Leader

Invitation to Prayer (in these or similar words):
At significant moments in life, we turn our attention to the One who created and sustains us, expressing our gratitude for God's fidelity and calling upon God to keep up attentive to Divine Providence in each circumstance.
Today is one such significant moment in the life of [                              ]. We are deeply grateful for [                    's] years of leadership to our healing ministry, for [provide a brief description of particular gifts the person brought].
And so we pause to express our gratitude and ask God's blessing on [her / his] continued journey. Let us listen to God's Word.

TBD

Scripture Reading: [Read from bound copy]
Choose Scripture or other reading particularly meaningful to the person or occasion. Options for consideration:
Psalm 91; Psalm 95: 1-7; Psalm 100; Psalm 112; Isaiah 54 (selected verses); Ephesians 1:15ff.; Ephesians 3:14ff.; Philippians 1:3ff.; Philippians 3:12ff.; Philippians 4:4ff.; Colossians 1:3ff.; 2 Timothy 1:6ff.; Philemon 4-6

TBD

Naming of Gifts (in these or similar words):
[                    ], you have many gifts and are generous in sharing them with others. You have done this faithfully during your years of service. Now, we would like to give expression to those gifts. I invite each of us to reflect on  [                      's] presence and work among us, and name a gift you have particularly appreciated, providing a brief description or explanation, as you wish.
(Allow time for all who wish to do so to name a gift …)

Leader

Blessing (in these or similar words):
Having named and celebrated the many gifts [                     ] has shared with us
over these years, let us stand (pause) and extend a hand and pray a blessing:

ALL

(In Leader's and Participants' booklets, insert name and adjust for proper gender pronouns before printing)
Blessed are You, Lord our God, who gives spice to life with change. We thank You for the gift of change,
that gift of newness that opens doors closed by habit and routine.
We bless You and thank You as well
for that which is stable and unchanging, for the ancient and traditional
which give meaning to the new and different.
We ask Your blessing upon [fill in name]
as he is about to embark on a new 'journey'.
May You, Holy Guide of Travelers, be his ever-near companion, spreading the 'road' before him with beauty and adventure.
Free that road from harm and evil,
and send as their escorts Your holy spirits, Your angelic messengers,
who accompanied the holy ones of days past.
On this journey,
may he take with him as part of his traveling equipment
a heart wrapped in wonder with which to rejoice in all he shall meet.
Along with that clothing of wonder,
may he have room in his luggage for a mystic map.
With the aid of this map,
may he read the invisible meanings of the events of this journey: of possible disappointments and delays,
of possible breakdowns and rainy day troubles.
Always awake to Your Sacred Presence and to Your divine compassionate love,
may he see in all that happens, in the beautiful and the bad, the mystery of your holy plan.
We make our prayer with confidence in your love and care for us. Amen!