Responsive Prayer for Thanksgiving

Here’s a closing Thanksgiving prayer from the United Church of Christ.

Thanksgiving Prayer

Almighty God,
from whom comes each good gift of life,
we remember your loving kindness and your uncounted mercies
as we join in grateful praise.

For all your gifts to us and to our human race;
for our life and the world in which we live,
we give you thanks, O God.

For the order and constancy of nature;
for the beauty and bounty of the world;
for day and night, summer and winter, seed-time and harvest;
for the varied joys which every season brings,
we give you thanks, O God.

For the work
and the truth we are permitted to discover;
good there has been in our past,
and for all the hopes which lead us on toward better things,
we give you thanks, O God.

For all the joys and comforts of life;
for homes and families;
for our friends;
for the love, sympathy, and goodwill of persons near and far,
we give you thanks, O God.
 
For all cultures, wise government and just laws which order our common life;
for education and all the treasures of literature, science, and art,
we give you thanks, O God.
 
For the discipline of life;
for the tasks and trials which train us to know ourselves
and which bring us to accept one another,
we give you thanks, O God.
 
For the desire and power to help others;
for every opportunity of serving our generation in ways large or small,
we give you thanks, O God.
 
For the gift of Jesus Christ, and everything which is ours as his disciples;
for the presence and inspiration of your Holy Spirit throughout our days,
we give you thanks, O God.

For the tender ties which bind us to the unseen world;
for the faith which dispels the shadows of earth
and fills the closing years of life with the light of hope,
we give you thanks, O God.

God of all grace and love,
we have praised you with our lips
for all the richness and meaning that life holds for us.
Now send us into the world to praise you with our lives,
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. AMEN

~ from The Hymnal of the United Church of Christ, ©1974.United Church Press.  Posted on the website of the Long Green Valley Church of the Brethren. http://rockhay.tripod.com/worship/orders/