Prayer for a Peace Vigil
Let us set aside hate, and devote our lives to the ways of peace and justice.
Prayer for Resilience
Remind us that resilience is in our bones, that peace will prevail on earth
Hope Does Dwell
God of mercy, spirit who makes peace out of war, who wanders with refugees and keeps vigil with children at our border and all borders; Holy healer in hospitals and shelters, at schools, in homes, at weddings, and in planes; May your love be balm for all the hurt. May your truth be present in...
Sacred Paths
We all honor the Spirit of Life, the Spirit of Compassion, the Spirit of Justice, the Spirit of Love
In Honor and Praise to Black Rage
Deep in the shadow of night, down near the crossroads and cemetery gates, with bitter liquor and cigar smoke wafting, I greet you. Clad in white, upon the floor before shrines, following the names of the Ancestors being uttered, I greet you. You are the sacred and righteous rage of my people.
Even This Is Enough
So much undone. So much to do. So much to heal in us and the world. So much to acquire: a meal a healthy body— a fit one— a lover a job a better job proof we have and are enough just around the corner of now. And up against it the reality of all that falls short and the limits of today. We honor...
prayer-parenting-pandemic
This is a prayer for working parents zooming another meeting with a little face joining in; for new parents, waiting for new life without support; for the single parents, doing all this alone.
For Dragonflies
For dragonflies, butterflies, Caterpillars on leaves, Lizards, wild turkeys, and tigers and deer, We give thanks! For sunset and seashells And starfish and sand, Octopus, jellyfish, and hammerhead shark, We give thanks!...
I am not alone. There is a Love holding me.
May I move gently through this cloudy, murky, gray day. May I remember that this is just one day, and that showing up is at least half of what is asked of me. May I set aside my underlying anxiety that I will not get to everything and put my trust and faith onto the riverbank of human community —...
Transgender Day of Remembrance Prayer
On this Transgender Day of Remembrance, we remember those who have been murdered for being who they are, those who face violence on a daily basis, those who have lost loved ones, and those who worry for loved ones. May we come to a time when we cease to shame children around gender roles and...
Prayer for While in The Struggle
Spirit of light and love Spirit of resistance Spirit of generosity That which serves as our conscience in this work That we do to dismantle white supremacy To empower the marginalized To insist that black lives matter, matter We have been angered We have been saddened We have been pushed to the...
Shantideva Prayer, Adapted
This pastoral prayer is adapted from the prayer of Shantideva, an 8th century Buddhist monk and major source of inspiration to the Dalai Lama, who references the original prayer often. There are many translations, some of which contain the whole text; some of which do not....
Prayer to Mother Earth
We pray to you, Mother Earth, with gratitude For your holding and sustaining love For the air, water, and soil that feed us For the mountains and rivers and oceans that calm our spirits For loving and supporting all beings and all creation. We pray to you, Mother Earth, with humility Help us to...
Pastoral Prayer for Sexual Abuse Survivors
It has been a difficult week in the news, and as always, we have silent personal struggles in the midst of everything else. And so I invite you into a spirit of prayer....
O Maker of Order
O Maker of Order and Shaper of Beauty, we are grateful for the world in which we live. Instill in us that sense of awe, that we may walk with humble hearts, open to the beauty of all that surrounds us....
All Is Not Well
O God who gave us life and death, you hold us in your hands. You cradle us in our need, and you push us into growth. We confess to you that all is not well, that we grieve the loss of many things and people....
Prayer of Thanks...
Prayer of Thanks for Hoes & Scythes & Spatulas & Toothbrushes & Binoculars & the Myriad Other Tools & Instruments That Fit Our Hands So Gracefully & Allow Us to Work with a Semblance of Deftitude Lovely little inventions, just right for the job at hand—a lawn edger, for example, or an arrow, or...
Only Begun
Spirit of Life and Love, dear God of all nations: There is so much work to do. We have only begun to imagine justice and mercy. Help us hold fast to our vision of what can be. May we see the hope in our history, and find the courage and the voice to work for that constant rebirth of freedom and...
Ultimate Grace
Ultimate Grace, the heart of every matter, in every perfection and imperfection, in all senses and: tenses, in moments of every right and wrong, presenting choices to inquiring hearts. You are in the purpose and the journey of mishaps. You are in moments of understanding and misunderstanding. We...
A Prayer for the Gulf Coast
Wondrous Gift of Life, thanks for this day and this gathering in our beautiful diversity and devoted generosity! We revel in our blessings for and from this holy life! Washed and refreshed in such grace, we celebrate the joys of this life....
Universal Spirit of love, O God within each one of us
Universal Spirit of love, O God within each one of us, whose power reaches to the stars, whose love connects us one to another and to all creation—we are one. We cry out with the pain of this broken world. With all our capacity for love, we ask: why can't we wrap this world in love and bring...
Memorial Day Prayer
Spirit of Life whom we have called by many names in thanksgiving and in anguish— Bless the poets and those who mourn Send peace for the soldiers who did not make the wars but whose lives were consumed by them Let strong trees grow above graves far from home Breathe through the arms of their...
How Shall We Pray?
Let us join our hearts and minds in the quiet of meditation and prayer. How shall we pray? First, let us be open to the silence. Let us hear the sounds in this room, the noises outside, and the comfortable murmur from the children downstairs. Let us begin to hear the soft beating of our hearts....
Pastoral Prayer of Longing
May the invitation of prayer and meditation embrace this holy house and each precious person, moving each and all to connect with a sense of affirmation— sound, movement, or silence— in whatever way your body knows to be true. [chime] Spirit of Life and Love, our hearts are overflowing with...
Everybody's In
Gracious God, Is it the glitter? Some people think it's the glitter that makes the Pride parade like heaven. Pearly gates and streets of gold - surely heaven has as much glitter as a Pride parade. There’s definitely enough glitter there to make a person believe that the Pride parade is like...
Prayer of Reconciliation
We gather with a hunger for reconciliation. What is done cannot be undone. What is done next must now be done with care. We gather because we are hopeful, Because we have visions and dreams of a brighter future. That there may be more than vision in this room, These are the wounds we must heal...
Invocation for City Council Meeting
Holy One, known by many names and beyond all names—Spirit of Life, Spirit of Love, Spirit of Community, Spirit of Justice: We ask your blessings on the people who have been called to lead the community in which we live and work and play. Help them as leaders to not ask first “How do we fix...
A Prayer for Hard Times
Spirit of Life and Love, Be with us in this time, as people suffer, as parents grieve, as violence rages. Be with us who feel the pain of loss, who feel anger at injustice....
Let Us Learn Peace
(The prayer was written to be read by three people, as indicated by the typefaces.) Peace is more than the absence of worry. It is the creation of safe havens for all; It is the building of security for everyone; It is the forgiveness of self, as well as one who would harm you. Let us seek...
Prayer for Veteran's Day
Today, we bow our heads in recognition of the great service and sacrifice some have been asked to make. Living through the horror that is war, facing death or physical harm as a spectre looming around any corner, we say “thank you,” and know it will never be enough. Help us to embrace those we...
A Prayer for Unfinished Business
Dear great lathe of heaven, O foundry of souls, You churning, burning cosmos which has wrought me on the infinite loom of your celestial body. Spinning stars and indifferent stones: hear my prayer. Do not curse me to perish with all my dreams fulfilled....
Ibrahim's Prayer
Beloved Children of the Oneness of many names, you who cover the land in numbers greater than the stars, I petition you, I pray to you, because you are the fruit of God’s promise to the World; because each of you holds a piece of the truth of all that is; because the vision of Beloved Community...
The Blessing Is Always Here
Spirit who is all things to us; Presence in which we live and move and breathe and have our being: What a gift to be here together, sharing our food, our spirit, ourselves! We ask no blessing upon this food, nor upon ourselves, because the blessing is always here, if we but pay attention....
Clinical Pastoral Education/Chaplaincy Prayer
O Mysterious God whose ways are many, we ask for your comfort today. Help us feel your healing spirit as we work with the wounded. Help us feel your life-giving spirit as we work with the dying. Help us feel your spirit of hope as we witness the suffering....
Prayer for Moving Forward
Spirit of Life and love, God of many names and yet none at all Our hearts are stretched thin. We see and hear the devaluing of people of color, of those with disabilities, of women, of immigrants; this list, incomplete as it is, is exhausting. And yet, we hold fast because we carry hope in our...
A Prayer for Humility
Spirit of Life I find you In those humble places. The quiet, still spaces where I am held in A love greater than myself. You are the wind in my breath; The fire in my soul; The subtle Heartbeat of creation all around me....
Making Room for All That Is
Spirit of Life, ancestor of the stars and the sun, you who embrace the vastness of space and us along with it, be with us today. Hold us in our worry, our exhaustion, our grief. Keep us close as we sit with our truth, whatever that may be....
September 11 Anniversary Prayer
This day is simply one more day on the calendar. The eleventh day of September. Another beautiful, sunny day on the cusp between summer and fall. And yet, this day, September 11th, will never be just another day on the calendar as we remember that beautiful, sunny day in September fifteen years...
The Courage to Lay Ourselves Bare
In our reckless yearning to be safe, we turn again and again away from the blessed security of having nowhere left to hide. Give us the courage to lay ourselves bare. Amen.
Help us to hold the mystery
Spirit of life and death, Thou who art as present to us in our suffering As in our wellbeing, Abide with us in this permeable time Between dusk and dark. Soothe the secret pains we carry. Bless us with the courage to move toward our grief And not away. When all is hidden— When we find ourselves...
Sacred in the Ordinary
Holy One We gather this day to be reminded of the sacred in the ordinary. The holy moments of waking yet again to a new day. The feel of the earth beneath our feet The crisp cool on our skin The joy of being welcomed by our fellow travelers The warmth of this place. Help us this day to be fully...
Prayer for a Complicated Father's Day
Holidays are complicated, especially the ones named after roles. Human relationships are messy, including relationships with people who are honored by holidays. For a lot of people, Father’s Day brings up feelings of grief for fathers who were lost, or who couldn’t be there, or who chose not to...
Behind the Veil: A Prayer of Seeking
God of many names, you who have searched what is hidden within us and who knows us to our core: Our intentions, our wounds, our aspirations and our dreams. You who is familiar with all our ways, even before a word is on our tongue you know it completely. Where can we go from your Spirit?...
Ours Are the Hands That Must Do Your Work
Spirit of life and love, your prophet Isaiah called us to worship you by freeing the oppressed, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and housing the homeless. Your follower St. Francis cried out, "Make me an instrument of Thy peace." Jesus instructed us to love our neighbors—and our enemies—as...
Power Prayer
Spirit of Life, I have witnessed a loud love, an out-loud love, that challenges me. I did not recognize it at first— the rumble of an ocean I had long been under. But here it is right now and it looks just like the whole world could be. It doesn’t play nice; why should it when nice has only ever...
The Human Spirit
The human spirit has enormous resilience. But it is pushed to the limit by grief following the tragedy we have witnessed: sudden and unexpected death, the loss of so many lives. These vicious attacks defy our understanding. It hurts. We grieve. We do not understand, nor do we accept the logic of...
A Springtime Prayer
Oh power of springtime, Spirit of green grasses and warm breezes; Goddess of creativity of birth of life renewed You sing all about us at this time. The birds call your sacred name. Buds burst forth with your vestment....
This Is a Holy Night
Spirit of life and love, we know you by many names or perhaps no name at all— yet together we know this is a holy night. We come from many different traditions or perhaps no tradition at all — We have celebrated decades of Christmases, or this might be only our first or second time at a...
Interfaith Vigil Invocation after Mass Violence
Spirit of Life and Love, known by many names and yet fully known by none, be with us in this hour of grief. Be with us as we reach out to one another in comfort. Be with us as we come to terms with our sadness, anger, and despair. Hold us in the embrace of eternal love, even when we forget our...