Thanksgiving Litany 2008

Friends,

Happy Thanksgiving! It has become my Thanksgiving tradition to write a litany of things that I am thankful for. I have compiled my list below. I encourage you to add your own thoughts and thanks. I, again, give credit to Sr. Anne of Nunblog for this idea.

Thanksgiving Litany
Great and Eternal Creator, You have given us so much and we give You so little thanks. Accept these prayers as our offering of praise and gratitude to You.

We give thanks for the splendours of Creation--the Earth, the rivers, the oceans, the wildlife, the trees, the plants--all that You have given life to. O God, we give You praise.

We give thanks for wonderful friends. You have decreed that we should not be alone. We have, from Adam being given Eve, been given friends and helpmates to walk this Earth with. O God, we give You praise.

We give thanks for Your Son. You sent Your wholly perfect Son to bear the weight of our sins. We did not deserve such a sacrifice, yet it was given. We, too, were given a perfect model of Godliness in Your Son, our Saviour. O God, we give You praise.

We give thanks for Your Spirit. You have given Your Spirit like a flowing river, undulating in and out of our lives, offering inspiration and peace wherever She goes. O God, we give You praise.

We give thanks for music. From the dawn of Creation, Your children have been singing and making music, God. Music speaks more than any of us could ever imagine. It is the gateway to the soul, God, and a definite mode of offering our praise to You. O God, we give You praise.

We give thanks for the Church. Throughout history, O God, Your Church has done much good and much bad. We give You thanks for the good and ask Your absolution for the bad. As the Church moves into the 21st Century, give her the ability to effectively communicate the love and peace of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. O God, we give You praise.

We give thanks for peace and justice. You have affirmed through Your Prophets and Your Son that we, as Your children, must actively give voice to, protect, and honour those who have no voice, no protection, and no honour. Blessed are the peacemakers, the meek, the persecuted, the widows, the poor, those who help the "least of my brethren." O God, we give You praise.

We give you thanks for education. You have given some the ability to retain knowledge and share that knowledge with others. You have given us the opportunity to rise above our social class and reach new heights. By education, all have the opportunity to follow their dreams. O God, we give You praise.

We give you thanks for freedom, equality, and fraternity. We, as humans, are brothers and sisters on this Earth, united by Christ Jesus. There is no man, woman, or child who has more of Your favor than any other one. O God, we give You praise.

We give you thanks for individuality. All of Your children are unique and original in his or her own way. O God, we give You praise.

We give you thanks for the marginalized--for the minorities, the oppressed. There are those in this world who have far less than we do. These brothers and sisters serve as living examples for us. By their example, we are encouraged out of complacency and into activity. O God, we give You praise.

We give you thanks for our brothers and sisters of other faiths. We stand united with our Muslim, Jewish, Bahai brothers and sisters and brothers and sisters of other faiths. Each of us focuses on one or two aspects of Your divinity. May we be able to work together on those things which we can all agree upon. It is a wicked thing for us to automatically assume that there is nothing which we can learn from other faiths. Break this wicked assumption, God. O God, we give You praise.

We give thanks for Your divine Love. While we did not and do not deserve that we are given, You continue to fruitfully give. May we realize all that you have given and offer proper thanks. O God, we give You praise.

We lift all of these things mentioned and those left unmentioned and give You praise for all that we realize and do not realize we are given every day.

Glory be to the Creator, and to the Saviour, and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the Beginning, Is Now, and Ever Shall Be--a World without End, Amen, Amen.

Happy Thanksgiving, friends!

God is Love,

+Cody

Cross Posted :
Confessions of a Future Pastor
Personal Email to friends and family

Sunday Prayer: 23 November, 2008 (Christ the King Sunday)

God of All That Is:

Today we call your day. We take a few moments out of our various busy schedules and stop. You, alone, know all that is going on in our lives. You, alone, know what our thoughts and desires are. You, alone, know what we truly need. You, alone, are the one who can provide us with all that we need. Of all the other "gods" revered by man, we know that You, alone, are the one and true God--the God of Isaiah, of Jacob, of Moses, of Jesus. You, alone, are our God and we live to serve You.

On this Sunday, many of Your children celebrate "Christ the King" Sunday. Today, we honor and worship Christ as our King. Through Your son, You reign as supreme Sovereign. We give You, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit all the honor, glory, and reverence due.

As we prepare to welcome the Christ-child into our lives, may we realize the true peace that Jesus brings. Give us the spirits of servants as we ready ourselves for the Advent season. May we donate our time and our efforts to those who have not what we do. This season, O God, is filled with light. Let us always keep Christ as our Light.

Today, as we honor Christ as the King, we offer our prayers to those who reign as Kings on Earth. We offer this world's leaders up to You, O God. Grant them wisdom and guidance. This world is in a dark time, Creator God. Lend Your Spirit to those with the power to remedy that. We ask, especially, that you lend Your Spirit, guidance, and wisdom to President Elect Barack Obama and his family and administration. We ask that You would give Barack all that he needs to govern this country and restore us from this quagmire that we are in now.

Wonderful God, pour Your Spirit upon us all, that we might be Your sons and daughters. Let Your Spirit flow wherever She desires--as the rivers and streams flow across the land, so too let Your Spirit flow.

Glory to the Creator, to the Christ, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be--a world with out end, Amen.

Prayer for Obama's foreign policy

Dear Lord,

Thank you for this day and thank you for the Obama Prayer Team's dedication to stay together as a group to continue to pray for Obama, Biden, the Administration, and this country. Today foreign policy is heavy on my heart, specifically Afghanistan and Pakistan. I was fortunate last night to meet Greg Mortensen and listen to him speak on Afghanistan and Pakistan. He has helped promote peace in the region by building schools, primarily for girls. He feels that what that area needs most is educational opportunities, not more war. He believes that Afghanistan needs to be listened to, that they know what they need and the only hope they have to end 30 plus years of war is education and opportunities.

Lord, I know that your servant, Barack Obama, is a man who is empathetic and listens. He is a peacemaker and he believes in the value of education. May he use your wisdom in dealing with Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Taliban and Al Qaeda, being a blessed peacemaker for that region, our country and the world.

In Jesus Name,
Amen

Prayer: 20 November, 2008

God of All That Is:
To you, we give thanks for Barack Obama. We give you thanks for the tomorrow that you have given us. God, you lifted up a simple, kind attorney and placed him in the highest civic office in this great country. Rather than judging wealth or fame, God, you judge the character of each of us. We give you thanks, again, for all that you continue to provide for us. We give you thanks for those passionate enough to be willing to die for this country. We give you thanks, God.

Today, we ask that you grant peace and serenity to the Obama and the Biden families. They are in for a world of changes in the next few months. We ask that you allow a safe and peaceful transfer of the White House from the Current Occupant to Barack and his family.

For the past eight years, America has been driven into a quagmire. But you, O God, have given us another chance. This chance is built upon the Gospel of Jesus Christ and embodied in Barack Obama. As Obama takes the office of President of the United States, I ask that you give him the grace and guidance necessary to fulfill the sacred office to which he was elected.

We give you thanks for the members of this blog group.Grant them peace and grace as they go about their daily lives trying to focus on you and bring your word and will into the public's eye.

We offer these prayers in the name of the +Creator, the Christ, and the Holy Spirit.

God is Love,

+Cody

Privileged to Pray

I am so excited to be part of the Obama Prayer Team. I count it a blessing and an honor. May we will pray with a spirit of unity, for blessed are the brothers and sisters who dwell in unity. May we pray the scriptures, for the word of God is a two-edged sword. May we surround our beloved President Elect, Barack Obama, with a firestorm of prayer that brings protection, encouragement, divine illumination, revelation , safety, security, healing, divine strategy, comfort, rejuvination, wisdom, peace, humility, understanding, love, honor and blessing.
May the Holy Spirit breathe upon us as we pray and seek God's will for our beloved President, Vice President and their families. May our prayers rise to the throne of God as an incense before Him. I pray all this in Jesus' name, our wonderful Intercessor, Redeemer and King.

Welcome!

Dearest Friends,

I would like to extend a warm welcome to all of you. This blog is the successor to the email prayer list started on www.mybarackobama.com Several prayer team members expressed the desire to have an organized setting to gather our prayers for President-Elect Barack Obama and his family and future administration.Other Prayer Team members will be added as 'authors' on this blog, allowing for a diverse number of prayers.

To those of you who are new to our group:

The Obama Prayer Team is a group of men and women, young and old, praying for Barack Obama and the change that he embodies. We are a non-denominational group of laypeople and clergy and welcome all those interested into our fold. We merely ask that you keep dialogue appropriate and Biblical.

God's Blessings,

+(thefuture)Rev.Cody Maynus