Pastoral Prayer (based on Gen. 27-Isaac's blessing of his sons)

Holy God:

You have blessed us beyond all we could ask or think, and we are grateful to you.  You made us in your image, and blessed us with something of yourself within each of our hearts.  You have blessed us with the necessities of life--You’ve given us food to eat, a place to live, clothes to wear, medicine when we are sick, and countless other material gifts that sustain us.  You’ve given us each other--human love, family, friends, and a community of faith full of people who share this earthly sojourn and teach us to walk in your way.  You’ve blessed us with unique gifts and abilities, personality quirks, a million ways that you have formed us and shaped us each as a masterpiece of your making.  You have blessed us with a calling, an opportunity to live our lives for transcendent purpose and to make our lives count for something meaningful.  More than anything, we are grateful for the gift of your Son Jesus, the eternal and perfect sign that your blessing rests upon us, that you love us completely and that you find pleasure in us, that you desire us to walk with you and to be completely reconciled and restored to you.

We are grateful for our blessings.  We’re also sorry that we often fail to be grateful.  We ask your forgiveness.  Teach us to have full hearts--full of joy and gratitude for every good thing you have given.

You told our father Abraham that he would be blessed, that all his seed would be blessed, and that the whole earth would be blessed through them.  So often, we’ve been more interested in being blessed than being a blessing.  Help us to turn our hearts toward a world you love infinitely and to live our lives for the blessing we might share rather than the blessing we might acquire.