Praying Creatively this Thanksgiving: Lessons from Leviticus
For many of us, Thanksgiving is a day to eat good food, watch football, and hang out with family and friends. While we are celebrating being thankful, many of us let the day go by without ever actually taking time to thank God together for everything He has given us!!
My challenge today is to be intentional, and create a time to pray and be thankful together with yourself or your community. It doesn’t have to be boring, you can make it fun, engaging, and interactive! Don’t let this chance get away from you!
In Leviticus 7:11-15, God gives detailed instructions for a Thanksgiving Offering, a part of the peace offerings:
“And this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings that one may offer to the Lord. If he offers it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the thanksgiving sacrifice unleavened loaves mixed with oil, unleavened wafers smeared with oil, and loaves of fine flour well mixed with oil. With the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving he shall bring his offering with loaves of leavened bread. And from it he shall offer one loaf from each offering, as a gift to the Lord. It shall belong to the priest who throws the blood of the peace offerings. And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten on the day of his offering. He shall not leave any of it until the morning.”
This passage teaches us that true thanksgiving is holistic. It involves gratitude for what God has done inside us (symbolized by the unleavened bread mixed with oil), gratitude for what God has given to us (unleavened bread smeared with oil), and gratitude for the blessing of community (bread made with fine flour, designed to be shared). Additionally, the offering was to be shared with the priests, reminding us that thanksgiving naturally results in overflow—blessing others as an expression of gratitude.
Pray Creatively this Thanksgiving
As Christians, even though we no longer need to follow the sacrificial system, we can still learn from the way that God designed such engaging and kinesthetic ways for us to understand and connect with Him! There are still so many ways we can apply these ideas of using interactive, engaging and meaningful, hands on activities to help reflect and model what is going on in our hearts.
Here are some ideas:
Thank God for what he has done in you, for you and for those around you!
Pass a bowl of candy around. Each person takes a piece and shares one thing they’re thankful for before eating it.
Create a Thanksgiving Tree or Turkey where everyone writes something they’re thankful for on the leaves or feathers and display it somewhere for people to see.
Play a gratitude game, like racing to see who can write something they are thankful for starting with every letter of the alphabet.
2. Let Thanksgiving Overflow:
Pray together for a family in need, and then take action by bringing them a pie or a gift
Write thank-you notes to people who’ve blessed you or your family this year.
3. End in Prayer or Song:
Gather as a family, hold hands, and pray or sing a hymn of thanksgiving to close your time together.
A Prayer of Thanksgiving
Here is a beautiful prayer from the Book of Common Prayer you can pray together as a family as you close!
Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we your unworthy servants give you humble thanks for all your goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all whom you have made. We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for your immeasurable 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 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, by giving up ourselves 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 honor and glory throughout all ages. Amen.
May your Thanksgiving be a time of joyful gratitude that overflows into blessing others and drawing closer to God.
