"It Happened To Our Fathers...."

Father,
we do well to join all creation,
in heaven and on earth,
in praising you, our mighty God
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

You made man to your own image
and set him over all creation.
Once you chose a people
and, when you brought them out of bondage to
freedom, they carried with them the promise
that all men would be blessed
and all men could be free.

What the prophets pledged
was fulfilled in Jesus Christ,
your Son and our saving Lord.
It has come to pass in every generation
for all men who have believed that Jesus
by his death and resurrection
gave them a new freedom in his Spirit.

It happened to our fathers,
who came to this land as if out of the desert
into a place of promise and hope.
It happens to us still, in our time,
as you lead all men through your Church
to the blessed vision of your peace....

Granted, the text above is no longer in use, but as it's the old proper Preface for this Thanksgiving Day, it still makes for a worthwhile reflection.

Whether your centerpiece is dinner with family, the marathon football, a raid on the mall (God forbid), or something else, with thanks for all the blessings of these years, may all this day's joy and goodness be yours.

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