Father in Heaven,
Holy is Your hospitality.
May Your Kingdom come today,
To our table and our home,
Our neighborhood and our city
As it is in Heaven.

Give us this day the gift of enough:
Enough courage to invite,
Enough vulnerability to inquire,
Enough food to share,
Enough gratitude to see Your goodness,
Enough honesty to share our unmet hopes.

Glory be to God for Dirt—

For backyard soil
as dark and dense
as the midnight sky.
And for all the creatures
who make this ground
their earthy home—
the wiggly ones
and leggy ones
and the tiny ones
our eyes can’t see.

Father in Heaven,

May our preparation and planning
For hosting in the holidays,
The holy work of shopping and sautéing,
Baking and decorating,
All be done in a posture of prayer.

Thank you for produce,
For the food from the ground,
Growing in it, on it, and above it.

May our prayer for food create a pause,
That enlarges our hearts through
Gratitude, confession, lament, and longing
For the availability of food for all.

Father in Heaven,

Thank you for Your hospitality,
For creating a place of beauty and order
A place where we experience goodness and joy

Our gardens may not be a significant source of our produce,
they may be only a potted plant or bed of flowers,
but would every garden in our neighborhood be a living reminder of grace and growth.