Here’s a beautiful thanksgiving
prayer from Walter Brueggemann’s Awed to
Heaven, Rooted in Earth collection (see link below).
Thanksgiving
Prayer
The witnesses tell of your boundless
generosity,
and their telling is compelling to us:
You give your world to call the worlds into being;
You give your sovereign rule to emancipate the slaves and the oppressed;
and their telling is compelling to us:
You give your world to call the worlds into being;
You give your sovereign rule to emancipate the slaves and the oppressed;
You give your commanding fidelity to form your own
people;
You give your life for the life of the world...
broken bread that feeds,
poured out wine and binds and heals.
You give...we receive...and are thankful.
We begin this day in gratitude,
thanks that is a match for your self-giving,
gratitude in gifts offered,
gratitude in tales told,
gratitude in lives lived.
Gratitude willed, but no so readily lived,
held back by old wounds turned to powerful resentment,
slowed by early fears become vague anxiety,
restrained by self-sufficiency in a can-do arrogance,
blocked by amnesia unable to recall gifts any longer.
Do this yet. Create innocent spaces for us this day
for the gratitude we intend.
In thankfulness,
we will give,
we will tell,
we will live,
your gift through us to gift the world. Amen
You give your life for the life of the world...
broken bread that feeds,
poured out wine and binds and heals.
You give...we receive...and are thankful.
We begin this day in gratitude,
thanks that is a match for your self-giving,
gratitude in gifts offered,
gratitude in tales told,
gratitude in lives lived.
Gratitude willed, but no so readily lived,
held back by old wounds turned to powerful resentment,
slowed by early fears become vague anxiety,
restrained by self-sufficiency in a can-do arrogance,
blocked by amnesia unable to recall gifts any longer.
Do this yet. Create innocent spaces for us this day
for the gratitude we intend.
In thankfulness,
we will give,
we will tell,
we will live,
your gift through us to gift the world. Amen
~
written by Walter Brueggemann, in Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth: Prayers
of Walter Brueggemann (Fortress Press, 2002). http://www.amazon.ca/Awed-Heaven-Rooted-Earth-ebook/dp/B000VSM1VM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1381763800&sr=8-1&keywords=awed+to+heaven Posted on Houseblend Ministries Gratitude
Challenge. http://houseblendministries.com/blog/permalink/gratitude-challenge-day-3/
