We Sing of Thanksgiving

Inspired by Psalm 65

We open our thoughts.
Our minds, our hearts, our spirits
in praise of you, our God.

We open our sins to you, our God,
when they threaten to overwhealm us,
when we are drowning, unable to catch our breath
in the suffocation of them.
You free us.
You forgive us.
And we are alive again.
All praise and thanksgiving
We lift to you.

We open our hearts to you, our God.
You draw us close in your unconditional,
Unbreakable
Unfathonable
Love for us.
You transform our lives to joy,
and we celebrate our time
spent in your presence,
in your house,
in your Holy Kingdom.

We open our minds to understand you, our God.
We see you at work in your world
We try to grasp what you do
as you deliver us from evil.
You bring us alive in hope.
Hope.
Hope that is larger than we could ever grasp.
And yet you tempt us
Encourage us
Convince us
To believe.

We open our eyes, and we see you, our God.
We see your mountains, which you shaped with your power.
We hear the silence of the sea, the roaring of the water,
The voices of your children.
The morning whispers your name.
The evening echoes your breath.
The trees lift their hands to your in gratitude for the rain
The rivers dance to your bidding.
And we are fed.

We open our lives to you, our God,
and offer them in thanksgiving.
You shape the earth
And bring it to life
You shape our lives
as we live them here on earth.
Time itself is witness to your royalty,
The land is overwhelmd by your bounty.
Creation itself is joy.

We lift our voices in praise of you, our God
And we join in the hymn of the world.
We sing counterpoint to the praise of your creatures,
crossing your land
We clap in syncopation to the heads of grain
moving in the wind.
We join in creation's praise
as it shouts and sings together for joy.

All praise and glory is yours, our God,
and we come to you
raising our voices in thanksgiving,
for our song has no end.

Image: Sunset on the way back to the hotel