A few summer days on the coast…our full clan assembled…for a family wedding. An event that evokes gratitude:
Creator God, I sense your presence on the beach. Your Spirit is revealed in the sun, the waves, the sand. Admittedly, I skipped the sun’s rising, but you were there in the sunsets and star filled evening sky.
Lord Christ, I feel your Spirit in the warmth of family. I find it in the company of friends and their gift of hospitality.
Thanks be to God for these expressions of your presence, love and care. Amen.
I don’t view Genesis as a science textbook. God is not trying to teach us biology or earth science, but his creative energy is the underpinning of science. That’s the first lesson of the Bible: God is the creator…of the universe…of you and me.
I offer some prayers about creation and nature. CLICK HERE.
Graphic credit
When we view the blessings with which our country has been favored, those which we now enjoy, and the means which we possess of handing them down unimpaired to our latest posterity, our attention is irresistibly drawn to the source from whence they flow.
Let us then unite in offering our most grateful acknowledgments for these blessings to the Divine Author of All Good.
James Monroe,
5th U.S. President
Message to Congress, 1818
I am re-posting these Independence Day prayers from 2009. Click here. And I offer this prayer For our Country from the Book of Common Prayer. I'm challenged to put aside my cynicism, savor the archaic language and pray with deliberation, line by line...
Almighty God, who hast given us this good land for our
heritage: We humbly beseech thee that we may always prove
ourselves a people mindful of thy favor and glad to do thy will.
Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and
pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion;
from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend
our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitudes
brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Endue
with the spirit of wisdom those to whom in thy Name we entrust
the authority of government, that there may be justice and
peace at home, and that, through obedience to thy law, we
may show forth thy praise among the nations of the earth. In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness,
and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in thee to fail;
all which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Book of Common Prayer
Prayers for National Life, page 820
