Here’s
a graduation prayer litany from the First Baptist Church of Forest City.
Graduation Prayer Litany
Today,
we give thanks and rejoice for the persistence and discipline
that
has led to the completion of academic work.
We
are thankful for minds and energy,
which
are gifts of God, that bring us to celebrate this day.
We give thanks for
teacher and learner, for administrators,
and for encouragers
that stimulate our minds
and stretch our
understanding.
We
give thanks for knowledge gained
through
observation, research, experiment,
through
trial and error until discovery enlightens a path.
We give thanks for
educational ventures;
for studies that lead
to healing of body
and calming of
troubled, disordered minds;
For
those thoughts and concepts that lead to mending of relationships
between
combative and competitive nations,
to
understanding between different races and social classes,
and
to reconciliation between husband and wife, parent and child;
For sciences that
help us understand ourselves
and the environment
in which we live,
and then free us to
be good stewards of universal resources
for the wholeness and
benefit of humanity;
For
words enriched with meaning to enhance communication;
For understanding of
forces shaping our past
gained through history,
literature, philosophy,
and classical arts
that give us sight to understand
the present and the
future;
For
artistic training that has power to move the heart as well as the mind;
For educators who
give their lives to help others learn
to overcome physical,
emotional, economic, and societal limitations.
Bless
all that has been learned by these graduates,
and
may their learning be the seed that will bear fruit in their living,
not
simply for their gain, but for the benefit of all people.
As they have worked
to gain knowledge,
may each of us
discipline ourselves to seek Godly wisdom.
Remind us to
"Seek first the
kingdom of God that all else might be given to us."
Grant
that our unending quest for knowledge and wisdom
might
not lead us to arrogance, intellectual idolatry,
self-sufficiency,
or false pride,
but
to enriched Christian faith.
Grant that our faith
might be built on courage to question
rather than fear of
new truths.
Give
us confidence in the revelation of God
through
scripture, history, and our risen Lord
that
motivates us to grasp understanding of all human illumination.
Bathe us in humility
to know that in this world we will seek to balance,
on finite scales,
knowledge and faith
that will be united
fully only in the coming of your kingdom
when then we shall
see fully that which now we see only in part.
These
things we pray
in the
name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
~
posted on the website of First Baptist
Church, Forest City.
