Giving thanks, even now

+Philip Jones

A General Thanksgiving (BCP page 836)

Accept, O Lord, our thanks and praise for all that you have done for us. We thank you for the splendor of the whole creation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life, and for the mystery of love.

We thank you for the blessing of family and friends, and for the loving care which surrounds us on every side.

We thank you for setting us at tasks which demand our best efforts, and for leading us to accomplishments which satisfy and delight us.

We thank you also for those disappointments and failures that lead us to acknowledge our dependence on you alone.

Above all, we thank you for your Son Jesus Christ; for the truth of his Word and the example of his life; for his steadfast obedience, by which he overcame temptation; for his dying, through which he overcame death; and for his rising to life again, in which we are raised to the life of your kingdom.

Grant us the gift of your Spirit, that we may know Christ and make him known; and through him, at all times and in all places, may give thanks to you in all things. Amen.

+Philip Jones is the Lead Bishop of the Anglican Mission in America and also serves as Rector of All Saints Dallas. Philip was born and raised in Dallas. He practiced law in Waco, Texas for seven years before he was called to the ministry. He has led churches in Marshall and El Paso, Texas and St. Andrew’s Church in Little Rock, Arkansas. His wife, Claudia Clinton Jones, is from Burnet, Texas. They have seven children and thirteen grandchildren.

Category: Spiritual Growth