⁷For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills, ⁸a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, ⁹a land where you may eat bread without scarcity, where you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron and from whose hills you may mine copper. ¹⁰You shall eat your fill and bless the Lord your God for the good land that he has given you.

¹¹Take care that you do not forget the Lord your God, by failing to keep his commandments, his ordinances, and his statutes, which I am commanding you today. ¹²When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in them, ¹³and when your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, ¹⁴then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, ¹⁵who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, an arid wasteland with poisonous snakes and scorpions. He made water flow for you from flint rock, ¹⁶and fed you in the wilderness with manna that your ancestors did not know, to humble you and to test you, and in the end to do you good. ¹⁷Do not say to yourself, “My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth.” ¹⁸But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, so that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your ancestors, as he is doing today.

• Light a candle to remember Christ’s presence with you.
• Spend five to fifteen minutes in silent meditation paying attention to the breath.
• Where do you notice God’s power within you?
• Focus on this place within you.
• Give thanks for this power of God that leads you.
• Give thanks for this power of God that holds you.
• Give thanks for this power of God that comforts you.
• Give thanks for this power of God that strengthens you.
• Give thanks for this power of God that loves you unconditionally.
• Give thanks for this power of God that transforms you.
• Give thanks for this power of God that sustains you.
• Rest in the power of God.
• Feel this power and presence of God grow within you.
• Move anything out the way that threatens this growth.
• How is God calling you to share this growth?
• Give thanks to God always!  Give thanks for any new insights you have received.
• Share as you feel led in the reply box below.

PSALM 65

¹   Praise is due to you,
O God, in Zion;
and to you shall vows be performed,
²        O you who answer prayer!
To you all flesh shall come.
³   When deeds of iniquity overwhelm us,
you forgive our transgressions.
⁴   Happy are those whom you choose and bring near
to live in your courts.
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
your holy temple.

⁵   By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance,
O God of our salvation;
you are the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas.
⁶   By your strength you established the mountains;
you are girded with might.
⁷   You silence the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
the tumult of the peoples.
⁸   Those who live at earth’s farthest bounds are awed by your signs;
you make the gateways of the morning and the evening shout for joy.

⁹   You visit the earth and water it,
you greatly enrich it;
the river of God is full of water;
you provide the people with grain,
for so you have prepared it.
¹⁰  You water its furrows abundantly,
settling its ridges,
softening it with showers,
and blessing its growth.
¹¹  You crown the year with your bounty;
your wagon tracks overflow with richness.
¹²  The pastures of the wilderness overflow,
the hills gird themselves with joy,
¹³  the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,
the valleys deck themselves with grain,
they shout and sing together for joy.

Revised Common Lectionary Readings for Thursday, November 23, 2017, Thanksgiving Day, Year A 
Deuteronomy 8:7-18
Psalm 65
2 Corinthians 9:6-16
Luke 17:11-19

If you use these prayers in other groups, please give credit to author.
Permission to use in not-for-profit settings (c) 2017 The Rev. Lil Smith, M.Div., DASD