O God, Father and Mother of us all, Ground of Being and Source of Life, we the spouses and graduates of the Class of e49 come before You, fifty years later, asking Your blessings on our varied lives, our scattered families and on this reunion.
Sit with us tonight at table, Lord, and bless our personal reunions, our sharing and conversations with friends of half a century. Bless the foodoand the drinkothe conversation and the laughter. Let us be graces for each other. Help us to reminisce with kindness and humor; even bless our gossip about teachers long dead with that joy which is the sure sign of Your presence.
In Your love forgive the mistakes of these five decades. Look instead upon the good weive accomplished and attempted. Help us to be honest about the past and optimistic about the future. Let lifeis trials and heartaches mellow and not embitter us.
Bless our grayed and balding heads, our arthritic joints and fading memories; keep our hearts open and young, even as our minds and bodies age.
Take in Your loving embrace our twenty-five classmates for whom this life is already over. We place their names before you with tender memories. Draw their spirits ever closer to Yourself.
Tonight, as we enjoy this banquet, we also remember those who at this very moment are hungry and lonely: without food, without friends, without faith.
We ask all this in the name of Jesus the Christ. Amen.