This litany was originally designed to be a chapel service at Unity Christian High School in Hudsonville, Michigan. It can be adapted into the opening portion of a Pentecost service or a service of thanksgiving. In either case, the litany includes a time of prayer spoken in multiple languages. How many and which languages you choose to integrate into this service depend on your context and congregation. The original chapel service had one person speak the prayer in English. Then, five people who spoke languages other than English offered the same prayer in their language.
Opening of Worship
Leader 1: Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.
Leader 2: For what shall we be thankful? All we need to do to see God’s blessings is to look around us.
Leader 1: If we listed all our blessings—friends, family, food, shelter, security—the list would go on and on. And though it is good to be thankful for the things of this world—the things that do not last, the things that will eventually fade away—there is so much more for which we can be thankful.
Leader 2: How do you thank someone who has given you everything?
Leader 1: How do you thank someone who has given you life?
Leader 2: How do you thank someone who took your place on the cross?
Leader 1: What words can we use to express our gratitude to the Lord? No matter how we say it, it is insufficient.
Leader 2: What do we say to the one who created words, sounds, phrases, and stories?
Leader 1: How do we relate what is on our hearts when we cannot even comprehend what our hearts are telling us?
Leader 2: All the languages in the world cannot contain our God. Mere words cannot describe God or God’s love for us. Our hearts ache with the need to talk to God, to relate to God, to know God more.
Leader 1: Yet in our futile fumbling, God bends a loving ear toward our hearts and listens. God gathers up our simple uttering of thanks and turns our words into something beautiful. God sends the Holy Spirit to fill all the deep yearnings of our hearts. God blesses us with language to praise God. God blesses us with hands to serve and with feet to follow.
Leader 2: God gives us lips and voices to speak our thankfulness, and actions to show our gratitude.
Leader 1: What language do we use, Lord, to give
you thanks?
Congregation: The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
—Psalm 19:1–4
Song: “Hallelujahs” Rice
[Consider having slides display “thank you” in different languages as this song is played or sung.]
Prayer of Thanksgiving
[The following prayer can be offered by at least two people. The first person speaks the prayer in the standard worshiping language in your context. Additional people then offer the prayer in other languages. The prayer is short, so you are encouraged to incorporate as many languages as are represented in your context.]
Leader 1: No matter what language we use to say “thank you,” God hears our prayers. We would like to pray together this morning in several ways—first in our primary language, then in [list the languages that will be used]. Please join us in prayer.
Dear God,
Thank you for all of your blessings,
but most of all thank you for the gift of salvation.
Teach me to use my voice, my hands, my feet, and my life
to offer you my thanks.
Thank you for the words to talk to you.
Thank you for hands and feet to show you and others
how much we love you.
In Jesus’ name we pray.
[The last person to pray concludes with “Amen.”]
We Hear God’s Word
Leader 1: Did you ever think about the fact that God doesn’t even need language to communicate? Language is a gift from God, a gift that enables us to speak to each other. It’s a gift that we can speak, sing, write, or read. Listen to this story from Genesis 11 about how God brought about many different languages to the people of the earth.
Leader 2: Genesis 11:1–8
Leader 1: God confused the languages of the people. Yet even though all the people building the tower of Babel were unable to communicate with each other, God knew every word that was spoken. The people were confused and frustrated. God had taken away their ability to communicate. Language and the ability to communicate with each other is only one of many gifts that God gives us. Later on, in the New Testament, we read about another gift given to believers, and this one touched at the very heart of communication. God gave this gift to every language, every people, every dialect!
Leader 2: Acts 2:1–11
Leader 1: On Pentecost, we remember the fact that our God’s church crosses boundaries of language. Language helps us communicate with each other, but it can also serve as a barrier to communication when we don’t share the same language. Pentecost reminds us that we are moving toward a time when people of every tribe and tongue will gather around the throne, praising and thanking God for his many blessings.
Closing Prayer
Leader 2: God is not limited by language. God doesn’t need to learn German or Spanish or Hungarian or English to hear us. God knows all the languages of all the people praying to God.
Leader 1: We are going to pray again the same prayer of thanksgiving from earlier in the service. But now we will offer that prayer in our represented languages simultaneously. Imagine—this is only a fraction of what God hears every moment of every day.
[The above prayer is offered a second time. One person says “Dear God,” and then everyone else joins in. The prayer ends with one person speaking the following:]
Lord, we offer all these prayers to you
knowing that you hear these prayers—
hundreds of thousands of prayers
every minute of every day.
Not only that, but you know the heart of each person praying to you.
Thank you for hearing us when we pray.
Mere words cannot even begin to express
how thankful we are for the gift of your Son,
for the gift of salvation.
Song: “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded” (st. 3, adapted) Arnulf and Veltema
What language shall I borrow
to thank you, dearest Friend?
This gift of my salvation,
your mercy without end.
Lord, make me yours forever,
a loyal servant true,
and let me never, never,
outlive my love for you.
Silence
Leader 2: In your name we pray, amen.
Leader 1: Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.