SELECTED PRAYERS FROM MAY 2025 THANKSGIVING PAPER
Cover
A Prayer of Thanksgiving
(by way of being a Meditation on Water)
Water was the first thing God made,
before there was anything else.
An act of love swelling from the Deep.
And God sent it above and below and all around
Playing with it
Parting it
Calming it
Sending it crashing out of rocks,
flowing as a river,
resting in wells.
I will stop pouring away
leftover water in my kettle because
Why waste love?
Mary Grant, SCHC
Sunday
Dear Lord, I thank you and bless you that I have been in the company of giants of the faith who draw me ever closer to you and your love.
Kathleen MacGregor, SCHC
Monday
Creator, Savior, Pain-Bearer, thank you for the simple gift of giving up. When all the hard things—resentments, disappointments, judgments, and harshness—have had their way with us, either face-to-face or through the grapevine, there is only so long we can push up against it. Please grant us cool rest from the heat of hurt and anger and a nest in which to retreat. When the urge to fight dissipates, only acceptance remains. I, for one, ask for the willingness to detach, with help to do so lovingly. There is only one reconciler way above us. I am relieved to leave it all in the hands of the Father and Mother, Son and Savior, and Daughter the Holy Spirit.
Cynthia Pape, SCHC
Tuesday
O God who lives in all living things, in all creatures whose cells burn fuel and move in the world, you have created us as one being. When the grass comes up again in the spring, when the birds return, when young persons begin to walk out together, it is as one life force that we are greening up. Let us not forget this unity of life when we see and hear another human being. Let the divisions of our cultural ways not distract us from your living spirit in each of us. Give us your eyes and ears to recognize our kin.
Janet O’Flynn, SCHC
Wednesday
O God, we thirst for social justice for all, yet no matter how deeply we care and strive for equity, we often feel small and helpless in a big, unjust world. Thank you for planting seeds of hope in us. Please water us and nourish our faith so that we persevere in our efforts.
Joy Kiser, SCHC
Thursday
Heavenly Father, thank you for the ministry of Desmond Tutu. Give us strength and courage to follow his admonition: “If you want peace, you don’t talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.”
Margy Gifford, SCHC
Friday
I am part of an eternal timeline.
I belong to this present second
Carrying your sacred breath
Breathed for me
From the
Beginning.
Love is my DNA
Together we breathe
In and out Love.
At this very moment
We move the evolution
Of Love forward.
Phoebe Griswold, SCHC
Saturday
Jane Mayrer gives thanks for the wisdom of Steven Charleston: “Can we work together, even if we do not agree with one another? Answering that question may be one of the most important things we do in this century. The spiritual response is clear: yes, we can cooperate for the common good while working out our differences. We can agree to disagree. Peace and reconciliation seem a lot more possible when conformity is not a prerequisite.”
