A prayer for use on non-communion Sundays.

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I come from a tradition that has communion services every Sunday; however, many at the retirement centre where I am chaplain do not come from such traditions. A middle ground between those who do it weekly and those who do it only a few times per year seemed to be with a monthly service. That leaves several Sundays a month needing something else. For these Sundays, I composed a Great Thanksgiving prayer, that covers much of the same material as would a Eucharistic prayer, without the communion aspect.


O God of peace and unity,
we give you our thanks and praise for all you have given us
from the abundance of your creation
and the power of your Holy Spirit.
You give us the only drink that satisfies our thirst
in the living water that is your Holy Spirit,
You gave your only Son to die on the cross,
to rise again on the third day,
so that death would be overcome
and the rivers of life might be less loose
so that we could be brought to that heavenly life.
You have called us together to be your Church,
the body of Christ in the world
sustained by the same Holy Spirit.
We offer you in humble thanks
our selves, our souls and bodies,
all that we have
that we may become one with the body of Christ,
in common purpose with the Church,
and in unity of mission for reaching out to all of creation,
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who with you and the Holy Spirit,
lives and reigns, now and forever. Amen.



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This prayer may be freely used and distributed. Acknowledgement would be appreciated.