A Prayer For Father’s Day

 

Eternal God, whom our Lord taught to call our Father.  Today we celebrate the gift of fatherhood.  We would begin by thanking you for being our heavenly Father; a Father whose love is unconditional; a Father that gave his only Son to die on the cross that we might be forever your children.   It is your Fatherly love that determined that man should not live alone, and thus you set the solitary in families and ordained that man should be the head of his household.  On this special Lord’s Day when we honor our earthly fathers we think of their devotion to their families.    We think of the love they gave, the example they set and the sacrifices they made.  We remember all those times when we were down and they lifted us up; when we were discouraged and they urged us on; when we were unloving and they embraced us; when we were so sure we knew better only to learn how wrong we were. To be sure most fathers admit to omissions and commissions; to short comings and to failures. Who can measure up to the privilege, the joy and the responsibility of being a father? We thank you O Heavenly Father for your forgiveness when we failed to be the father we should have been and we beg our children to be equally as forgiving.

 

And for those who were neglected, abused or mistreated by their father, grant them a forgiving heart.  May they be motivated to be the father that their father failed to be.

 

We think this morning of those who never experienced being a father, may they find joy and satisfaction in showing a father’s love to the fatherless.  May they seek out a fatherless child and be a father to them.  May they become the role model and the mentor that will help some youngster grow up to be the kind of dad he never had.  And if that seems too lofty grant that they may become a big brother to those who had neither a father or a brother.

 

We thank you this morning that no matter what kind of a father we have had in this earthly life, long ago, even before you made the world, you chose us to be your very own, through what Christ would do for us; you decided then to make us holy in your eyes, without a single fault—we who stand before you, covered with your love.   Your unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into your own family, by sending Jesus Christ to die for us.  And he did this because he wanted to.  So above all let us rejoice that we are members of the heavenly family and let us seek a meaningful and trusting relationship with the brothers and sisters which are ours through him.

 

Hear this our prayer through him who is our brother, Jesus the Christ.