Creator of our hearts and minds and hands and feet

Creator of sea and sky

God who spread out the stars in the heavens and whose presence fills every inch of this earth

From the heights of the Himalayas to the depths of the Tonga trench

You formed us, the intricacies of our brains, the complicated structures of our hands and feet, the mechanisms as well as the depths of hearts.

You gifted us our bodies, our abilities, and then you gave us freedom to choose what to do with our lives.

We praise you for your handiwork

We wonder at the mystery of who you are - so like us and yet so different from us

We are grateful for your ever present hopefulness and trust.

And with all that you have given us, we as humankind have done so many beautiful and awe inspiring things …

Some of us have circumnavigated the globe or found ways to travel to the moon

Some have discovered anti biotics or invented cochlear implants or found ways to make paralyzed limbs move

So that the sick might be healed, the deaf might hear and the lame might walk again.

We thank you for the passion and brilliance of those in our world to forge onwards and make progress for the greater good.

Thank you too that though not all of us can do ground breaking things, you have created each of us for community, for love and for purpose.

There has been so much progress in our generations in recent times for great good and for great ill -  and sometimes it’s hard to know which is which…

Ways to make our domestic lives easier

ways to communicate across a city or a country or across the globe

weapons technology to defend or to destroy.

Father, forgive us, for we don’t know what we do.

Forgive us when we use our time for things or ideas that aren’t much good for us or for anybody else

Forgive us for when we saturate our lives with so many images and games and stories and messages that we no longer have space or energy

for rest or simplicity,

for creativity or productivity

or for compassion for those surrounding us…

"To you, O Lord, we lift up our souls.
² O our God, in you we trust;
⁴ Make us to know your ways, O Lord;
    teach us your paths.
⁵ Lead us in your truth, and teach us,
    for you are the God of our salvation."*

Amen

 
*adapted from Psalm 25