Prayer for the Week: With a national holiday approaching, and with many expectations of certain traditions demanding our attention, let us not miss the reason for the holiday. O Gracious God of Heaven, create within us a true spirit of gratitude so we are better able to recognize where you have stepped out of heaven and entered the life of creation. Help us to see and acknowledge where your divine presence brushes up against us in our day to day lives. In the life of Jesus, you entered human existence so that with our human senses, we could learn firsthand your dream for us and how the dream is to be realized. In Jesus, we see a life of relentless love and far-reaching mercy. In Jesus, we meet the model for how we are to live and interact as human beings. In Jesus, we find the way to the abundant life. Thank you, O Gracious God, for your incarnation – your living explanation of life. Thank you for not leaving us to our own devices as we would allow selfishness and fear to rule us. Thank you for liberating us through love, lifting us to a place where we are able to glimpse life as you conceived it to be. Today, we say thank you, O Gracious God of Heaven, for you remain present in our lives, continuing to put before us the model of Jesus Christ. It is in his name that we offer this prayer of thanksgiving. Amen.
