Prayer: Breaking Down Walls

By revjudegeiger

Spirit of Hope, God of Many Names, and One Transforming and Abundant Love,

As we hunker down, beneath a blizzard on our streets,

And a blizzard of news and media that often remind us to continue thinking just like we have always thought,

Help us to see beyond our walls,

Beyond our lonely perspective,

To the humanity in our neighbor,

To the worth we may have forgotten in ourselves.

Open our hearts this hour,

Loosen our grip on how things must be,

Allow ourselves to not always be completely right.

For the road of must be’s, and always have’s,

Have led us to the world we have this day.

A world full of beauty and possibility,

But a world full of injustice, and inequity.

May we learn, and relearn, new ways to live,

With openness,

A breadth of vision,

And an easy joy, as best we can.

May our walls give us not only warmth and stability,

But may they be a staging ground for action in the world.

May they teach us where we have been as a community,

While reminding us that forward thinking was what brought them into being.

May our traditions include the tradition of innovation – long a part of our faith.

We especially hold in our hearts this hour, the homeless in our streets,

The residents of neighborhoods ravaged by Hurricane Sandy,

who have yet to rebuild their homes.

For those who are cold from loss of power and heat.

We are grateful for our members, and the communities,

Who have rallied together to ease the burdens of those so affected.

 

We invite the gathering now to lift up the names of those we wish to hold in our hearts…