Great Thanksgiving for Times of Natural Disaster

Adapted from A Service of Word and Table II

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is right,
And a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere give thanks to you,
almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth.
At the beginning of time,
you brought order out of chaos
and light out of darkness.
When your people suffered loss,
you sent prophets to comfort them
with your word of hope and healing.

And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven
we praise your name and join their unending hymn:

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,
Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest!

Holy are you, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ.
He stilled the storm and cast out evil.
He healed the sick and fed the hungry.
He raised the dead to life
and delivered your word of deliverance to the suffering.
By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection
you gave birth to your church,
delivered us from slavery to sin and death,
and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit.

When the Lord Jesus ascended, he promised to be with us always
in the power of your Word and Holy Spirit.

On the night in which he gave himself up for us, he took bread,
gave thanks to you, broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said:
"Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you.
Do this in remembrance of me."

When the supper was over he took the cup,
gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples and said:
"Drink from this, all of you: this is my blood of the new covenant,
poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."

And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving
as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ's offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery of faith:

Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us, gathered here,
and on these gifts of bread and wine.
Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ,
that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood,
continuing his work of healing, hope, and reconciliation.

By your Spirit make us one with Christ,
one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world:
those near to us and far from us, those suffering and those rejoicing —
until Christ comes in final victory and we feast at his heavenly banquet.

Through your Son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy church,
all honor and glory is yours, almighty Father, now and for ever.

Amen.

The Great Thanksgiving for Times of Natural Disaster was adapted from A Service of Word and Table II by the Reverend Kristen Richardson-Frick. The Reverend Kristen Richardson-Frick is an ordained elder in the South Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church. She is a 2001 graduate of Duke Divinity School.

The Great Thanksgiving for Times of Natural Disaster (adapted by Kristen Richardson-Frick from a Service of Word and Table II) Copyright © 2005 Kristen Richardson-Frick.

A Service of Word and Table II © 1972, 1980, 1985, 1989 The United Methodist Publishing House. Used by permission.