Blessed are you, O God, creator of the universe, the giver of all good gifts to your children. I thank you and praise you for this day and your invitation into it. Thank you for life and work. I praise you for all who labor for the common good and for those whose work goes unnoticed or unappreciated.  

Today, I thank you for children, for whom playing is the work of learning to live in the world and of becoming all God created them to be.  And I thank you for all persons who are obedient to the promptings of your Spirit in all their relationships and in their living.  I thank you for your loving and inviting mercy that waits for me to make all my hours and days a participation in your healing and blessing of the earth and all people everywhere.

I pray that you might become real to me today. Help me become a person of loving justice and healing hope. Help me create a community who hungers for communion with you and who offers itself as an agent of loving service to all around us.

I hold before you those who need special healing today: those who are battling cancer, those who are struggling through divorce, and those who have experienced disaster in their lives.  I hold before the people who live as refugees, who live as street-dwellers, especially our neighbors and our city, and who have no chance at living the ordinary life I take for granted.

Stir up within me the desire to pray for those who have been pushed to the edges of society, those who have caused trouble for themselves, and those who have no one to care for them.  Give me the grace to pray for the city, its leaders, and for those who serve unselfishly. Give me the heart to support all those who envision a better world and for all who labor to give it birth.  Direct me in praying for peace and justice among the nations. Then use me so that I may care more for your kingdom and less for my own status or welfare.

Let your spirit, that was in Christ Jesus our Lord, be in me. Teach me to pray. Help me make offerings that are pleasing and acceptable to you.  You are my hope and my redeemer, to you be the glory and honor forever and ever. I humbly offer myself to you in the name of Jesus. Amen