Prayer for National Coming Out Day and Indigenous People’s Day

By revjudegeiger

Spirit of Life, God of Many Names, Source of Hope,

We come together at the end of another week,

some worn down by struggles of health, of home, or work.

Some missing a friend or a family member,

whose gone too soon;

others looking forward to a second chance,

or a new beginning,

with gratitude and excitement in our hearts.

May we be a community that makes space,

for the sharing of joys, and sorrows, angers and hopes,

with grace and forbearance;

knowing each of us are in a different place on the road before us.

In our nation’s life, we pause this holiday weekend, to remember the Native American lives lost from the European colonization on what is now our soil.

Teach us to remember our history.

Though we can not make amends for what has come before,

may we learn from those ways,

never to repeat them in our lives today.

May we develop new ways of relating to neighbor and stranger,

without violence, or coercion,

deceit or greed.

Mother of Grace, help us to find a sense of humility, where we have privilege,

and strength, where we face oppression.

In our struggles we may learn compassion,

and in our power, may we learn temperance.

On today, National Coming Out Day, help us to be ourselves,

may we find the courage to step out from our places of hiding,

and may we find there,

places of safety and refuge,

amidst the pain and the risk.

Where we may have ignorance or confusion in our hearts,

toward those who are different,

teach us kindness and patience,

rather than hatred or judgement.

As a community of faith,

may we be a safe harbor,

in a world that is often harsh toward difference.

Challenge us to use our presence,

as a healing force for justice and equity.

Knowing that although we have come far in the civil rights struggles of our times,

there are many people are still left behind,

and the work of building the beloved community,

is just as pressing, as ever before.