillness. 

I like this prayer because in one line, it connects a string of things that are both critical on their own and beautiful strung together. 

• God’s mercies – Yes, God is merciful, and God’s mercies are all around us, all the time.
• Our awareness – We need to be aware of our world, and in particular God’s mercies
• Our gratitude – With truly thankful hearts. Our hearts should be brimming with gratitude of this amazing life, and especially if we are aware of God’s mercies all around us.
• Agents – We should show God’s love and praise God at all times, stemming from the gratitude in our hearts from our awareness of God’s mercies all around.
• Talk is necessary but not sufficient – Not only should we talk about God’s grace, and show God’s love, we should live it, every day.

This simple line connects God’s mercies, our awareness, our gratitude, and our action. It’s linear and causal. And so easy to forget one or more of those steps. But without all of them, our actions can become hallow, our gratitude contrived, our awareness cynical. 

Today, let me be very aware of this causal chain, look for it, and at the end of the day, reflect on it. 

Mercies. Awareness. Gratitude. Action. 

Thanks,  QE I.