Good and gracious God, you have given us so much.
You sent to us, your Son, who taught us your teachings.
In deeds more than words,
Jesus showed us to work for peace and justice,
to treat everyone with respect and kindness.
Help us to see when we have enough in our lives.
Help us to see that our success is not guaranteed by
our material possessions.
It can be so easy to compare ourselves to others.
Remind us that there will always be people
who seem to have much more than we have
and there will be those who have much less.
Help us to see that our material worth is meaningless.
You taught us that we cannot compare ourselves to others,
because none of us is better than another.
We are each a child of God, each of us deeply loved
and uniquely cherished.
Help us to see when we have enough in our lives.
Our world is changing and expanding.
We no longer stay contained within our own small town,
but our connections are global now.
We work for companies that operate within different countries.
Our neighbors may have moved from another state or another country.
We fear hate coming into our lives
from conflict from the other side of the world.
We give into that fear and allow the changes we encounter
to make us cling tightly to our treasures and
make us distance ourselves from others.
Help us to see when we have enough in our lives.
Give us the faith to recognize that the world has always been uncertain.
Help us to see that every generation has feared the future
and questioned the path of the next generation.
We can not make this world a better place if we hide in fear,
if we refuse to share our gifts and our treasures.
Open our hands when we clench our fists and refuse to share.
Soften our hearts so that we can truly relate to someone else’s story.
Remind us that giving to others does not threaten our security.
Help us to follow the practices that Jesus taught us.
Your son, Jesus, practiced a life of selflessness.
He did not value material wealth; he valued the individual.
He did not bow to the political leader; he bowed towards peace and justice.
He taught us to share freely with one another
and the early church embodied that sense of sharing and community.
Take us back to those days and reinforce our community.
As we support one another, we ask that you be with those among us,
who need your strength and grace. We name ___.
Help us to see when we have enough in our lives.
Help us to see that our success is not guaranteed by
our material possessions.
As you open our hearts to you, remind us that our world
should be your world.
Help us to work towards that goal as we life up our voices to you,
using the words your Son taught us,
“Our Father…”
Uniquely Cherished 