There are prayers and songs from every faith tradition for giving thanks and for celebrating the harvest. Click around and find some that sing to you. Use them to express gratitude or reawaken it (we all have those days!), and on any day you wish. Links below the reprinted prayer.
This modern prayer, God of All Harvests, is slightly abridged from the original to make it more universal. It comes from Catholic Relief Services, where you can find it printed in its entirety.
God of sun and God of rain,
In you, there is no dryness.
In you, no weed chokes the root.
No blight withers the leaf.
No frost bites at the blossom.
And, so, we pray for farmers and their
harvests everywhere.
In you, seeds of tears yield a bountiful harvest of joy.
May the rice farmer in Madagascar know
such bounty.
In you, seeds of truth and courage yield a bountiful harvest of justice.
May the coffee farmer in Honduras know
such bounty.
In you, seeds of compassion yield a bountiful harvest of wisdom.
May the cacao farmer in the Philippines know such bounty.
In you, seeds of hope yield a bountiful harvest of fulfillment.
May the vegetable farmer in Haiti know such bounty.
In you, seeds of love yield a bountiful harvest of forgiveness and reconciliation.
May the cassava farmer in Zambia know such bounty.
God of all harvests, bless all planters everywhere:
All who sow and all who gather,
All who nourish and all who weed,
All who thresh and bundle and bring to market.
And bless all harvests.
Sprinkle your living water on our fields, on our relationships, on our communities, on our hearts.
And kiss us with the light and warmth of your undying sun.
Amen
More to explore:
- A compilation of thanksgiving prayers from many traditions.
- A daily Muslim prayer of gratitude
- An LDS message on God’s harvest.
- A Buddhist prayer of thanksgiving for food.
- A Baha’i grace.
- A hymn that appears in several mainline Protestant hymnals (mostly set to a Welch tune).
- Catholic prayers for the Thanksgiving table.
- Jewish prayers from the harvest festival of Sukkot.
- A non-denominational round to sing.