Section:
prayers
THANKSGIVING FOR GOD’S GOODNESS
Hymn Suggestions:
All My Days (Schutte)
All My Days (Schutte)
Glory and Praise to Our God (Schutte)
God Is So Good (Landry)
God, You Are Good (Nelson)
Yahweh (Weston Priory)
You Are Near (Schutte)
Introduction
We walk before our God
—today—every day—
thankful for God’s presence in our lives,
a presence that breathes gentleness,
that heals our brokenness and loves us into wholeness,
that embraces us with goodness so pervasive
that our lives can be but echoes of a continuing hymn of
thanks
Reader 1: Ephesians 1: 3-10
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing
in the heavenly places,
just as he chose us in Christ
before the foundation of the world
to be holy and blameless before him in love.
He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ,
according to the good pleasure of his will,
to the praise of his glorious grace
that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
In him we have redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of our trespasses,
according to the riches of his grace
that he lavished on us.
With all wisdom and insight
he has made known to us the mystery of his will,
according to his good pleasure
that he set forth in Christ,
as a plan for the fullness of time,
to gather up all things in him,
things in heaven and things on earth.
Response: Refrain of “God, You Are Good” or refrain of one of the hymns listed above.
God, You are good, God, You are love
You are the source of my joy!
God, You are good, God, You are love.
You are the source of my life!
From “God, You are Good” © 1996 by Cathy Tisel Nelson. E-mail: ctsinels@charter.net. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
Reader 2:
Therefore,
let us desire nothing else,
let us want nothing else,
let nothing else please us and cause us delight
except our Creator, Redeemer, and Savior,
the only true God,
who is the fullness of good,
all good, every good, the true and supreme good,
who alone is good,
merciful, gentle, delightful, and sweet,
who alone is holy,
just true, holy, and upright,
who alone is kind, innocent, clean,
from whom, through whom, and in whom
is all pardon, all grace, all glory
of all penitents and just ones,
of all the blessed rejoicing together in heaven.
From “Early Rule,” page 85, XXIII, #9 in Francis Assisi: Early Documents Vol. 1, edited by Regis J. Armstrong, OFM Cap., J.A. Wayne Hellmann, OFM Conv., William J. Short, OFM. New York: New City Press, 1999. Used with permission.
Response: “God, You Are Good”
Reader 3: “Canticle”
You dreamed of me in love
Soft whisper-breathed my name. . .
God-loved me into being.
Be praised, my God of all that is.
You held my brokenness within your hands
And gently smoothed with godly care
My glassy, sharpened shards. . .
God-loved me into wholeness.
Be praised, my God, of broken lives.
You searched my darkness with your light. . .
Not harsh. . .
Not glaring. . .
But gently muted
Till my spirit too could bear the rays. . .
God-loved me into light.
Be praised, my God whose name is Light.
You warmed the coldness that I wore
And softened from within
The hardness of my shell. . .
Warmly. . .
Softly. . .
You embraced
And God-breathed gentleness into my veins.
Be praised, my gentle God of warmth.
You sigh with pleasure at this ME you made
And gaze in awe at all I am.
You laugh and sing with godly joy
God-breathing godness into me.
Be praised, my God,
My Joy,
My God,
My All.
Ann Marie Slavin, OSF
Response: “God, You Are Good”
Prayers of Gratitude: Paragraphs can be read by individuals or the group.
We are grateful for eyes that can see and ponder, for taste buds that know the sensuous pleasures of eating and drinking, for hands that hold and touch and feel, for ears that can delight in music and the voice of a friend, for a nose that can smell the aroma of newly mown grass or delicious food, and can also breathe the air that gives us life.
We are grateful for the treasure of loved ones whose hearts of openness and acceptance have encouraged us to be who we are. We are grateful for their faithfulness, for standing by us when our weaknesses stood out glaringly, for being there when we were most in need and for delighting with us in our good days and our joyful seasons.
We are grateful for the eyes of faith, for believing in the presence of God, giving us hope in our darkest days, encouraging us to listen to our spirit’s hunger, and reminding us to trust in the blessings of God’s presence in our most empty days.
We are grateful for the ongoing process of becoming who we are, for the seasons within, for the great adventure of life that challenges and comforts us at one and the same time.
We are grateful for the messengers of God—people, events, written or spoken words—that came to us at just the right time and helped us to grow.
We are grateful for God calling us to work with our gifts, grateful that we can be of service and use our talents in a responsible and just way.
We are grateful that we have the basic necessities of life, that we have the means and the ability to hear the cries of the poor and to respond with our abundance.
We are grateful for the miracle of life, for the green of our earth, for the amazing grace of our history; we are grateful that we still have time to decide the fate of the world by our choices and our actions, grateful that we have it within our power to bring a divided world to peace.
Closing Prayer:
Faithful God, you have lavished us with love. Keep us ever mindful that you keep your promises. On our difficult days help us to remember that you are a refuge for those who need shelter, a comfort for those who feel empty and poor in spirit. On our joyful days fill us with a deep sense of thanksgiving as we experience your everlasting love. Help us to share your graciousness with all those who need a touch of generous love. Amen.
Prayers of Gratitude and Closing Prayer excerpted from pages 151-152 of May I Have This Dance? by Joyce Rupp, © 1992. Used with permission from the publisher, Ave Maria Press. Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, www.avemariapress.com.
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
