Thanksgiving Day (American Book of Common Prayer)
The Thanksgiving Day observance in American editions of the Book of Common Prayer traces its origins to colonial harvest festivals, congressional thanksgiving proclamations, and the first proposed liturgy of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. Beginning with the 1786 Proposed Book of Common Prayer, Thanksgiving was given a full liturgical office with its own Collect, appointed readings, and a special psalm cento for the Daily Office. Later Prayer Books—1789, 1892, 1928, and 2019—continued to develop and adapt this uniquely American feast.
Historical Development
Colonial and Revolutionary-Era Background
Before any American Prayer Book existed, Anglican settlers in Virginia and New England observed civilly appointed days of thanksgiving. During the Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress likewise proclaimed national Thanksgiving observances, reinforcing the expectation that the new Episcopal Church would mark such a day liturgically.[1]
The 1786 Proposed Book of Common Prayer
The first official American thanksgiving liturgy appears in the 1786 Proposed Book of Common Prayer. It provided a complete service titled:
- “A Form of Prayer and Thanksgiving to Almighty God, for the Fruits of the Earth and all the other Blessings of His merciful Providence; to be used yearly on the First Thursday in November.”[2]
The 1786 form included:
- **A fixed annual date** — the First Thursday in November (predating the modern date by over 150 years)
- **A special set of Sentences** at Morning Prayer
- **A psalm cento replacing the Venite** (Psalm 147 excerpts)
- **Appointed Lessons**: Deuteronomy 28:1–14 and Matthew 7:7–27
- **A Thanksgiving Prayer** following the General Thanksgiving
- **A distinct Collect**, later inherited unchanged by the 1928 BCP
- **Epistle**: James 1:16–27
- **Gospel**: Matthew 5:43–48
This 1786 liturgy is the foundation of all later Prayer Book Thanksgiving observances.
Thanksgiving in the 1789 and 1892 BCPs
The first official American Prayer Book (1789 BCP) adopted the 1786 Thanksgiving office almost verbatim. The annual observance was kept on a day appointed by civil authority, often still the first Thursday in November.[3]
The 1892 BCP retained the same Form of Thanksgiving, preserving the distinctive Thanksgiving Prayer (“Most gracious God, by whose knowledge the depths are broken up…”) and the Collect inherited from 1786.[4]
The 1928 BCP: Thanksgiving Becomes a Major Feast
The 1928 Book of Common Prayer made a significant development by:
- Assigning Thanksgiving Day its own **Collect, Epistle, and Gospel** in the “Collects, Epistles, and Gospels”
- Listing Thanksgiving among the “Other Major Feasts” of the American Church calendar
- Retaining the older **Form of Thanksgiving** in the Prayers and Thanksgivings section[5]
The 1928 Collect is **identical** to the Collect first introduced in 1786.
Thanksgiving in the Daily Office
The 1786 Proposed Book established Thanksgiving as one of the few days with an **official Venite replacement**—a psalm cento from Psalm 147 beginning “Praise ye the Lord: for it is good to sing praises unto our God…”[6]
This provision carried over into 1789 and 1892. The 1928 BCP permitted broad flexibility for Psalm 95 but retained the practice of special psalmody for Thanksgiving.[7]
Liturgical Rank
In the 1928 Prayer Book, Thanksgiving Day was listed among the “Other Major Feasts” but was not given explicit precedence over principal feasts. Nonetheless, in practice it was widely observed with a celebration of Holy Communion.[8]
The 2019 ACNA BCP
The 2019 Book of Common Prayer (ACNA) continues the tradition and appoints Thanksgiving Day for:
- the second Monday in October (Canada)
- the fourth Thursday in November (United States)[9]
Its Collect expands earlier themes by emphasizing:
- Life, health, and safety
- Strength for work and leisure
- Beauty in creation and human life
- “Above all,” spiritual mercies in Christ Jesus[10]
Appendix: Thanksgiving Collects (1786–2019)
1786 Proposed BCP (adopted in 1789, retained in 1892 & 1928)
O most merciful Father, who hast blessed the labours of the husbandman in the returns of the fruits of the earth; We give thee humble and hearty thanks for this thy bounty; beseeching thee to continue thy loving-kindness to us; that our land may still yield her increase, to thy glory and our comfort; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
1786/1789/1892 Thanksgiving Prayer (after the General Thanksgiving)
- This prayer predates all later harvest thanksgivings.*
Most gracious God, by whose knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew; we yield thee unfeigned thanks and praise as for all thy mercies, so especially for the returns of Seed-time and Harvest, and for crowning the year with thy goodness, in the increase of the ground, and gathering in of the fruits thereof. And, we beseech thee, give us a just sense of this great mercy; such as may appear in our lives, by an humble, holy, and obedient walking before thee all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord: to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost, be all glory and honour, world without end. Amen.
1928 BCP Collect for Thanksgiving Day
O most merciful Father, who hast blessed the labors of the husbandman in the returns of the fruits of the earth; We give thee humble and hearty thanks for this thy bounty; beseeching thee to continue thy loving-kindness to us; that our land may still yield her increase, to thy glory and our comfort; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
2019 ACNA BCP Collect for Thanksgiving Day
Most merciful Father, we humbly thank you for all your gifts so freely bestowed upon us: for life and health and safety; for strength to work and leisure to rest; for all that is beautiful in creation and in human life. But above all we thank you for our spiritual mercies in Christ Jesus our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
See also
References
- ↑ Frank C. Senn, Christian Liturgy: Catholic and Evangelical, pp. 502–503.
- ↑ Proposed Book of Common Prayer (1786), “A Form of Prayer and Thanksgiving to Almighty God…”
- ↑ BCP 1789, “A Form of Prayer and Thanksgiving.”
- ↑ BCP 1892, “A Form of Thanksgiving.”
- ↑ BCP 1928, Thanksgiving Day.
- ↑ Proposed Book 1786, “Instead of O come, let us sing…”
- ↑ Hatchett, pp. 44–45, 82.
- ↑ Hatchett, pp. 16–17.
- ↑ BCP 2019, pp. 618–619.
- ↑ BCP 2019, p. 619.
- ↑ Proposed BCP 1786, Thanksgiving Collect.
- ↑ Proposed BCP 1786, Thanksgiving Prayer.
- ↑ BCP 1928, Thanksgiving Day Collect.
- ↑ BCP 2019, p. 619.