First performance - June 12, 2022 at the Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral; Cathedral Singers, Wesley Parrott, organ, Thomas Lloyd conducting

Text:

In Your presence, O God, we make our Sacrament of Thanksgiving.          
     We begin with the simple things of our days:

We bring to mind all the warmth of humankind that we have known:
     Our mothers' arms,
     The strength of our fathers,
     The playmates of our childhood,
     The wonderful stories brought to us from the lives of many who talked of days gone by

            when fairies and giants and all kinds of magic held sway;
     The tears we have shed, the tears we have seen.

We passed before us the mainsprings of our heritage:                                  
     The fruits of the labors of countless generations who lived before us,

            without whom our own lives would have no meaning,
     The seers who saw visions and dreamed dreams;
     The prophets who sensed a truth greater than the mind could grasp,

            and whose words could only find fulfillment in the years which they would never see,

    [We give thanks for] The savior whose blood was shed

           with [a] recklessness that only a dream could inspire and [only] a God could command.

For all these we make an act of Thanksgiving this day.

All these and more than mind can think and heart can feel,

       we make as our sacrament of Thanksgiving to Thee, Our [God],

       in humbleness of mind and simplicity of heart, [our sacrament to Thee].

adapted from Howard Thurman, “A Thanksgiving Meditation (1958-11-14)”
The Howard Thurman Digital Archive, accessed July 8, 2021, https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/156.