Holy God and Creator of all life,
Today we come before you with joys, celebrations, sadness, grief, uncertainty, passions, anxiety, depression, loneliness, excitement, thankfulness. We know you are big enough for all of who we are and all that we bring to you.
On this weekend of celebrating Pride, we give you thanks for the unique ways you created each and every one of us. As we look at each other, we smile because when we look at each other we get a glimpse at seeing even more of who you as we know all of us are created in your image.
Today we also pause to hold together in this space the vastness of fatherhood and what that means for so many —
We give thanks for fathers who love tenderly, who show up with patience, presence, and grace. Fathers like Joseph, who raised a child not biologically his own — reminding us that fatherhood is not only about blood relation, but about commitment.
We remember Abraham — whose journey as a father was marked by both promise and anguish, whose faith was tested in the very act of parenting.
We remember Jacob, whose story is tangled with favoritism, reconciliation, and grief. We lift up fathers who have made mistakes, those working to heal what was broken and are seeking forgiveness, and those who have never been given the chance.
We hold in compassion all those for whom this day brings pain — Those who long to be fathers and cannot. Those who have lost children. And those who have lost fathers. Those whose fathers were absent, abusive, or unknown. And those estranged, still waiting on restoration or resolution.
We remember David, who felt the sting of death of his own infant child. We pray for those even in this room who have felt that sharp sting of death as they grieved the death of their own child.
We remember the unnamed fathers in Scripture — the ones whose stories were never written, the quiet ones, the steady ones, like so many in our own lives.
We bless all who father in nontraditional ways — grandfathers, uncles, mentors, foster and adoptive dads, trans fathers, stepfathers, spiritual fathers, and those who walk beside children as guides and nurturers.
O God who mothers and fathers us all, Expand our imagination of family. Remind us that no one is outside the circle of your love,
And that our stories — no matter how complex — are held in the story of grace.
Today we celebrate, we grieve, we remember, and we hope.
Let your Spirit move in and through the lives of all who father and all who are fathered — With tenderness, courage, and love.
We pray this in the name of Jesus, the one who taught us to pray saying…
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.