Celebrating Our Growth
Leader: Each year we grow in body...mind...and heart. Think about ways you have grown. Are you taller? Stronger? What new things have you learned? How have you grown in your friendship with God and others? Let us create signs that show our growth and bring them to God in prayer.
All: (Those who wish may each thank God aloud for one sign of growth.) Thank you, God, for ...
Reader: Listen to God's Word. The Lord wisely made us all different and gave us different gifts. Just as clay in the potter's hands is to be shaped as the potter pleases, so we are to be shaped in the hands of our Creator. From Sirach 33:11, 13
Leader: Hold clay in your hand. Mold it gently as we pray.
All: God, always keep me in your loving hands.
Reader: Listen to God's Word. Jesus grew and became strong. He was full of wisdom, and God's blessings were upon him. From Luke 2:40
All: God, help me to grow as your Son Jesus did. Guide me to use my gifts of body, mind and heart wisely.
Leader: Take the clay and shape it into a cup or bowl. Let the cup or bowl represent your openness to God's gifts and your willingness to share these gifts with others. As you work, pray quietly about these gifts or repeat aloud this prayer of the psalmist.
Reader: I say to the Lord, "You are my Lord; all the good things I have come from you." My future is in your hands. How wonderful are your gifts to me; how good they are! From Psalm 16:2, 5, 6
Leader: Lift up your cup or bowl as we ask God to bless us as we open ourselves to all future possibilities.
All: (Raise your cup or bowl and pray.) May God be with us and protect us as we grow in body, mind, and heart. May we remain open to all that God wants us to be in the future. Until we meet again, may we all be held in God's loving hands.
Leader: Put your cup or bowl in a special place as a sign that God is with you as you continue to grow in friendship.
All: God, we place our lives in your loving hands.

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