Our Thanksgiving prayers this Sunday flowed out of the prayers of our children, and their thank-you note to God (pictured above). Please feel free to join us in the prayers of gratitude and grace we prayed in worship this Sunday, November 20, 2022:
God of love and grace and every good gift,
you created all that is in love.
We thank you for stars and sun and moon,
for soaring mountain, and roaring ocean,
for birds, and fish, and all the creatures that roam the earth,
for fresh air to breathe,
and cool sips of water to refresh the day.
We thank you for the bright light of morning,
for the quiet you bring at the dimming of the day,
for the festival of color
we experience in the autumn leaves.
Help us care for your earth,
keep us from doing creation further harm,
help us to live grateful lives of sustaining tender care.
We thank you for the blessings of life
for the gift of each other,
for family and community,
for lives of meaning and purpose,
for the work that is ours to do,
for meals that sustain,
for nurses and doctors who help us heal,
for a place to call home.
Help us reimagine with you a world that is loving and just.
Today, we pray especially
for the families of those killed in last night’s mass shooting in Colorado Spring,
for an end to violence and hate directed to LBTGIA+ people,
for an end to gun violence and an end to America’s idolatry of guns.
Help us dismantle systems that oppress,
particularly systems of American racism,
help us welcome the stranger,
and make sure everyone has enough to live and to thrive.
Thank you for the gifts we experience in each other and in those we meet:
a friendly smile,
a helping hand,
the warmth of a hug,
a wise word of counsel,
a shared laugh,
a shared tear,
for life together
in good times and not so good.
Help us see each other’s need,
the needs of the world,
and respond in love.
We pray for those who are hurting, for healing.
For those who are hungry, food enough and more.
For those who are unhoused, safe shelter.
For those who are lonely, a friend.
For those who mourn, deep, abiding comfort.
Thank you for loving us through the whole of life,
and on out into forever.
Thank you for your faithfulness across the generations.
Thank you for your love for us in Jesus Christ.
Thank you for the communion of saints –
for the blessing of community –
for all those who have called on your name,
in every place and time.
With them, we lift our voices to you,
in prayer, and praise, and thanksgiving,
praying the prayer that Jesus taught, saying:
Our Father/Mother, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.