Prayers for Immigrants

Sanctuario

From Rev. Kim Crawford-Harvie, Minister, Arlington Street Church Unitarian Univeralist, Boston MA

Those of us who on our spiritual journey, share a commitment to welcoming the stranger—the not-yet befriended—a commitment to radical hospitality. This is the heart of our faith: love, service, justice, peace.

As Unitarian Universalists, we stand at the intersection of every major world religion that calls us to welcome the stranger:

The Jewish people, remembering the time of their enslavement as strangers in Egypt, begin their credo with the words, “An ancient Aramean was my father.”11 “You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him,” says their law, “for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”12

Christians worship a Messiah who was homeless; Jesus said, “For I was hungry, and you gave me food; I was thirsty, and you gave me drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in; naked and you clothed me; sick and you visited me; in prison and you came to see me…. Inasmuch as you have done this unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.”13

And in the Qur’an, the central religious text of Islam, it is written that Muslims should “serve God … and do good to … orphans, those in need, neighbors who are near, neighbors who are strangers, the companion by your side, the wayfarer that you meet, [and those who have nothing].”14

As Unitarian Universalists, each of these faith traditions informs the first principle of our faith: the commitment to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every being.

Prayer for Immigrants

From Rev. Mark Belletini, Minister, First Unitarian Univeralist Church of Columbus Ohio

Oh universal and temporary privilege of breathing!
As you push my frame out and pull it in,
I give thanks for each and every breath.
I love you. I love to breathe, and breathe freely.
I take you for granted too often,
but for the following minute,
I bow to you
with the full gratitude of my being.
I offer praise for every molecule of oxygen
dancing with the other gasses which make up the air:
nitrogen, argon, carbon dioxide, neon, helium, methane, krypton, hydrogen, xenon.
I bow in gratitude for the rainbows drawn in arcs by the moist fingers of the air.
I remember that some of the molecules that I breathe in today
were breathed out earlier this week by people
in Sumatra, Paris, Nairobi, Kabul, Vladivostok or by that
ten year old who immigrated with his parents from Mexico to angry Arizona.
Breathing, not language, unites the world.
And I am moved to know that every molecule in my breathing
was once generated in the abyss of space,
in the womb of exploding stars. Such wonders!
I bow. I bow. I bow. I bow. And keep a respectful
silence before wonders that quiet me….

silence

I bow to my life and to your lives too, to the particular people in our lives
that make our lives what they are.
Naming them within, or saying their names quietly aloud,
we remember those we love, or miss, or with whom we struggle…

naming

Imagine that all we have is right now. This moment,
these people, united by breathing to all that live, united by dreams of a world at peace, without pointing fingers, without heavy burdens, without
a wall of separation between haves and have nots.

Choir Anthem: Imagine John Lennon