Posts Tagged ‘prayer’

Day 24: This is My Prayer

1 Comment | Share On Facebook| Day 24: This is My Prayer Share/Save/Bookmark Feb 11, 2013

Today is Day 24 of the Thirty Days of Love. Today’s action is to write your own prayer, mantra, or meditation to help us “share the love.” To see some examples from last year, click here. Click here for resources, family actions, and more! Click here to sign up for the daily Thirty Days of Love emails.

Each week at the Palomar Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, we open our services with the words of one of our founders, Bob Kintz, “This is a sanctuary for those seeking their own answers to questions of faith. This is a sanctuary for those voices lifted up for peace. This is a sanctuary for those seeking companionship in their struggles and journeys.” We state this intention to create a safe space in which to worship, to affirm our purpose to cultivate peace within ourselves and in the world, and to acknowledge our oneness and the interwoven context of our lives. I believe that by setting intentions we mindfully manifest the life we want to live.

For me, prayer is setting an intention and requesting the support needed to cultivate the qualities required within us. From this perspective there are several things necessary for prayer, including insight, awareness, and the ability to receive support. It is empowering to identify when we need to cultivate courage, forgiveness, or compassion. It is healing to honor that other beings are suffering around us and ask for them to receive love, joy, and peace. It is transformative to learn how to earnestly ask for and receive support from that which is bigger than ourselves. Each time I pray I am blessed with clarity, a deep sense of our interconnectedness, gratitude, and a renewed openness to receive.

In the spirit of loving-kindness, this is my prayer for us today:

May we know true peace and commit to finding moments of quiet in order to listen deeply to our own truth.

May we open our hearts wider than we ever knew was possible, and welcome all beings into our understanding of community, in the spirit of radical hospitality.

May we cultivate compassion not only for others, but for ourselves, knowing this is essential for all our healing. 

May we love deeply and boldly speak our truth so that our authenticity becomes an invitation for others to Stand on the Side of Love.

May we embrace our courage, creativity, gratitude, and sense of humor to sustain us and allow us to flourish on this transformational journey of love!

May it be so…blessed be… amen…namaste!

For today’s action, join me in offering a loving prayer, mantra, or meditation. Click here to share your prayer.

Peace & gratitude,

Kelley Grimes

Kelley Grimes is a counselor, artist, and chair of the Sunday Services Committee and Peace Team at the Palomar UU Fellowship in Vista, California. She is a Unitarian Universalist deeply rooted in an earth based spiritual and Buddhist perspective.

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Let Us Pray

No Comments | Share On Facebook| Let Us Pray Share/Save/Bookmark Dec 17, 2012

Let us pray for the families who have lost loved ones and little ones at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

Let us hold our own children and family members closer as we remember those who cannot do so today.

Let us pray with our work to make this world safer for all children and reaffirm our sacred obligation to protect the weak from the strong, the many who are peaceful from the few who are violent, the innocent young from the actions of reckless and dangerous adults.

Let us hope for healing in this time when healing seems unimaginable.

Let us love one another with a deeper appreciation of the sacred worth of every child and every human being knowing that when we do so there is a power greater than ourselves that can renew, restore and sustain us.

Rev. Chris Buice

This prayer was offered by Rev. Chris Buice of the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville in response to the recent shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. A shooting at that congregation in 2008 inspired the creation of the Standing on the Side of Love campaign.

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Prayer for Newtown

1 Comment | Share On Facebook| Prayer for Newtown Share/Save/Bookmark Dec 15, 2012

Across the country, people have been reflecting on the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Can we challenge ourselves to stand on the side of love with everyone involved in this terrible tragedy? Rev. Fred Small shared this moving reflection with us. Please feel free to share your own personal reflections, prayers, or anything else that has moved you.

Prayer for Newtown
Rev. Fred Small
First Parish in Cambridge, Unitarian Universalist

Hearing the news from Connecticut of the deaths of so many people, so many children, our sorrow is beyond words, beyond comforting.

This violence was concentrated terribly in that one schoolhouse in that one small town, and yet this violence is commonplace.

In our beautiful and beloved country, scores of people die from gunfire every day.

In Boston so far this year, 49 people have been murdered, 34 of them by guns. The youngest victim was 9-year-old Christopher Miles. The oldest was Mary Miller, age 70.

Each person precious.

Every violent death an abomination.

We are desolate. We are disconsolate. We are angry.

And so we pray.

Spirit of Life,

God of hope in our despair,

God of compassion and forgiveness,

God of many names and one abundant love:

We pray for parents whose children will never again dash through the kitchen, never slam the door, never spill jelly on the sofa, never wake in the night needing comfort, never leave home, never fall in love, never grow up.

We pray for children whose buddies will never again ask if they can come over and play, whose siblings will never again tease them about their hair or their clothes.

We pray for children whose parents or grandparents will never again pick them up, never hold them close, never tuck them in, never kiss them goodnight.

We pray for every person who has lost a lover, a companion, a friend.

We pray for every child and every adult who will never, ever forget what they experienced in that school Friday morning.

We pray for teachers who must learn lockdown drills as well as prepare lesson plans.

We pray for a culture that fetishizes violence in movies, television, videos, songs, and first-person-shooter electronic games.

We pray for a mental health system so emaciated it makes no pretense of reaching those who desperately need help.

We pray for a criminal justice system that privileges punishment over healing, incarceration over reconciliation.

We pray for a political system so corrupted by wealth and bullied by power that good people are frightened to do what they know is right.

We pray for communities where shootings and other violent acts are daily occurrences.

We pray for those abused by the slow-motion violence of poverty and oppression.

And we pray for ourselves, that we may have the wisdom and the courage to act;

to change the conditions that make these crimes not only possible, but inevitable;

and to build the Beloved Community on this earth,

in this community,

in our time.

Amen and Blessed Be.

This post was written by Rev. Fred Small.

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Witness for Justice for the People of Arizona

1 Comment | Share On Facebook| Witness for Justice for the People of Arizona Share/Save/Bookmark Apr 20, 2012

The message below went out on Friday, April 20, 2012 to Standing on the Side of Love supporters. You can sign-up for these emails here.

On April 25, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on Arizona’s anti-immigrant law, SB 1070, in United States v. Arizona. The court’s ruling, expected in June, will determine whether the U.S. will have one immigration policy or fifty. If the court rules to uphold Arizona’s SB 1070, it will legalize state-directed discrimination, allow racial profiling by state and local law enforcement, and tear apart immigrant families.

The interfaith community is planning a major witness at the Supreme Court with an opening worship on Monday, April 23rd, a round the clock prayerful presence, and a Jericho March, rally, and press conference on Wednesday, April 25th. There will be a large witness in Phoenix and many other “echo” vigils held in cities across the country. If you plan to hold an echo vigil in your community, please register here. If you are able to come to the Court next week, here is a detailed calendar of events including information on how to participate by way of social media. Even if you can’t attend one of the vigils, please join us by praying for the court to exercise wisdom and compassion.

The purpose of SB 1070 and other copycat bills is to make life here so difficult for immigrants they will be forced or frightened into leaving. Such a policy is the opposite of compassion. As Unitarian Universalists, our faith calls us to insist on justice, equity, and compassion for all people.

The poem at the base of the Statue of Liberty was written by Emma Lazarus in 1883. It concludes with these lines:

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

It is a fitting poem for a nation mostly composed of immigrants. The intended effect of SB 1070 and similar legislation, though, is to douse that lamp and close that door. Is this the kind of country we want to be? I don’t think so. I want to live in the country envisioned in the promise contained in the Pledge of Allegiance. “…one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

One of the people traveling to Washington, D.C. next week is Julie Erfle. She is a Unitarian Universalist who was spurred into activism not only because SB 1070 is inhumane but because it is ineffective. We are less secure with SB 1070 than we were without it.

She says, “As the wife of a former Phoenix police officer who was killed in the line of duty by an undocumented immigrant, I understand the personal cost of a broken immigration system and a government unwilling to fix it. If we wish to find solutions, we must put aside the myths and rhetoric that have clouded this debate and create laws consistent with our values. Those values demand that we put safety and humanity on an equal footing.” You can read Julie’s blog here.

Please join us in praying for the Court to exercise wisdom and compassion in their ruling. Rev. Marta I. Valentín, minister at First Church Unitarian in Littleton, Massachusetts, composed a prayer for this purpose. Please include it in your Sunday bulletin and use it in your Sunday services.

In faith,

"Post by Rev. Craig C. Roshaven, Witness Ministries Director, Unitarian Universalist Association

Rev. Craig C. Roshaven
Witness Ministries Director
Unitarian Universalist Association

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Prayers, Meditations, and Mantras for Love

No Comments | Share On Facebook| Prayers, Meditations, and Mantras for Love Share/Save/Bookmark Feb 16, 2012

SLL_30days_logo_verticalFor Day 23 of the “30 Days of Love” we asked our supporters to “Write a prayer, meditation, or mantra expressing the challenges you face, or your hopes for a better world.” We received a resounding response, with 46 beautiful submissions. Three individuals with particularly inspiring words will receive a copy of “Thou, Dear God”, a collection of prayers by Martin Luther King, Jr. Here’s just a sample of the words that were shared with us:

Submitted by Katherine Harris of Sunland, CA:

Today I will remember
What I shared with you
Not what I lost when you were gone.
Today I will think Of the light and laugher
Not the sighs and sobs
Today I will do
The things wished for me
Not say later, later
Today
Today
Today

Submitted by Amanda Udis-Kessler of Colorado Spring, CO:

Great mysterious Spirit of Love, be with me today and all days. Open my heart, move my hands, speak through my mouth, and awaken my mind to prepare me for the work of love, caring and justice in this broken and beautiful world. Sustain me when I am afraid. Goad me forward when I retreat into old ways of being that are unloving to myself or others. Help me see all that is extraordinary about this world that I may be filled with awe and gratitude. Help me serve the world, humbly and with joy. Give me courage to work toward wholeness and healing, my own and the world’s. May it be so.

Submitted by Carol Ehrlich of Kensington, MD:

When I awake, may the Light break through my cloudy eyes.
When I rise up, may the Light illuminate my way.
As the Mystery leads me through our sorriows, traumas, fears, may the Light shine upon the Love that stands amidst our pain.
May the Mystery hand me over to Love.
As Love embraces me, may the Light reveal the path for me to bring Love to others.
May Love embrace us all, so we will know what the Mystery knows:
Love leads us, heals us, strengthens us.

Submitted by Barbara Finch of Santa Barbara, CA:

May I greet each new day with an open heart that knows its own pain and recognizes the pain of others. May I breathe deeply, inviting the suffering of the world to rest with my own in that place of great love where compassion embraces sorrow and guides it toward gentle acceptance. May the tiny flame that burns within my soul become a beacon of hope when there is a need to chase the darkness or find a different path. May love shine always through my smile and may I offer it graciously wherever this journey takes me. Amen.

Sumitted by Robin Taylor of Rochester, MN:

Remind me, remind me, remind me
To take a deep breath and put a smile on my lips and picture you as the wondrous soul you truly are
Before I open my mouth to criticize.

Submitted by Lisa Flanagan of Normal, IL:

My wish is that love wins over hatred and intolerance; that social justice becomes the law of the land; that everyone is allowed to love the people they love, and that we learn more about the people that are hard for us to love and like, and find tolerance for them in our own hearts.

Submitted by Colleen Fay of Mt. Rainier, MD:

Dear God, You are love both in feeling and in action. Teach me to love as you love, fully, without reservation and with every fiber of my being. Let me be your vessel of love to those of your children who need it most: the tormented, the forgotten, the lonely, the sorrowful. And let me, Dear God, love with a smile and a laugh, but with such tenderness that when another person cries, I may taste the salt. Use me as you will, Dear God, for when I love those whom you love most I am closer to being the person you wish me to be. I ask this in your most holy name. Amen.

Submitted by Caitlin Turner of Tulsa, OK:

Oh God. Let me love more clearly. Open my heart like a canyon. Guide me to your infinite love and allow me to follow you. God, bring me to a radical love, one that changes my mind when it’s stuck on fear. Keep me near love. Supply me with a treasure of love to share.

Submitted by Wilderness Sarchild:

There is no time not to love,
No time not to say “I love you.”
No time not to open your mouth,
Open your eyes, open your fists.
No time not to care, to desire,
To fall down on your knees in anguish for what is already lost.
No time not to write a poem,
Sing gloriously out of tune, and not just in the shower.
No time not to dare to walk into the fire,
That place you must go,
That thing you must do,
Even though every bone in your body
Screams “NO!, not this, not now!”
There is no time not to go outside,
Talk to trees,
Lie face down in the dirt, I mean, eat the dirt
And know you are being fed from your Mother’s womb.
There is no time not to hold a baby,
Smell the newness of hope reborn,
Touch the future that you will not be part of.
There is no time not to skip down the street,
Blow bubbles in the grocery store,
Or dance as if your heart isn’t broken.
There is no time not to say “I’m Sorry, you were right,”
Or “I want to hear what you have to say”
Or just “I see you.”
There is no time not to love.

Submitted by Joy Christi Przestwor of Bakersville, NC:

My Beloved Spirit guide, as I gather myself for a new day, a new week beginning, may I intentionally listen more deeply, smile wider, laugh louder, and love unconditionally all life that crosses my path each and every moment of this day and each day to come!

Thanks to everyone that shared their beautiful prayers, meditations, and mantras with us!

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