After Giving Thanks

Call to Worship

Come! Let us give thanks to God!
We give thanks for the gift of warm bread, the smell of dinner cooking in the oven, and the joy of gathering around a table together.

Come! Let us give thanks to God!
We give thanks for all the times God has made a way out of no way, providing for us in body and spirit just when we need it.

Come! Let us give thanks to God!
We give thanks for the ways God weaves us together as a community of love and care, supporting one another in the ebbs and flows of daily life.

Let us come into God’s presence with grateful praise!
Come! Let us worship God together. Amen.

Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, May 2023.

Prayer for the Day

God of Healing and Transformation,
we hunger and thirst for your abundant life.
We bring you our sorrow and ask for the bread of joy;
we bring you our despair and ask for the bread of hope;
we bring you our weariness and ask for the bread of inspiration.

Meet us here.
We need the bread of heaven to sustain us
as we journey to find our way,
that we may we be one with you.
In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen

Written by Rev. Bonnie Tarwater in Spiritual Hunger and Thirst for God. Posted on the United Church of Christ website. http://www.ucc.org/worship/worship-ways/. Reposted on the re:Worship blog, https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2012/07/opening-prayer-bread-of-heaven.html.

Prayer of Confession

We talk about how little we have and
do not recognize the abundance
we have when we share.
We allow resources and gifts to be wasted
in our neighborhoods instead of valuing
and preserving the smallest fragments
the world so often casts aside.
We rush about life attempting
To do everything on our own
instead of being grateful for all the ways
we love and support one another.
We grumble about all that is going wrong
instead of approaching you with gratitude
and trust that you will provide.
Forgive us, we pray.
Free us to live as your grateful people.

Offer silent prayers of confession.

Receive this good news:
God’s love never fails!
The same Christ who commanded his disciples
to gather leftover bread and fish so that nothing would be lost
has not overlooked or forgotten you.
In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven!

In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven!
Thanks be to God! Amen.

Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, May 2023.

Benediction

Go, now, giving thanks for all that God has done and all that God is doing in your life, in this community, and in the world. May we be surprised by grace as gratitude opens us to recognize God’s abundant provision all around us. Amen.

Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, May 2023.