An Outline for Worship with Examples and Options for Adaptation and Use
Prepared by the National Council of the Churches of Christ
Acts of Thanksgiving
Litany of Thanksgiving
Leader: God, we thank you that your love is greater than all that is wrong in our lives. Greater than our failure to live according to your will.
People: We are forgiven people, freed to begin anew.
Leader: God, we thank you for every precious moment of forgiveness and reconciliation in our own lives and in the lives of communities and nations.
People: We are forgiven people, freed to begin anew.
Leader: God, we know there is still much that divides us from one another and from you in the struggle for more just and loving relationships, there is no cheap forgiveness between oppressor and oppressed, not everything can be reconciled; but as we fight against oppression help us not to condemn the oppressor nor to absolve the oppressed, for judgment rests with you alone who searches every heart and knows our innermost being.
People: We are forgiven people, freed to begin anew.
Leader: God, help us to respect that which remains unforgiven and to understand it is there as a challenge not to give up the struggle for justice; forgiveness has to become concrete in our lives.
People: We are forgiven people, yet stand in the need of forgiveness every day. Amen.Assurance of God's Mercy
Leader: Eternal God, you have never ceased to call us back to you and to each other, even though we often resist your will and go our own way. Save us from the anxiety of guilt that weighs us down, from false repentance that does not lead to life, and from the sin of taking your love for granted. But teach us to know that we are forgiven people, freed to begin anew, Give us a fresh vision of your purpose for us and for the world. And may the assurance of your forgiveness make us more aware of the things that belong to our peace--In Jesus name we pray.
People: Amen, thanks be to God.
(Source: World Council of Churches' World Convocation on Justice, Peace, and the Integrity of Creation, Seoul, Korea, March 1990. Used by permission.)
Praise and Thanksgiving
Gratitude to Mother Earth, sailing through night and day--and to her soil: rich, rare, and sweet
in our minds so be itGratitude to Plants, the sun-facing light-changing leaf and fine root-hairs; standing still through wind and rain; their dance is in the flowing spiral grain
in our minds so be itGratitude to Air, bearing the soaring Swift and the silent owl at dawn. Breath of our song
clear spirit breeze
in our minds so be itGratitude to Wild Beings, our brothers, teaching secrets, freedoms, and ways; who share with us their milk;
self-complete, brave, and aware
in our minds so be itGratitude to Water: clouds, lakes, rivers, glaciers, holding or releasing;
streaming through all our bodies salty seas
in our minds so be itGratitude to the Sun: blinding pulsing light through trunks of trees, through mists, warming caves where bears and snakes sleep--he who wakes us--
in our minds so be itGratitude to the Great Sky
who holds billions of stars--and goes yet beyond that--
beyond all powers, and thoughts
and yet is within us--
Grandfather Space
The Mind is his Wife
so be it
(Gary Snyder, after a Mohawk Prayer, "Earth Prayers, edited by Elizabeth Roberts and Elias Amidon, 1991, p. 236. Reprinted by arrangement with HarperSanFrancisco, a division of HarperCollins Publishers.)
Prayer of Thanksgiving
For galaxies stretching out beyond all imagining and for the planet that is our home:
We give you thanks, O God.
For creating us in you image, and inviting us to live in harmony with you and in peace with your children;
We give you thanks, O God.
For people of vision who have taught us ways of justice and love;
and for our friend, Jesus, who points us to your reign still:
We give you thanks, O God.
Now empower us to live as your people;
May our lives be thank-you notes for all these gifts!
(Richard G. Watts, "Living Waters," No. 15, June 1993. Used by permission.)