(6a) The Great Thanksgiving

For All Your Blessings, O Lord

The Great Thanksgiving is preceded by the sharing of peace and the bringing of the gifts of the people to the Lord's Table at the front of the church building.

The offering reminds us that we are one body who are called to be a forgiving body of Christ-believers and in the offering, the onus is on any who are out of fellowship with another in the congregation to make peace before taking Holy Communion (see Matt 5.23).

The present 1995, Prayer Book (A Prayer Book for Australia -APBA) has five different forms of The Great Thanksgiving. Some priests use them by rotation each week, using the fifth one when there are five Sundays in a particular month; others use Thanksgiving 1 predominantly which is the one with which I am most familiar; however, each one of the different forms brings out a different emphasis found in the Scriptures.

Again what is noticeable is the call-response structure of this Thanksgiving and the number of allusions to or direct quotes of scriptural passages in the liturgy. The congregation stands during this prayer which is the Hebraic-Jewish stance taken while praying.

§26 The Great Thanksgiving
One can say that The Great Thanksgiving takes its cue from the scriptural record that Jesus Himself gave thanks (Matt 26.26-27) twice in the last supper before the bread and before the wine.

And saying 'thank-you' is one of the first social graces we try to instill into our children from an early age and thanksgiving is at the heart of the Christian life because our lives are completely dependent on the grace and mercy of God.

It is not only our duty to give thanks to our Creator it is our delight and privilege to be called to do so.

(The priest begins:)

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks for the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

[If the church is passing through a particular season (e.g., Lent, Easter-tide, etc.)
then a Seasonal Preface may be substituted for relevant parts
of the following.]

[In these next 4 paragraphs (denoted by --) we first ADORE, THANK the Father for the incarnation of His Son, AFFIRM the meaning of his sacrificial death for sin and its power to rescue/deliver us from realm of sin forever, PRAISE the Father's Name with all the hosts of heaven.]

-- All glory and honour be yours always and everywhere,
mighty Creator, everliving God.
-- We give you thanks and praise for our Saviour Jesus Christ,
who by the power of your Spirit was born of Mary
and lived as one of us.
--By his death on the cross
and rising to new life,
he offered the one true sacrifice for sin
and obtained an eternal deliverance for his people.
--Therefore with angels and archangels,
and all the company of heaven,
we proclaim your great and glorious name,
for ever praising you and saying [or singing]:

[Anglican worship forms these days are highly flexible and can accommodate small gatherings where no organist or pianist is present to accompany in singing what follows or larger places of worship which have a choir for singing such parts with/without the congregation.]

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,
Heaven and earth are full of your glory.    (Isa 6.3)
Hosanna in the highest.        (Matt 21.9)
[Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. (Ps 118.26; Mk 11.9-10)
Hosanna in the highest.]