Extracts from A Prayer Book for Australia
Prayers for Various Occasions
Thanksgivings
Almighty God and merciful Father,
we give you hearty thanks
for all your goodness and loving-kindness to us
and to all people.
We bless you for our creation and preservation,
and all the blessings of this life;
but above all, for your immeasurable love
in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ,
for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory.
And, we pray, give us such a sense of all your mercies,
that our hearts may be truly thankful
and that we may praise you
not only with our lips, but in our lives,
serving you in holiness and righteousness all our days,
through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
to whom with you and the Holy Spirit, be honour and glory, now and for ever. Amen.
Gracious God, we humbly thank you
for all your gifts so freely bestowed on us,
for life and health and safety,
for freedom to work and leisure to rest,
and for all that is beautiful in creation and in human life.
But, above all, we thank you for our Saviour, Jesus Christ,
for his death and resurrection,
for the gift of your Spirit,
and for the hope of glory.
Fill our hearts with all joy and peace in believing;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
3 A thanksgiving for Australia
God of holy dreaming, Great Creator Spirit,
from the dawn of creation you have given your children
the good things of Mother Earth.
You spoke and the gum tree grew.
In the vast desert and dense forest,
and in cities at the water's edge,
creation sings your praise.
Your presence endures
as the rock at the heart of our Land.
When Jesus hung on the tree
you heard the cries of all your people
and became one with your wounded ones:
the convicts, the hunted, and the dispossessed.
The sunrise of your Son coloured the earth anew,
and bathed it in glorious hope.
In Jesus we have been reconciled to you,
to each other and to your whole creation.
Lead us on, Great Spirit,
as we gather from the four corners of the earth;
enable us to walk together in trust
from the hurt and shame of the past
into the full day which has dawned in Jesus Christ. Amen.
[Let us give thanks to God, saying, 'we thank you, Lord'.]
For the beauty and wonder of creation,
we thank you, Lord.
For all that is gracious in the lives of men and women,
we thank you, Lord.
For daily food, for homes and families and friends,
we thank you, Lord.
For minds to think, hearts to love, and imagination to wonder,
we thank you, Lord.
For health, strength, and skill to work, and for leisure to rest and play,
we thank you, Lord.
For patience in suffering, for courage and faithfulness in difficult times,
we thank you, Lord.
For all who pursue justice and truth,
we thank you, Lord.
[Today we give thanks especially for...
we thank you, Lord.]
For [...and] all the saints whose lives have reflected the light of Christ,
we thank you, Lord.
Almighty God, we praise you for the blessings
brought to the world through your Church.
We bless you for the grace of the sacraments,
for our fellowship in Christ
with you and with each other,
for the teaching of the Scriptures,
and for the preaching of your word.
We thank you for the example of your saints,
for your faithful servants departed this life
and for the memory of all that has been true and good
in their lives.
Number us with them
in the company of the redeemed in heaven;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
We thank you, God of all loveliness,
for the beauty of earth and sky and sea;
for the richness of mountains, deserts and rivers;
for the songs of birds and the beauty of flowers.
We praise you for these good gifts,
and pray that we may guard our heritage,
to the honour and glory of your name. Amen.
7 For the restoration of health
Saviour God, we give you thanks
for restoring health to your servant, N.
We bless and praise you for the mercy which you show to us
when we call upon you.
Teach us to trust you in all the circumstances of life
and to know your loving care and protection,
through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.