Giver of Life and All Abundance, we gather here around this table, your Table. We come from our individual dwellings to share food, fellowship and communion with these beloved faces who sit across the way. We thank you for all the joys, big and small, that have filled our lives since the last time we sat at this table. And we thank you for the warmth and comfort of a full belly and gathered loved ones.
Giver of Justice, we know that as we gather to partake and enjoy, others are less lucky. Your justice seems obscured by the long and dark arch of history. We remember that the land we call home once was home to others. We remember that our forebears on this land were not afforded the same joys that we celebrate tonight. We remember the trials, tears, struggles and perseverance of our Indigenous siblings. And we pray that in your abundance, justice might roll down like water (Amos 5:24), and that we might be instruments of that justice.
Giver of Peace, you promise us that one day our weapons will be beaten into tools for growth and abundance (Isaiah 2:4). You assure us that while the journey is long, and windy and tiring, it does bend toward justice. Let your peace that holds all goodwill and welfare wash over those at this and every table. Melt our hearts of stone and give us hearts of flesh and spirit (Ezekiel 11:19), that we might all gather at the table together and give thanks for the abundance of this life. Amen.
