Opening Prayers/Prayers of Adoration on Humankind

Image of a boy representing humankind

Heavenly Father,

    We praise you for [hu]mankind-

       born to give, and born to receive;

      born to help, and born to be helped;

      born to lead, and born to be led;

      born to forgive, and born to confess;

      born to love, and born to be loved.

We think that we can live on our own and ignore the Lazarus at our gate; 

   but we put ourselves on the wrong side of the great gulf, 

   and find that we have chosen but an affluent death.

Make us understand that we are part of each other, born together within 

   within your family to know the warmth of human ties.

Heavenly Father,

   We praise you for Jesus–

      Born of you in the kaleidoscope of history to be true pattern 

     of man for all time.

   He is man-son-of-man-real-man.

   The light which shines in him is our light, and the life which

      Throbs in him is our proper life too.

   We praise you for [hu]man[ity]

      Designed for more than we thought

      And stamped with the pattern of Christ.

   We thank you for this great potential which we have

   Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

More Contemporary Prayers: Prayers on Fifty-Two Themes, ed. Caryl Mickelm, Eerdmans.

My dear King, my own King, 

without pride, without sin, 

You created the whole world, 

eternal, victorious King.

King of the mysteries, 

You existed before the elements,

before the waters covered the ocean floor; 

beautiful King,

You are without beginning and without end.

King, You created the land out of shapeless mass, 

You carved the mountains and chiseled the valleys, 

and covered the earth with trees and grass.

King, You measured each object 

and each span within the universe: 

the heights of the mountains 

and the depths of the oceans;

the distance from the sun to the moon, 

and from star to star.

And You created men and women

to be Your stewards of the earth,

always praising You for Your boundless love.

Celtic Psalter, 9th Century, Quoted in Celtic Daily Prayer, Northumbria Community Trust, 2002.