Thanksgiving: Great Cloud of Witnesses

Here’s a prayer of thanksgiving suitable for use on All Saints Day (November 1), or in conjunction with a study of Hebrews 12: 1.

Prayer of Thanksgiving

We give thanks to you, O Lord our God,

for all your servants and witnesses of time past:

For Abraham, the father of believers, and Sarah his wife,

for Moses the lawgiver, and Aaron, the priest:
We give you thanks, O Lord.

For Miriam and Joshua, Deborah and Gideon,

for Samuel with Hannah his mother;
We give you thanks, O Lord.

For David, king and psalmist of Israel,

for Isaiah and the prophets;
We give you thanks, O Lord.

For Mary, the mother of our Lord,

for Joseph, Elizabeth and John the Baptist;
We give you thanks, O Lord.

For Peter and Paul and the apostles,

for Mary and Martha, and Mary Magdalene;
We give you thanks, O Lord.

For Stephen, the first martyr,

for Ignatius and Polycarp,

for Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Oscar Romero,

and all the martyrs ancient and modern;
We give you thanks, O Lord.

For Augustine, Luther, Calvin and Wesley

   and all reformers and evangelists,

for Hilda, Julian of Norwich, Teresa of Avila

   and saintly women whose example of devotion

   inspires us to be your saints and faithful witnesses;
We give you thanks, O Lord.

In your mercy, O Lord our God,

give us, as you give to all the faithful,

the hope of salvation and the promise of eternal life;

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

the first born of many from the dead. Amen.

— Adapted from Uniting in Worship and the Episcopal Church USA by David Beswick, and posted on David Beswick’s Home Page.     

For more resources for All Saints Day (November 1), click on All Saints in the list of “Labels” at the lower right side of the page. 

For other prayers and prayer resources on this blog, see this Scriptural Prayer Index or this Topical Prayer Index.