A Thanksgiving Prayer

Two Rivers Pastoral Charge
Sunday October 12 - Thanksgiving Weekend

God of overwhelming grace,

         this Thanksgiving, we pause,

                  and we choose gratitude.

With each breath we take, we thank you for the air we breathe.

With each meal, we thank you for making the plants grow.

With each hug, each smile, each handshake,

         we thank you for the people that you put into our lives.

With each morning that we wake up,

         we thank you for giving us the breath of life,

                  for filling us with your Holy Spirit.

 

As we gather around Thanksgiving tables,

         celebrating the abundance of the fall harvest,

we thank you and pray for all of the people who make it possible.

We pray for the farmers and for the farm workers.

We pray for the drivers who transport the food.

We pray for the manufacturers and processors.

We pray for the people who work in grocery stores

         and farmer’s markets

         and gas stations

         and farm stands.

We pray for the people who prepare the food,

         who set the table,

         who issue invitations,

         who serve the food,

         who wash dishes.

Thank you, God, for the gifts of all of these people,

         and we ask you to bless them and bless their labour.

 

And yet even on this Thanksgiving weekend,

         Loving God,

                  we know that all is not perfect in the world.

And so we pray for everyone who is sick or injured,

we pray for everyone who is lonely,

we pray for everyone who is mourning,

we pray for all caregivers,

we pray for everyone who lives in fear,

we pray for everyone living in war zones and places of violence.

We pray that your love might reach to every corner of the world,

and we ask that you transform us, by your Holy Spirit,

         into people who reflect your love into places in the world

                  that still rest in the shadows.

 

God of all people and all places,

         our prayers today stretch around the world.

In the WCC Ecumenical Prayer Cycle,

         this week we especially pray for the people and churches

                  of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Panama.

We pray for the people of Gaza,

and we pray that the tentative ceasefire

         might grow into a just and lasting peace.

We pray for peace in Ukraine,

         and also for peace in places that don’t reach the news cycle.

We pray for an end to this drought –

         for rains to fall that will fill wells and fill rivers

                  and quench the thirst of the dry land.

As the world feels ever more divided into isolated silos,

         we pray for your Holy Spirit to break down walls that divide

                  so that we might truly hear one another.

We pray for safety for all who are marginalized –

         for immigrants and refugees,

         for all members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ Community,

         for racialized people;

and we pray for your kingdom to unfold soon

         as a place where all people are equally valued.

 

And we pray too, for the people and situations

that are closest to our hearts,

as we name them now, aloud or in the silence of our hearts.

(pause)

 

Merciful God,

         finally we pray for ourselves.

You see us as we truly are.

You know the needs and desires of our hearts.

You know our secret joys and our secret sorrows.

Embrace all of us in your warm, enveloping love.

Fill our hearts with the peace of Christ.

Nudge us forwards, by your Holy Spirit, when we feel stuck,

         comfort us when we need comforting,

and most of all, draw us into your eternal dance of love.

 

All of our prayers, spoken and unspoken,

         we gather together and hold up to the light of Christ,

                  entrusting them to your care.

 

We pray all of this in and through Jesus Christ,

         in whose name we are called.

Amen.