Opening Prayer

God of many Names,
we meet in awe before you,
impelled by visions of the harmony and health
of Humankind.
We are children of many traditions
inheritors of shared wisdom
and tragic misunderstandings
of proud hopes and humble successes
Now it is time for us to meet in
memory and truth
in courage and trust
in love and promise
that we might be healers
of the physical, emotional, and
spiritual brokenness
in our communities
In that which we share
let us see the common prayer
of humanity
in that which we differ
let us wonder at the
freedom of humankind
in our unity
and our differences
let us know
the uniqueness that is God.
May our courage
match our convictions and
our integrity match our hopes.
May our faith in you
bring us close to each other
May our meeting
with the past
and present
bring a blessing
for our future.
Amen

The Reverend Dr. Gwynne Guibord

Sacred Invisible

How can we be strangers
When this moment
I breathe in and out
The same thousands of nitrogen molecules
That were in the deep breath
Of your great great grandmother
Whom you never met,
Swept up into the winds of the planet
To join the international stock
Of terrestrial atmosphere,
To join the natural and necessary breaths
Of every creature that ever sighed,
In an eternal dance,
Ballerinas of the air,
Clothed in star jasmine and hyacinth,
Lavender and exhaust,
Spiced with citrus and spirits,
Smoke stacks, sawdust,
Hairspray, soap bubbles and cities burning.
The perfume of Christmas ham
Waltzing and whirling
With kosher strudel
High above and apart
From our imagined distinctions,
Incense and offerings
Swaying with the sound waves
Of distant sobbing
And recent laugher,
The sacred warbling from citadels
And minarets,
Magical mantras,
Wind chimes
And soothing bells,
Pierced through with shrieks
Of tortured sufferers
Somewhere else.
The breath of my enemy too,
And the faint current of a butterfly wing.
Flurry of snowflakes, blast of heat
From a laundry vent.
How can we be strangers
When a year from now
You will breathe in and out
The same thousands of nitrogen molecules
That were in my deep breath
This moment?
We are not strangers at all,
We are most intimate,
For what is in you was once in me
And will be again,
And I in you,
You are each under my skin
And I under yours.
The stuff of the distant past
And the breath of great creatures
We’ve never ever known
Blend seamlessly with Future souls.
Air is the ultimate intimacy,
All of us drinking from
the same Bottomless cup,
Ruach Elohim,
Eternal wind,
Blessed be the breath
That makes us one.
Blessed be the transcendent air
That bridges time and space
And you and me
And rock, bird, icicle, tree,
In honor of the Sacred Invisible,
In hope of repair,
In resolve, pledge and commitment
To our covenant with earth and sky,
We who breathe,
We whose souls are Eternity’s breath,
We join not as strangers,
But as partners,
Blessed be the air we breathe this day,
The breath we pass from one to the other
Back and forth
Out of me and into you
And out of you and into me
And my ancestors
And your descendents,
This air, this prayer,
For time immortal.

Rabbi Zoë Klein

Closing Litany

Leader: We affirm our commitments to doing God’s uncommon good for the common good, that all people may share in God’s bounties on earth.

All: Let us act justly, love tenderly, and walk humbly with our God.

Leader: We affirm those policies which support the common good.

All: Let us act justly, love tenderly, and walk humbly with our God.

Leader: We affirm those actions which provide a healthy and safe world for all of God’s children, so that they may discover their worth, and so that their gifts might brighten the world with the colors of God’s rainbow.

All: Let us act justly, love tenderly, and walk humbly with our God.

Leader: We affirm a world where all people have equal access to economic justice, affordable healthcare, affordable housing and immigration rights.

All: Let us act justly, love tenderly, and walk humbly with our God.

Leader: We affirm a world where youth will no longer be at risk, where those who are homeless will have the dignity of a place to call home.

All: Let us act justly, love tenderly, and walk humbly with our God.

Leader: We have gathered to express our deepest responsibility to those who are most vulnerable, that we might be their advocates in empowering them in the world and guiding them through its complexities.

All: Let us act justly, love tenderly, and walk humbly with our God.

Leader: We affirm that we are stewards of God’s creation.

All: Let us act justly, love tenderly, and walk humbly with our God.

Leader: We gather for no other reason than to affirm our promises to receive God’s spirit of love, of justice, and of righteousness, and to live our lives as expressions of that spirit.

All: Let us act justly, love tenderly, and walk humbly with our God.

Leader: As people of many faiths we affirm our commitment to continue to work together for the common good in the spirit of shalom.

All: May it be so…

The Reverend Dr. Gwynne Guibord