The General Thanksgiving: A Rookie Anglican Guide
The General Thanksgiving is an extended prayer of thanks to God and one of the riches of our Anglican tradition. It is “general” because it is comprehensive, offering thanks to God for all his gifts. Located at the end of Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer, it offers a fitting bookend to these services, balancing out the opening general confession.
The General Thanksgiving began as a short personal prayer of Elizabeth I. In response to a Puritan request for more prayers of thanksgiving, Bishop Edward Reynolds expanded it for inclusion in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. The first American prayerbook of 1789 moved the prayer to its present position at the end of the daily office. In this guide, I use the traditional language version, with occasional comments on the contemporary version and a proposed revision at the end.
Sponsored
Humble & Hearty Thanks
Almighty God, Father of all mercies,
we, thine unworthy servants,
do give thee most humble and hearty thanks
for all thy goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all men.
The opening note of the prayer is humility. Before an Almighty God, we acknowledge that we are unworthy. Yet he is the “Father of all mercies,” a lovely phrase reminiscent both of 2 Corinthians 1:3 and the prayer of the people in Nehemiah 9. This also carries forward the theme of God as the “most merciful Father,” from the confession to Morning and Evening Prayer.
Because of God’s mercies, we can give in return our “most humble and hearty thanks.” This elegant phrase goes all the way back to Queen Elizabeth I, who included it in her original version of this prayer, published in 1596:
I render unto thee, O merciful and heavenly Father, most humble and hearty thanks for thy manifold mercies so abundantly bestowed upon me, as well for my creation, preservation, regeneration, and all other thy benefits and great mercies exhibited in Christ Jesus.
Elizabeth I, as quoted in Hatchett, p. 130
“Humble and hearty thanks” is a phrase both elegant and profound. When we think of the word hearty, we might think of a Thanksgiving meal, complete with turkey, stuffing, cranberries, and gravy (and green bean casserole, anyone?!). But of course, the root of the word hearty is the heart, which is to say, this is thanksgiving not only from the head but deeply from the affections of our hearts.
The contemporary version of the prayer removes the word “hearty,” perhaps to avoid any confusion about its culinary association. But to my mind, that resonance is a wonderful conceptual addition. For, in fact, General Thanksgiving, as a longer and more involved prayer, is a hearty conclusion to the prayers of the daily office, themselves a wholesome and substantial diet of thanks and praise.
All The Blessings Of This Life
We bless thee for our creation, preservation,
and all the blessings of this life;
but above all, for thine inestimable love
in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ;
for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory.
The term “general” means comprehensive, and it is in this second section of the prayer that we give thanks for a comprehensive list of blessings. The first three are those blessings which God bestows upon all his creatures:
- Creation
- Preservation
- All the blessings of this life
The next three are those blessings related specifically to God’s love in the atoning work of Christ:
- The redemption of the world
- The means of grace
- The hope of glory
Thus, in a short space, we thank God and praise him as our Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer, three classic categories by which to describe the work of God. (A note of theological caution: these three should not be appropriated to the three persons of the Trinity because the whole Trinity is involved in each work).
Lips & Lives
And, we beseech thee,
give us that due sense of all thy mercies,
that our hearts may be unfeignedly thankful:
and that we show forth thy praise,
not only with our lips, but in our lives,
by giving up our selves to thy service,
and by walking before thee
in holiness and righteousness all our days;
The third section of the prayer includes both petition and application. The request is that we have impressed upon us a felt sense of God’s mercies so that our hearts will be truly thankful. Then, out of a thankful heart will naturally flow praise to God, both verbally with our lips and by virtue in our lives. Note that the heart is the crux of this process. When the heart is thankful, then holy living follows.
The contemporary version of the prayer loses this theological insight by shifting the reference to the heart from the petition to the application: “that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise…” The result is not wrong, per se, but it misses the Anglican emphasis on the heart as a motivational center, a theme we find in the Collect for Purity and all throughout the Prayer Book.
World Without End
Through Jesus Christ our Lord,
to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost,
be all honor and glory, world without end. Amen.
After such a rich prayer, it feels appropriate to conclude with an appeal to Jesus Christ’s authority and a trinitarian doxology. As we see in the Book of Revelation, our thanksgiving, praise, and glorification of God will indeed continue forever, world without end.
To the carnal mind, the prospect of endless praise can seem oppressive. “You mean heaven is like an eternal church service? No thanks!” To be clear, the Bible foreshadows various occupations in heaven alongside formal worship, including feasting. But the redeemed heart, restored to man’s original purpose, now desires to give thanks to God. With the means of grace and the hope of glory, our eternal vocation of thanksgiving becomes a joy.
Here’s a final idea for General Thanksgiving. Consider using it as the grace before a special meal, especially when family and friends are gathered together. In my experience, those unfamiliar with Anglican worship, and even those outside the faith, appreciate its poetry, rich theology, and witness to the redeeming work of God.
A Proposed Contemporary Revision
Some may desire a version of the General Thanksgiving that uses contemporary English while retaining as much as possible the traditional version’s poetic and theological core. I share a revision here to that end.
Almighty God, Father of all mercies,
we your unworthy servants
do give you most humble and hearty thanks
for all your goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all men.We bless you for our creation, preservation,
and all the blessings of this life;
but, above all, for your boundless love
in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ;
for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory.And, we beseech you,
give us that due sense of all your mercies,
that our hearts may be truly thankful;
and that we show forth your praise
not only with with our lips, but in our lives,
by giving up our selves to your service,
and by walking before you
in holiness and righteousness all our days;Through Jesus Christ our Lord,
to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit,
be all honor and glory, world without end. Amen.
Image: Thanksgiving Day, by NC Wyeth, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Published on
Morning Prayer: A Rookie Anglican Guide
It’s very easy to wake up in the morning, get dressed, have a cup of coffee while we check the latest news, and immediately jump into our day. We often check our emails before we check in with our souls. What would happen if, instead, we started our day in praise and thanksgiving to God?…
The Collect For Purity: A Rookie Anglican Guide
The Collect for Purity is one of the gems of Anglican liturgy. It is a prayer both appealing at first glance and also one that invites a depth of reflection: on preparing the heart for worship, on the Trinity, and on the Catholic and Reformed aspects of Anglicanism. It is good we have so much…
.jpg){kind=link}