Praying Our (Thanksgiving) Story
Tuesday, November 25, 2025
written by Rev. Erik Khoobyarian
“We who pray the psalms will be people who know how to tell our
story….Then, because we are people who listen, we will be able to give
others a place and opportunity to tell their stories also, remembering
throughout the whole story and always that God’s love endures forever.”
Pleading, Cursing, Praising: Conversing with God through the Psalms (by Irene Nowell)
Over the past few months, I’ve used our blog entries to introduce different forms of prayer in the hopes that readers might explore new ways of connecting with God. I have appreciated hearing from several of you about your experiences, including receiving your prayers with joy.
Recently, I was speaking with someone who expressed a desire to be able to share prayer with their family. Specifically, this person was wanting to impart a life of prayer, or at least some experience of prayer, with their grandchildren. I love this! Grandparents have such a unique opportunity to contribute to the faith development of their grandchildren. In many ways, this is even more so than the influence that parents have.
My hope is that all of the prayer exercises you find in these blogs would be ones you can share with others, either by writing out a prayer for them or sharing the exercise with them.
Family gatherings are an opportunity for prayer. Even many families who don’t pray regularly offer a blessing over the Thanksgiving table.
Below, I’ve modified a prayer exercise called “Praying our Story,” and I’ve adapted it for your family at Thanksgiving. You could do the exercise before dinner (but only if it won’t delay the host’s timing for the serving of a hot meal!), or after dinner, or really any time as you are gathered.
In this exercise, you’ll use the words of Psalm 136 and incorporate happenings from your individual lives and the collective life of your family or those with whom you’re gathered. My suggestion would be to provide each person gathered with a piece of scrap paper and a writing instrument. Invite them to write down a phrase or short sentence recounting a memory from the past year or earlier, or something for which they are thankful. This can be very accessible and doesn’t need to be profound! You could help people feel more comfortable by sharing a few of your own.
Once everyone has had a chance to write down one or more memories, you’ll read Psalm 136:1-9, inviting people to recite the repeated refrain. If you’ve printed the attached handout for everyone, you can have people each read a line:
O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever.
O give thanks to the God of gods,
for his steadfast love endures forever.
O give thanks to the Lord of lords,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
who alone does great wonders,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
who by understanding made the heavens,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
who spread out the earth on the waters,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
who made the great lights,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
the sun to rule over the day,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
the moon and stars to rule over the night,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
After verse 9, you’ll have the opportunity to pray your family history with each person reading their sentence or phrase and everyone saying the refrain (“for his steadfast love endures forever”) together after each person shares their phrase (if people write down more than one, say the refrain in between each reading.
Once everyone has added their story/thanksgiving, read verses 23-26:
It is the Lord who remembered us in our low estate,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
and rescued us from our foes,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
who gives food to all flesh,
for his steadfast love endures forever.
O give thanks to the God of heaven,
for his steadfast love endures forever.
Amen.
You can use this prayer in your individual life, with your family or a group of friends, or really any setting where reflecting on the past can be a way to see God’s threads of love throughout your history – in your joys, your challenges, times of happiness, and times of sorrow.
Click here for a printable handout of the exercise.