Thanksgiving Prayer
Great God of our lives,
for all that is gracious in our lives,
revealing the image of Christ,
we give you thanks.
For the beauty and perfection of the natural order,
For things great and small, beautiful and awesome,
Seen and unseen splendors,
For the changing of seasons,
For the rising and setting and rising again of the sun,
we give you thanks.
For human life,
For talking and moving and thinking together,
For common hopes and hardships shared from birth until the time of our dying,
we give you thanks.
For our daily food and drink,
Our homes and families and friends,
we give you thanks.
For our minds to think
and hearts to love
and hands to serve,
we give you thanks.
For health and strength to work,
For the comradeship of labor,
For exchanges of good humor and encouragement,
And for the gift of leisure to rest and play,
we give you thanks.
For all valiant seekers after truth, liberty, and justice:
For those who give their lives and work to minister to “the least of these”,
And, filled with your passion, battle
the powers and principalities of the world on their behalf,
we give you thanks. For marriage:
For the mystery and joy of flesh made one,
For mutual forgiveness and burdens shared,
we give you thanks. For children: for their energy and curiosity,
For their brave play and startling frankness,
For their sudden sympathies,
For the joy they give us,
we give you thanks.
For the young:
For their high hopes,
For their irreverence toward worn-out values,
For their search for freedom,
And their new ways of expressing the values that never wear out,
we give you thanks.
For growing up and growing old,
For wisdom deepened by experience,
For the rest of leisure,
For time made precious by its passing,
we give you thanks.
For death and the completion of our days,
the gateway into your everlasting and loving arms,
and into the hugs of loved ones not seen for many years,
we give you thanks.
For your help, O God, in times of doubt and sorrow,
Even when we were not sure you were there.
For your healing of our diseases,
For preserving us from temptation and danger,
we give you thanks.
For the church into which we have been called:
Which, for all it’s faults, is the place where we receive
the Good News by Word and Sacrament;
And for our life together in Jesus Christ,
we give you thanks.
For your Holy Spirit,
Who guides our steps and brings us gifts of faith and love,
Who prays in us and prompts our grateful worship,
we give you thanks. For your Son Jesus Christ,
Who lived and died and lives again for our salvation:
For our hope in him,
For the joy of serving him,
we give you thanks and praise you, eternal God,
for all your goodness to us. Give thanks to the Lord, who is good!
God’s love is everlasting.
For the great mercies and promises given to us in Christ Jesus our Lord;
For all your tender mercies, day by day,
To you, O God, be praise and glory forever and ever. Amen.
