Member Appreciation Sunday

Leader:
"Take my feet and let them be, swift and beautiful for Thee."
We give thanks for the unsteady first steps of toddlers; for the surefooted fleet feet of youth; for the measured carefulness of aging feet; for the uncertainty of crippled feet; all the feet that carry us forward to share, each in our own way, our God-given blessings and abilities.

C: Continue to guide and direct our feet, O god, and remind us to trust your Word to be a lamp to our feet and a light to our paths.

Leader:
"Take my voice and let me sing, always only for my King."
We give thanks for the joy of singing god's praise in liturgy and hymns. We give thanks for barn swallows that enter our sanctuary on summer mornings, adding their voices to our hymns of praise. We give thanks for the music of voices united in the universal language of laughter. We give thanks for voices that sing solos, voices that harmonize, voices that chant liturgy, and for the sound of children's voices leading us in joyful song.

C: Dear God, help us learn to use our lips and our voices to share with a needy world the promises you have given us.

Leader:
"Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold."
We give thanks for money given by the people of Faith United to carry out the work of the Gospel. We give thanks that special offerings are given so St. Dysmas; that disaster aid is given to victims of floods and tornadoes and fires; that money is given to World Hunger; that offerings are given to the homeless shelter and the women's shelter. We give thanks for increased financial pledges, and for gifts given for restoration of our house of worship. We give thanks for money given out of abundance, and for the widow's mite.

C: help us never to forget, O God, that all we have is Thine alone, a trust, O Lord, from Thee.

Leader:
"Take my intellect and use, every power as Thou shalt choose."
We give thanks for creative ideas that help imagine new possibilities; ideas that re-imagined Sunday School into WOW Wednesday; ideas that can renovate tired corners into offices, classrooms, or broom closets; ideas that challenge us to support St. Dysmas; ideas that continue to turn the impossible into reality; ideas that enlarge our world. We give thanks for open minds that study information and options to make thoughtful, faith-filled decisions, and we give thanks for the freedom to change our minds.

C: Teach us, O God, to listen to new ideas, to be open to new ways of being church, while still respecting the old ways and ideas. Help us to trust that You will walk our journey with us. Help us to continue our journey in joyful anticipation of transformation.

Leader:
We give thanks for all the hands and feet and voices and intellect that make up the community of believers that is Faith United.

C: (sing) 
Take my will and make it thine;
It shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is thine own;
It shall be thy royal throne.
Take my love; my Lord, I pour
at thy feet its treasure store;
Take my self and I will be
ever, only all for thee.

We thank and praise and ask all of this in Jesus' name. Amen.