Let us give thanks for all God’s* goodness to us:
For creating the world and for preserving it until now:
- we give you thanks, O God,
and praise your holy name.
For the regular return of day and night, and of the seasons:
- we give you thanks, O God,
and praise your holy name.
For the wonder of nature and the beauty of the earth:
- we give you thanks, O God,
and praise your holy name.
*Spirit, Source of All Goodness, First Principle
For our memory, which enables us to build on the experience of the past:
- we give you thanks, O God,
and praise your holy name.
For our imagination which admits us to a wider world than we could otherwise know:
- we give you thanks, O God,
and praise your holy name.
For the grace by which you have revealed yourself to us:
- we give you thanks, O God,
and praise your holy name.
For your patience with our mistakes
and your forgiveness for our sinfulness:
- we give you thanks, O God,
and praise your holy name.
For new babies and children who continue to grow and learn:
- we give you thanks, O God,
and praise your holy name.
For time spent together in covenant, and the joy of the love of a partner:
- we give you thanks, O God,
and praise your holy name.
For friends who stay with us through thick and thin, and for those who argue with us in good faith:
- we give you thanks, O God,
and praise your holy name.
For the beauty of a long summer’s day:
- we give you thanks, O God,
and praise your holy name.
For all things, spoken and unspoken:
- we give you thanks, O God,
and praise your holy name.
For the peace that is yet to come to the world:
- we give you thanks, O God,
and praise your holy name.
Above all we thank you for the promise of all things made new, and for our re-creation.
Thank you for reminding me of my need for gratitude, Pastordan. There is much in my life that is good; I will carry that with me as the sun sets this evening.
once again from Chalice Worship, published by the Disciples of Christ.
Program note: Mrs. Pastor and I will be travelling from July 2nd through the 11th. I’ll try to post from the road, but I’m not making any promises.
The spouse and I are hanging local next weekend…I could take the “Brothers and Sisters” duty. Would give me a chance to check the Grace Cathedral website for Episcopal resources that might work for July Fourth, or even write my own… 🙂
Heck, even brick and mortar pastors call in for pulpit supply once in a while, especially during the summer…
I’ll take that offer. Very generous.
The church treasurer will see that you get a check for $75 and directions to the local diner.
Thanks!
consider it a belated anniversary gift to you and the Mrs. — I’ll even remember to post it on dKos, since I never officially went GBCW. 🙂
I’ve already got some ideas, mainly about addressing it to the Unnamed Creator of the Founding Fathers…
Thanks, but no need to crosspost. x will be doing the honors over there, and musing85 will cover the Word for the Week duties.
And I didn’t ask anyone…
Looking forward to Michael’s WftW and X’s Brothers and Sisters…hope I can keep up the high quality…
I know…I’m sorry to be missing it all!
“I tremble for My Country, when I reflect that God is JUST !!’ Thomas Jefferson
Me thinks God would rather have us taking action for solving our problems, than waving our hands in the air in Praise….
Brothers and Sisters, let’s get ready to rumble.
Sad that more people die in God’s name, than for any other reason.
I think the point of this is that most prayers tend to be of the “gimme gimme gimme” variety…and that even God likes to be given a “thanks, bud” once in a while…
One of the finest sermons my former pastor (she moved to a new assignment a year ago, trading places with my current pastor) gave centered around this line.
WHERE did we get the idea that God was a vending machine with ears?
Prayer is not about grudginly counting out the right coins then pushing the buttons to get a treat…
prayer takes many forms – but it generally ought, in my mind, to be about changing ourselves – and listening to our creator.
As a mystic character on Dharma and Greg put it – so you’re going to have a conversation with the creator of all that is – and you think YOU should do most of the talking?
Namaste
I mean no disrespect, but I would like to thank the millions of people on earth for their continued fight for and support of the environment, peace, tolerance, compassion, productivity, love, empathy, devotion, activism, and generally sticking up for what is right. Bless you all.
No disrespect there. Welcome, and bless you.
Bless you PD. I come to Brothers and Sisters every week as I go to Quaker Meeting. It’s the silence (well, kind of…), sometimes punctuated by a witness that speaks to my condition. And that you did tonight.
My prayer this evening:
Let us pray for the earth and all of its creatures. For the fledgling owl in the woods by the lake, that it may learn to live with the rabble of crows that harrass its every move. For the crows, in that at least some of them may survive the West Nile Virus that is certainly coming our way. Help us find solace and strength in the beauty of the natural world. Give us the courage to use our knowledge to protect this earth that shelters and sustains us. Help us find the words to witness for the earth and the courage to use them.
This is like walking into a church where you don’t know which denomination it is until you sit down.
Sure glad it’s not southern baptist.
Well, let us know when you figure out what it is.
…
‘Cause I’d sure like to know.
/Snark
Now THAT is an interesting question.
Would probably need pagan on my short list. And UU. They’re basically the same from all I can see.
🙂
LOL I grew up UU and am now a Pagan. There is not much difference, really. The local UU church has a contingent at our Pagan Pride march!
But, this beautiful prayer is neither UU nor Pagan because it invokes God. I don’t think I heard the term “God” more than half a dozen times in the years that I grew up Unitarian. And the Pagans are much more apt to recognize the Goddess with the God, but not just the male side of divinity.
This is a beautiful prayer in the style of the Episcopalians. I don’t know what style you ascribe to, Pastor Dan, but I respect it too!
I am part of the United Church of Christ, aka the “UCC”, aka “Unitarians Considering Christ”…
Oh man….
I thought it was Unlimited Catered Cookies
Uniform Commercial Code, Umpaqua Community College, University College of Cork…It just goes on and on…
Arthur C. Clark wrote a story called the “Nine Billion Names of God.” Some Tibetans, convinced that the purpose of the universe is to find the name of God, team up with an American computer company to automate the task. The company representative has just landed to check on the project’s progress and is told that things are going great, the machines have just finished. He looks up and sees the stars begin to wink out, one by one.
“One theory says that if we ever discover what the universe is for and why it exists then it will be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. … Another theory says that this has already happened several times.” Douglas Adams, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, from memory.
“The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away” and “God moves in mysterious ways” are simply additional ways of saying that, well, shit happens and a Vogon Constructor Fleet, or something equally devastating could arrive tomorrow. So, remember to ignore the “Beware of Tiger!” sign and keep your tower handy.
(I hope I have not offended anyone. I find Mr Adam’s books to be almost spiritual and mean not disrespect.)
…to the Almighty Creator of the Universe, aka God, from whom all good things flow–
Does it not logically follow that we should also be blaming God for famine, plague, disease, and the winter tsunami that devastated millions of people’s lives?
If not, why not? If we are thanking God for a summer’s day, then should we also not blame God for a killer tsunami wave? Or the blistering summer sun that has caused a drought–and widespread famine–in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa?
Ah, I can already anticipate the answer–human beings are supposed to work together to solve these problems. As well we should; the wealthier nations of the world should pool their resources to aid the less fortunate.
But then, if we are going to do that, why are we thanking this God character for anything? If all problems are to be solved through our own efforts, His role is to be only the object of praise and never the object of blame?
Ah, now I see.
No, thanks.
Since this seems to be the place to post things of a religious nature, there’s nothing more religious than the Book of Matthew. It’s one of the four gospels, don’t you know, and therefore one of the four pillars of Christianity.
My absolute favourite passage, and one which I wish would be paid more attention by the followers of Christ, is:
Matthew 6:5-6: “And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men….when thou prayest, enter into thy closet and when thou has shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret….”