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/
