"Blessing of the Bikes"

I have been invited to officiate at a local "Blessing of the Bikes" ceremony for a local motorcycle club. The following is my plan for the day.

Introduction
My name is Pastor Thomas Chryst. I serve as Associate Pastor at Grace Lutheran Church in Racine. I thank you for the invitation here today to offer a few words and lead a short ceremony at your “Blessing of the Bikes”. After I share a selection from God’s word, I invite all of you who are Christians to join me in prayer to our God.

Invocation
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Reading(s):
(?)Genesis 28 - Jacob at Bethel
Luke 24:13-35 – The Road to Emmaus

Prayer
Let us pray…
Oh God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, You have created this world and all that is in it. We thank you for the blessings you continue to bestow on us, your creatures. You daily and richly provide us with home and work, family and friends, food and drink, and all our possessions.

Today we especially thank you for these motorcycles you have given us to enjoy. We thank you for the beauty of nature in all its richness and variety, which we will enjoy as we ride. We thank you for the freedom of the open road we are allowed in this great land. We thank you for those friends we have come to know through it all, and the love we share with each other.

But we do not always appreciate your goodness to us, O Lord. We take your love for granted. We treat some of your gifts carelessly, and misuse others. We fail to love as we should and live as we ought. So we ask your forgiveness for the sake of our Lord, Jesus Christ. For he came to set us free from sin, and by his death and resurrection bring us life that lasts forever.

We ask also, this day, for your blessing, O Lord. For you kept Abraham and Sarah in safety throughout the days of their pilgrimage. You led the children of Israel through the midst of the sea, and by a star you led the wise men to the infant Jesus. Protect and guide us now as we travel on these bikes. Make our ways safe and our homecomings joyful. And bring us at last to our heavenly home, where you dwell in glory with your Son and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever, Amen.

Blessing
Now may the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God the Father, and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all. Amen.

Go in peace. Amen.