Litany of Thanksgiving for the 10th Anniversary of the Parish Nursing Interest Group
Leader: Our God, we gather today with thanksgiving as we remember and celebrate the history of our Parish Nursing Interest Group. We come to recognize the many ways you have created parish nursing ministry and the way we have been brought together to support each other and this ministry/practice that we offer in your name.
We recall the visionaries who first helped establish parish nursing ministry in our country and in our province. We recall and give thanks to those who first dreamed about developing a Parish Nursing Interest Group, did the beginning work and held the initial meeting that has brought us to this place.
All: We remember with gratitude the founding work done by Betty Behm, Karen Good, Elsie Millerd, Anne Marie Webster and Marion Wilms in gathering together to establish a Parish Nurse Interest Group. We give thanks for all the visionaries of modern parish nursing ministry beginning with the late Rev. Granger Westberg, the Canadian Association for Parish Nursing Ministry and now our own Parish Nursing Interest Group. May we be empowered to continue the vision of health and healing ministries in congregations and agencies according to you will.
Leader: We recall the official leadership of our organization at its beginning and those who have stepped forward over the years to guide its development.
All: We are grateful for those who accepted the role of President of PNIG: Betty Behm, Jennifer Cameron, Gloria Wiebe and Mary Lynch; those who have served as secretary and treasurer: Anne Marie Webster, Cynthia Roberts and Joyce Hird as well as those who have provided leadership on the PNIG executive.
Leader: We recall the growth and accomplishments of our organization over the past ten years:
All: We are grateful for today’s membership and for those first members whose early commitment gave birth to this organization. We thank those who helped us develop the PNIG website and newsletter so that we might tell our parish nursing stories to a wider community.
Leader: We recognize the leadership, support and nurture that we as nurses have received from the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario.
All: We are grateful for the recognition of parish nursing in the RNAO President’s Award for Leadership in 2005; for PNIG’s work towards the inclusion of spiritual well-being in the World Health Organization’s definition of health, the development of CNA’s position statement on Spiritual Well-being and Nursing Practice, the call for Best Practice Guidelines for Spiritual Care and the promotion of parish nursing through Members Voices.
Leader: We remember with thanksgiving those of our number who have passed into eternal life:
All: We give thanks for Valerie Jenkins, Judy Gordon and Joan Lesmond. Thank you, God for their lives, their commitment and contribution to parish nursing. May they rest in peace
Leader: We give thanks for our past, for the pioneers in parish nursing among us, for their vision and belief in this ministry and their commitment to this organization.
We give thanks for the present and the knowledge that we join thousands of parish nurses in 23 countries around the world who witness to their faith through this ministry of health and wholeness.
We pray for our future that we may continue to have faith in the mystery of tomorrow and the trust in a loving God who will walk with us and lead us forward into the unknown
All: Thanks be to God. Amen
Closing Hymn: Body, Mind and Spirit
by Margaret Motum, Minister of Music at Westminster United Church, Whitby, ON in honour of parish nursing. It is found in More Voices, a supplement to Voices United: the hymnbook of the United Church of Canada.