Pastor Ross is a Guest Editorialist
with the Daily Herald Newspaper, Naperville, IL.
Rev. Ross is pastor of the Philip R. Cousin AME Church in Naperville

Click here to return to main news page.

Religious leaders agree that a prayer before dinner is just as appropriate over paper plates, fast food wrappers and those everyday dishes that are beginning to show their age.

People who otherwise aren’t used to saying grace are often more of a mind to count blessings along with calories on Thanksgiving day. And those who do give thanks on a daily basis often want to find new prayers to express their gratitude at the holiday table.

Naperville-area pastors have their own favorite prayers of thanks, not only on Thanksgiving but year-round. Rev. Tim Rhodes likes to say a mealtime prayer written by Ann Bel Geddes:

“For all the good things I do have, and for all the good things I have had, and for all the good things I will have, for what I am, for what I have been, for what I can be, for what I shall be, thank you, God.”

“It’s very simple and it can be used at anybody’s table, no matter who’s at the table,” said Rhodes, pastor of Hope Church in Naperville. “That’s one of the things I really celebrate about this prayer.”

At his own holiday table, Rhodes prefaces the prayer with a short history of the Pilgrims and the difficulties they encountered during their first winter in the New World. Then he invites each person at the table to talk about one thing for which he or she is thankful.

The Rev. Barbara Ross, senior pastor of Philip R. Cousin AME Church in Naperville, also likes to allow those at her table share with each other the things they are thankful for throughout the years. The prayer of grace she says is a variation of the following:

“Thank you, Lord, for all of your bountiful blessings and gifts throughout the year and thank you for family and friends and for the work that we have. Thank you for community, people around us and, of course, thank you for the meal.”

Ross, whose congregation meets at the old Nichols Library building at 110 S. Washington St., said Thanksgiving is a time of focusing on others and sharing with others.

“I think the art of Thanksgiving and saying grace is really about unity and togetherness,” she said. “ . . . I think the importance of it is to bring the community together and just look at how God has blessed us as a whole and as a people. That’s the importance of saying grace – to thank him for community. Because without community, we have nothing.”

The Rev. Ron Voss’ favorite prayer of grace dates back to his childhood:

“Come Lord Jesus, be our guest. Let these gifts to us be blessed. Amen.”

It’s a simple prayer, one he still says at the family dinner table today. On occasions such as Thanksgiving, he expands it to include his gratitude not only for the food on his table, but also for his family, his country, his health, educational opportunities and everything else that is good in his life.

Voss, pastor of Followers of Christ Lutheran Church in Plainfield, encourages his congregation to pray and hold home devotions year-round. Prayer and gratitude, he maintains, are part of an overall healthy lifestyle, much like exercise and eating right. And there’s no better time to start, he said, than on Thanksgiving.

“Often people focus on what they don’t have or what didn’t work,” said Voss, whose congregation includes residents of Naperville, Plainfield, Romeoville and Oswego. “Thanksgiving is a tremendous, positive, healing, encouraging force when we look at what we do have and what has been given and how appreciative we are.”

Mike Daly, pastor of St. John United Church of Christ, is especially fond of a prayer his associate pastor Matt Mimlitz recently taught the children of the congregation:

“Loved you yesterday. Love you still. Always have. Always will.”

Another of Daly’s favorites is the time-honored doxology:

“Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise him, all creatures here below. Praise him above, ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.”

Often at his own dinner table he, his wife and two sons will sing the words of a prayer to the melody of a popular tune or a TV or movie theme song. Kids often remember the words of prayers better that way, he said. It also makes the prayer, and thus the meal, more of a celebration.

“When my family will pray we use either the Lord’s Prayer or sometimes we’ll either sing or say the doxology,” Daly said. “It reminds us every time we break bread (of Christ’s words) ‘Remember me.’ So we do that in a way not just solemn but more as an expression of joy because the feast that we share, no matter if it’s bread and water or an elaborate banquet, is a reminder of the risen Christ and that we are all together at the table.”

The Rev. Ed Doepel, pastor of Crossroads Community Church, in Naperville, is especially fond of two prayers. The first is Martin Luther’s Morning Prayer:

“I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that you would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings in life may please you. For into your hands I commend myself, my body and soul and all things. Let your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.”

The other is Psalm 136, which reads, in part:

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords. His love endures forever. To him who alone does great wonders. His love endures forever. Who by his understanding made the heavens. His love endures forever. Who spread out the earth upon the waters. His love endures forever. Who made the great lights. His love endures forever... ”

Fr. Joel Fortier, pastor at St. Thomas the Apostle Church, in Naperville, prefers an unscripted approach to mealtime prayers:

“We encourage people to pray spontaneously and to share,” he said. “Generally (at Thanksgiving) the father often leads the prayer and the people share around the table and express in their hearts what they’re grateful for. We encourage that kind of prayer. There also is, of course, the standard prayer for grace that people say and that’s often used by people. (It’s important) just that people pray from their hearts to thank God for the blessings of their lives.”

The Rev. Rich Wooten, a pastor at Calvary Church, takes that same spontaneous approach to the Thanksgiving mealtime prayer. He often lets his children lead, encouraging them to make up their own prayers, not only now, but in the years to come.

“We are a little less traditional in that sense,” Wooten said. “We recognize that where we ultimately get our supply from is God. We want to teach our children that it’s an important thing to recognize that everything we have comes from God. . . It’s a great time of year to be thinking through these kinds of things and take a moment to know what God has done and to thank him for it.”

Contact staff writer Kathy Millen at 630-416-5204 or at kmillen@scn1.com