(Invitation: Open your hands as you offer this prayer.)
Generous and Gracious God, we come before you with open hearts and open hands.
Hearts open to who you are: the One who was, who is, and who is to come; the God who provides, protects, and calls us to be your hands, and to be about your work, in your way in this joyous season.
With open hearts and hands, we are better able to accept and to share with gratitude and generosity all you have for us.
With hands open to receive freely and to give freely, we acknowledge that these days are often full of responsibilities, activities, gatherings, and celebrations.
Grow us in gratitude, that our lives would overflow with joy from the recognition that all we have and all we are is because of your grace.
Gratitude releases us from the bonds that cause our hands to close into fists. With fisted hands we are useless, but with open hands and hearts, we are positioned for ministry and mission.
Giver of every good and perfect gift, may we overflow with acts of charity during this season of receiving anew your most precious gift, the Christ Child, in whose name we offer this prayer.
Amen.
Written by Rev. Lynn Benson. Used with permission.