SPCK - Thanksgiving for the Birth of a Child

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Thanksgiving for the birth of a child

Heavenly Father, how good you are!
How wonderful are your works!
We praise you for all your gifts
and especially for your gift to us
of this dear child.
We take him/her to our hearts
and welcome him/her to our home
as a token of your love;
and gratefully we give him/her back to you,
to love and serve you all his/her days,
in the name of Jesus our Lord.

Frank Colquhoun

God our Father,
author of eternity,
creator of the highest heaven,
when your Son took our flesh
and was born among us,
the heavens opened and the angels sang.
We now join with them rejoicing in the birth of this child.
We give thanks for his/her safe delivery
and for the beginning of this new life.
We pray that the love which created him/her
may continue to nurture him/her
in home and family.
As he/she grows in stature,
may he/she also grow in grace
and in the knowledge of that love
which you have made known to us
in the person of your son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Neville Smith

O Lord my God, shed the light of your love on my child. Keep him safe from all illness and all injury. Enter his tiny soul, and comfort him with your peace and joy. He is too young to speak to me, and to my ears his cries and gurgles are meaningless nonsense. But to your ears they are prayers. His cries are cries for your blessing. His gurgles are gurgles of delight at your grace. Let him as a child learn the way of your commandments... I do not ask that he be wealthy, powerful or famous. Rather I ask that he be poor in spirit, humble in action, and devout in worship. Dear Lord, smile upon him.

Johann Starck 1680-1756