Prayers

From the Center for Action and Contemplation: Father Richard offered a prayer for those who are hurting today (tomorrow he'll reflect more in a special meditation). He invites us to take a contemplative pause to feel whatever we and those close to us are feeling, to be still, to center and ground ourselves in Love’s presence. Only from this place of union with Love can we then take the necessary actions for peace and healing.

All vulnerable and merciful God,
We do not know what is ours to do.

We feel scared and alone today.

We are tired of taking sides.

We cannot hold any more fear or anger or rejection.

And yet we know so many of our friends

feel unheard and unwanted.

Help us trust that no feeling is final,
and that

YOU

will have the full and final word.

If You are indeed a Suffering God,

may we hold this suffering with You

for those who voted for Hillary Clinton,

for those who voted for President-elect Donald Trump,

and for the many who have felt excluded by our politics

in the many ways that we do indeed exclude.

We offer ourselves as best we can

to hold this Love outward and open toward all,

just as You never cease to do toward us.

We believe You are praying this prayer through us.

Amen

Another prayer, this one from my dear friend, Stephanie Nash, Associate Pastor at 2nd B, read at last night's healing service:

Lord and Creator of all nations and all peoples,

Tonight we come to you, some with broken hearts, some with broken dreams, all with prayerful concerns for the deep wounds of our country.

Some of our grief is for a past time and place that will never be again.

Some of our grief is for a dream whose time has not yet come.

And some of our grief is rooted in feeling more alone in a strange land than we have ever felt before.

Our wounds are the work of many sharp divides –

between genders,

between  races,

between classes,

between opportunities,

 and between geographies.

We confess these sharp divides are not really new, but they have festered as old untended injuries do, just under the skin, for some time and are now gaping wide as our own dark angels of anger, fear, bias, bitterness, and resentment erupt to infect our eyes, our ears, and our every relationship.

Nurse our deep wounds, Lord. Sing to us softly the songs of Zion and the old, old stories of what our true home with you looks like and feels like, so that our homesickness for what is lost will bind us closer to your warm side. Soften our hardened hearts and our cynical souls and make us hopeful once again.  Empower us to name and love the neighbors you have planted near us, and help us bring them safely home with us, where they belong at your table and are known and valued as the family of God.

And may the healing power of your loving touch cool all traces of our fevers and our fears, clearing our vision and giving us the strength to rise again to do your will.

In your holy name we pray, Amen.

And this prayer from my friend Jim Powell:

Changeless and Calm, deep Mystery; ever more deeply, rooted in Thee.

God, I confess that my rootedness has taken some hits during these past 18 months.  I have been reminded of things about myself, for I am part of the process that has been played out politically and publicly.  I am my country.  My country is me. 

I have been conflicted, and have felt divided within myself.  I’ve wanted simple, decisive answers to complex issues.  I have desired unity – at almost any price – in the midst of our vast diversity.  I have wished for goodwill to prevail in the chaos of competition.  I have wanted brotherhood to embrace implicit and overt bias; even if it had to wrestle it into submission.

I have looked for a messianic deliverance from the chaos, fears, distrust, and conflicts that has characterized my country and my mind.

I am grateful for this momentary pause to come aside this evening from all that has transpired and all that that I have given myself to, and return to You, my God. 

I am relieved that You are not threatened.  I am hopeful because You are not anxious.  I am grateful that You are patient, and I am awed by your graciousness.  I am humbled that You know us, each one of us; for we are all your image running around in our egocentric ways attempting to clean up the messes we have made – all the time forgetting who we are, who our neighbor is, and to whom we all belong.

I pray for healing of my mind and my spirit.  I pray for healing of this country, which I dearly love; sometimes blindly.  I confess that I often give myself to the fears and the hype that is the result of my idolatrous political imaginings. 

Remind me of who I am.  Restore unto me the joy of fellowship with your Spirit.  Rekindle within me the courage and compassion that is intrinsic to the gift of life you have given me.  And renew my vision so that I might see others as You see them, and as You see me: each of us your beloved, created in your image.

As I am, so is my country.  May I be your incarnation bringing about your kingdom of healing and goodwill at this time and in this place.  Amen.