A prayer of thanksgiving for experiences that shape us
Prayer: Kyle Oliver for prayr.cc
Image: “Homecoming FTW!” by Nancy McClure via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
O God, you build us out of experiences.
You animate our lives with the memories of relationships grown leafy,
and stories that reach across time to orient, propel, and sometimes needle us.
We thank you for the people and places and processes that form us as persons and as disciples:
form us for work and service
form us for play and celebration
form us for knowing and loving you and yours
—as if (and because) they are we and ours.
We thank for moments where our path doubles back,
where past and present collide
and both are changed.
In praise of the grace that makes all things new,
we offer ourselves to your shaping
once again:
to be muddied and befuddled and delighted and beloved.
In the name of your Beloved, who is With Us. Amen.
I’m back at Virginia Theological Seminary this weekend for the e-Formation Learning Community flagship gathering. I’ll present this morning about digital literacy and/as religious leadership. I can’t think of a better occasion to give thanks for the formative experiences and opportunities I’ve met on this campus and through these colleagues.
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