We assemble in the gathering gloom, as the year begins to close. Day continues its gradual retreat, and shadows grow longer each day.Many people detest this time of year.I wonder though, if we lean into the darkness, and let it instruct us in its ways, perhaps we might learn from its quiet.There is holiness in the dark.
Opening Prayer:
Beloved, we call your name in the darkness and we feel your presence in the love of our community.Let us be at peace in this love.Let us embrace the darkness, knowing that we are not alone.Amen.
Opening Song:Holy Darkness, sung by John Michael Talbot
Reading:From “In Praise of Darkness” by Barbara Brown Taylor
Christianity has never had anything nice to say about darkness. From earliest times, Christians have used “darkness” as a synonym for sin, ignorance, spiritual blindness, and death.
At the theological level, however, this language creates all sorts of problems. It divides every day in two, pitting the light part against the dark part. It tucks all the sinister stuff into the dark part, identifying God with the sunny part and leaving you to deal with the rest on your own time. It implies things about dark-skinned people and sight-impaired people that are not true.
[M]y spiritual gifts do not seem to include the gift of solar spirituality. Instead, I have been given the gift of lunar spirituality, in which the divine light available to me waxes and wanes with the season. When I go out on my porch at night, the moon never looks the same way twice. Some nights it is as round and bright as a headlight; other nights it is thinner than the sickle hanging in my garage. Some nights it is high in the sky, and other nights low over the mountains. Some nights it is altogether gone, leaving a vast web of stars that are brighter in its absence. All in all, the moon is a truer mirror for my soul than the sun that looks the same way every day.
Intentions:
(We know that the longer we sit in the dark the better we are able to see in it.We pray this evening for the patience to sit, and to learn, from the darkness that surrounds us.)
As the night lengthens, help us to learn from its silence….
Response:Help us to see in the dark.
As darkness surrounds us, help us to wonder at its mystery.
Response:Help us to see in the dark.
As light dims, help us to rest in the coming of night.
Response:Help us to see in the dark.
As the world is bathed in shadow, help us to wait for the return of light.
Response:Help us to see in the dark.
At this time please bring any blessings or concerns that you would like to share.
We place all of these prayers in the welcoming hands of our Beloved.
Amen.
Closing Prayer
Holy One, as the light dims and our minds and bodies slow to the rhythm of the coming winter, you call us to rest.Cover us with the dark night sky and we will see the radiance of a million stars.Amen.
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which He looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which He blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are His body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
These words are attributed to St. Teresa of Avila. We acknowledge her words with, Amen.
Jesus told
his disciples a parable
about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary.
He said, “There was a judge in a certain town
who neither feared God nor respected any human being.
And a widow in that town used to come to him and say,
‘Render a just decision for me against my adversary.’
For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought,
‘While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being,
because this widow keeps bothering me
I shall deliver a just decision for her
lest she finally come and strike me.’”
Then Jesus said, “Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says.
Will not God then secure the rights of you chosen ones
who call out day and night?
Will the Holy One be slow to answer you?
I tell you, God will see to it that justice is done for them speedily.
But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
These words
come from the Gospel writer we know as Luke.We affirm these words with Amen.
Homily
Starter:
“Will not God then secure the
rights of you chosen ones who call out day and night?”
All over this good earth people
are calling out for justice day and night.
Every day. And every night. Right now, as we sit here in this holy space,
there are parents wailing over the bodies of their murdered children; children
whose lives were taken in war, in street crimes, or in home violence. All over the world, there are people
suffering illness, hunger, and a severe lack of love.
Where, we might ask, is justice
for these people? Why isn’t God
“securing the rights” of these people?
Where is God in all this sorrow?
If indeed, we are asking these
questions, we are not alone. The gospel
writers we know as Matthew and Mark tell us that as Jesus hung on the cross,
betrayed, abandoned and dying, the prayer on his lips wasn’t one of hope,
wasn’t one of trust in rescue from imminent death. No; his desperate final prayer was this, from
Psalm 22: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” It seems that even Jesus, who knew the Holy
One as his loving parent, felt abandoned.
As I wrestle with today’s gospel
in light of the reality I see all around the world and even in my own
neighborhood, I ask myself, “Where is God in all this?
And I know I can’t give an upbeat
homily about how if we keep asking for good outcomes, cures for our dying
friends, happy futures for our children and all the children we will never
meet, if we pray for these things just the right number of times, with just the
right words, or if we have enough faith, then our prayers will be
answered.I can’t give that homily.But I do have faith.I have faith in the power of God.I have faith in the love of God.
I have faith that our God lives
all around us. I have a deep belief that
the great power of the Divine abides in each of us. I have faith as deep as the bones in my body
that the great Love of our Beloved is the force driving the whole universe. I believe that the great physical forces of gravity,
expansion, and evolution are sacraments; outward signs of God’s presence in the
universe. I believe these things. And I recognize that the rescue, the
deliverance, the justice for every suffering being on the planet can and will
be made reality. Just as soon as we, the
bearers of this Divine Light, let our light shine. Just as soon as we, the inheritors of Divine
Power, pick up that power and use it.
Just as soon as we who are powered by Eternal Love, begin to love
eternally, unequivocally, and universally.
Our mission of salvation may seem
like a dream, like an unattainable fantasy.
But we have a model in the life of Jesus. He lived his life in the service of Love,
using the power of the Divine. He told
us that we can live that way, too. We
only need to believe him.
Shared Homily
Statement of
Faith:
We believe in the Holy One, a divine mystery
beyond all definition and rational understanding,
the heart of all that has ever existed,
that exists now, or that ever will exist.
We believe in Jesus, messenger of the Divine Word,
bringer of healing, heart of Divine compassion,
bright star in the firmament of the Holy One's
prophets, mystics, and saints.
We believe that We are called to follow Jesus
as a vehicle of divine love,
a source of wisdom and truth,
and an instrument of peace in the world.
We believe in the Spirit of the Holy One,
the life that is our innermost life,
the breath moving in our being,
the depth living in each of us.
We believe that the Divine kin-dom is here and now,
stretched out all around us for those
with eyes to see it, hearts to receive it,
and hands to make it happen.
As we
prepare for the sacred meal, we are aware that just as Jesus is anointed, so is
each of us. We bring to this table our blessings, cares and concerns.
Please feel free to voice your concerns beginning with the words “I bring to
the table….”
We pray for
these and all unspoken concerns. Amen.
Liturgy of the Eucharist
adapted from Diarmuid O’Murchu
With open hands let us pray our Eucharistic Prayer together:
Gracious
God, source and sustenance of life, redeeming presence to the pain and
brokenness of our world, Holy Spirit, who enlivens and inebriates all that
exists, we answer your call today to become peacemakers and healers, like our
brother and role model, Jesus.
Down through the ages, you rescue us from darkness.
you light up our ways with wise and holy people. You restore our spirits and
you revive our dwindling hope.
May the Spirit of life and wholeness transform us that we may be
refreshed in our inner being and be empowered to bring mercy, love, and healing
to those whose lives we touch.
For all you bring to our lives, and for all we seek amid
pain and suffering, we acclaim your love and greatness,
and we join with all creation to sing our hymn of praise:
Source of our health and wholeness, healer of body,
mind, and spirit, we bring before you the darkness of our world, and the pain
and suffering of your people.
We seek to be healed and made whole; we seek to be reconciled and united; we
seek peace in our hearts in the fervent hope that we will share that peace with
the world.
Please raise your hands in blessing:
We ask you to awaken anew in our hearts the
empowering grace of your abundant Spirit, who infuses us and these gifts of
bread and wine with the transforming energy of life.
As we gather around this friendship table, we recall
God’s
blessing and love from ages past, and we celebrate anew
the gift of life which we share among us at this Eucharistic feast.
The bread we break and the cup we share are symbols of our world of abundance
where all are invited to partake of the fullness of life. May we, with the
power and love that come from you, remove all impediments as that fullness
flows throughout the world.
On the night before he
died, Jesus gathered for supper with the people closest to him. Like the least
of household servants, he washed their feet. Once again, he showed us how to
love one another.
Back at the table, he
took the Bread, spoke the grace, broke the bread and offered it to them saying,
Take and eat, this is my very self.
Then he took the cup of
the covenant, spoke the grace, and offered it to them saying:
Take and drink.
Whenever you remember me
like this,
I am among you.
We share this bread and
cup to proclaim and live the gospel of justice and peace. We choose to live
justly, love tenderly, and walk with integrity.
Please receive communion
saying: “Be the power. Be the love.”
Communion Song: St.
Teresa’s Prayer by John Michael Talbot
In grace our dignity reclaimed,
In praise we thank our God.
Grant that we may strive to create a world where
suffering and pain are diminished, where justice and peace are restored, and
where all people can live in health and wholeness, united in acclaiming the God
of life, whose abundance is offered to each and to all, until the Kin-dom arrives
in the fullness of time.
This prayer we make in the name of our healing and nurturing God through, with,
and in whom we offer these gifts, sources of life, love, and goodness, now and forever.
Amen.
Let us pray as Jesus
taught us:
OHoly One,
whois within,
around and among us,
We celebrate
your many names.
Your Wisdomcome.
Your will be
done, unfolding from the depths within us,
Each day you
give us all we need;
You remind
us of our limits, and we let go.
You support
us in our power, and we act with courage.
For you are
the dwelling place within us,
the
empowerment around us,
and the
celebration among us, now and forever. Amen (Miriam
Therese Winter)
Blessing
Let us raise our hands and
bless each other.
May we be the hands, the feet,
and the heart of our Beloved.May we
never hesitate to walk in the light and to be the light.May our witness, and the work of our hands,
secure rights and deliver justice.And in
so doing, may the Kin-dom grow and flourish.Amen.
Opening: Welcome friends to the month of November when our liturgical year comes to an end and we are invited to reflect on the ‘end times”. Civil society remembers the end of World War One as well as all the victims from the major conflicts since then, on November 11.
Considering our own “end” can seem daunting, especially in these challenging times in which we live. Isn’t it just easier to ignore the fact that one day you and I will die?
We have seen death on movie and TV screens so much that we can be inured to it.
We can choose this denial or we can choose to embrace a life in which we process our grief, our multiple goodbyes -and own, that death is not in the last word.
So how do we want to inhabit our days?
Opening Prayer: Holy One, you invite us to Life and living, but we cannot do that without owning the reality of death and goodbyes. Be with us in our transitional spaces and help us to be lovingly present to others in their transitional spaces too. Help us to choose Life.
The resurrection does not solve our problems about dying and death. It is not the happy ending to our life’s struggle, nor is it the big surprise that God has kept in store for us. No, the resurrection is the expression of God’s faithfulness to Jesus and to all God’s children. Through the resurrection, God has said to Jesus, “You are indeed my beloved Son, and my love is everlasting,” and to us God has said, “You indeed are my beloved children, and my love is everlasting.” The resurrection is God’s way of revealing to us that nothing that belongs to God will ever go to waste. What belongs to God will never get lost — not even our mortal bodies. The resurrection doesn’t answer any of our curious questions about life after death, such as: How will it be? How will it look? But it does reveal to us that, indeed, love is stronger than death. After that revelation, we must remain silent, leave the whys, wheres, hows, and whens behind, and simply trust.
(Henri Nouwen: God’s Faithfulness, April 2,2024 Daily Meditation)
Let’s take a moment to ponder what this could mean for us as individuals and as a collective.
"I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me, to make me less afraid, more accessible, to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise.
I choose to risk my significance, to live so that which came to me as seed goes to the next as blossom and that which came to me as blossom, goes on as fruit.
(I Will Not Die an Unlived Life: Reclaiming Purpose and Passion by Dawna Markova)
Pause for a moment to consider what this means for you.
Petitions
We pray for all who grieve the loss of significant people in their lives, may they find consolation and support.
We pray for all who grieve the loss of those things that are invisible: dreams for the future, hopes for better relationships with family, transitioning into a different or challenging stage of life. May they find the courage to own their grief and to own the unknown of new beginnings too.
We pray for all the people who displace their grief through angry actions and words which harms others in any way. May the courage to choose the light of healing and conversion of heart be theirs.
For whom or what would you like to pray?
Closing Prayer
God’s immense compassion means we are going Home not to judgement, not to being slotted in as saint or sinner but to New Life.
Gracious God your invitation to us is to choose life. May we choose it in the little choices of each day so that we do not die with regrets for the way we treated ourselves, others or your holy creation.
A long time ago someone at a presentation on grief said: “What word or short phrase would you want written on your tombstone? ….Now spend the rest of your life living up to that desire.”
Closing Song: How Do you Want to be Remembered (By: Magic. Video by Denise Hackert-Stoner. Photos by Jean Albert) https://youtu.be/vhUDvEdbxn4
Welcome: We gather today to support the many in our community who are filled with fear, concern, and despair about the future of our country, but more importantly their future and that of their family. We reflect on how faith, hope, and love can bring us peace and the resolve to stand together for justice and equality.
Opening Song: Help in Hard Times by Carrie Newcomer
Holy Mystery, life at times brings pain, anxiety, and fear to our lives, and we seek relief and reassurance. May we come to know that in those times it is hope and love shared with others that bring healing graces and, over time, awakens us to new possibilities and the strength of Divine Love allowing us to continue the work of bringing justice, equality and peace to the world. Amen
First Reading: A reading by Joan Chittister
Hope and despair are not opposites. They are cut from the very same cloth, made from the very same material, shaped from the very same circumstances. Every life finds itself forced to choose one from the other, one day at a time, one circumstance after another. The sunflower, that plant which in shadow turns its head relentlessly toward the sun, is the patron saint of those in despair. When darkness descends on the soul, it is time, like the sunflower, to go looking for whatever good thing in life there is that can bring us comfort. Then we need music and hobbies and friends and fun and new thought.
Despair colors the way we look at things, makes us suspicious of the future, makes us negative about the present. Most of all, despair leads us to ignore the very possibilities that could save us, or worse, leads us to hurt as we have been hurt ourselves.
Hope, on the other hand, takes life on its own terms, knows that whatever happens God lives in it, and expects that, whatever its twists and turns, it will ultimately yield its good to those who live it consciously, to those who live it to the hilt.
When tragedy strikes, when trouble comes, when life disappoints us, we stand at the crossroads between hope and despair, torn and hurting. Despair cements us in the present. Hope sends us dancing around dark corners trusting in a tomorrow we cannot see because of the multiple paths of life which we cannot forget.
Life is not one road. It is many roads, the walking of which provides the raw material out of which we find hope in the midst of despair. Every dimension of the process of struggle is a call to draw from a well of new understandings. It is in these understandings that hope dwells. It is that wisdom that carries us beyond the dark night of struggle to the dawn of new wisdom and new strength.
These are the inspired words of Joan Chittister, and we affirm them by saying, Amen.
If we can see a likely path to our desired outcome, we have hope; if we can see no possible path to our desired outcome, we have despair. If we are unsure whether there is a possible path or not, we keep hope alive, but it remains vulnerable to defeat if that path is closed.
When our prime motive is love, a different logic comes into play. We find courage and confidence, not in the likelihood of a good outcome, but in our commitment to love. Love may or may not provide a way through to a solution to our predicament, but it will provide a way forward in our predicament, one step into the unknown at a time. Sustained by this fierce love (as my friend Jacqui Lewis calls it), we may persevere long enough that, to our surprise, a new way may appear where there had been no way. At that point, we will have reasons for hope again. But even if hope never returns, we will live by love through our final breath.
To put it differently, even if we lose hope for a good outcome, we need not lose hope of being good people, as we are able: courageous, wise, kind, loving, “in defiance of all that is bad around us.”
We feel arising within us this sustained declaration: We will live as beautifully, bravely, and kindly as we can as long as we can, no matter how ugly, scary, and mean the world becomes, even if failure and death seem inevitable. In fact, it is only in the context of failure and death that this virtue develops. That’s why Richard Rohr describes this kind of hope as “the fruit of a learned capacity to suffer wisely and generously. You come out much larger and that largeness becomes your hope.”
These are inspired words from Brian McLaren and we affirm them by saying, Amen.
Gospel Acclamation: More Light by Christopher Grundy video by MT Streck
Gospel: A reading from the Gospel attributed to Luke (9:43-48)
In the crowd that day there was a woman who for twelve years had been afflicted with hemorrhages. She had spent every penny she had on doctors but not one had been able to help her. She slipped in from behind and touched the edge of Jesus’ robe. At that very moment her hemorrhaging stopped. Jesus said, “Who touched me?” When no one stepped forward, Peter said, “But Master, we’ve got crowds of people on our hands. Dozens have touched you.” Jesus insisted, “Someone touched me. I felt power discharging from me.” When the woman realized that she couldn’t remain hidden, she knelt trembling before him. In front of all the people, she blurted out her story—why she touched him and how at that same moment she was healed. Jesus said, “Daughter, you took a risk trusting me, and now you’re healed and whole. Live well, live blessed!”
These are inspired words from the writer referred to as Luke, and we affirm them by saying, Amen.
Homily Starter/Sharing
In the very familiar Gospel reading I chose for today, we hear of the woman who has been bleeding for the past 12 years. This story appears in all three of the Synoptic Gospels, and mentions that she had been to numerous doctors over the years, spending all of her money, with no relief, no cure. In her despair, she hears about Jesus and his healing powers. With the little bit of hope she has left, she determines to reach out and touch his cloak. She has faith that this person, Jesus, is worth a try. In that one action of faith and hope, she is healed. Jesus realizing that power has gone from him, turns and once she identifies herself, he declares that it is her trust, her faith that has healed her, not him.
Many of us have been feeling despair, fear, anger this week, and it is certainly, as we’ve been told by various groups emailing us, okay to embrace those initially. But then, like the woman bleeding, faith and hope must come into play. As both Joan Chittister and Brian McLaren share, despair leads to negativity, to an inability to see a way forward. Our vision is blocked. Hope opens the door to possibilities. In hope there is a need to open our eyes, but from what eyes will we be looking? John O’Donohue, Irish poet, philosopher, and priest, reflects on this, encouraging us “to explore your particular style of seeing. Ask yourself: what way do I behold the world? To the fearful eye, all is threatening. To the judgmental eye, everything is closed in definitive frames. To the resentful eye, everything is begrudged. To the indifferent eye, nothing calls or awakens… To the loving eye, everything is real. Love is the light in which we see light. If we could look at the world in a loving way, then the world would rise up before us full of invitation, possibility and depth. The loving eye can even coax pain, hurt, and violence toward transfiguration and renewal.”
If we return to the woman healed, She can move on with her life. Faith and hope in the possibility of change resulted in a life free of pain and despair.There was no guarantee for her, it was her way of seeing with faith and hope that opened “the door of possibilities” for her.Her life was transformed and renewed.
Thus, the third action that helps us move forward and away from despair is love. As I’ve reflected over the past few days, the question that arose for me was, what is really at the heart of my despair, my fear and my grief? It is that love is being overlooked, love is being disregarded in how we deal with the issues confronting our country. It is in fact despair, fear, and grief that are gripping many in this country from all sides. It is love that is needed at this time, and that begins with each individual resolving to shift to love, and bond with others acting out of love.
Brian McLaren in our second reading states, “When our prime motive is love, a different logic comes into play. We find courage and confidence, not in the likelihood of a good outcome, but in our commitment to love. Love may or may not provide a way through to a solution to our predicament, but it will provide a way forward in our predicament, one step into the unknown at a time. Sustained by this fierce love (as my friend Jacqui Lewis calls it), we may persevere long enough that, to our surprise, a new way may appear where there had been no way.”
Bishop Michael Curry shares, “ Love is a commitment to seek the good and to work for the good and welfare of others. It doesn’t stop at our front door or our neighborhood, our religion or race, or our state’s or your country’s border. The way of love will show us the right thing to do, every single time… It’s how we stay decent in indecent times. Loving is not always easy, but like with muscles, we get stronger both with repetition and as the burden gets heavier. And it works.”
So, if there is still need for some to remain in grief, anger, and despair, then do so, but begin to be open to the faith and the hope the woman in our Gospel exhibited, and move toward love, the love that Jesus preached and lived.
“It is that wisdom that carries us beyond the dark night of struggle to the dawn of new wisdom and new strength.”
We are open to hearing your insights on the Word offered to us today.
Michael Curry with Sara Grace, Love Is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times (New York: Avery, 2020), 14–16, 20, 23, 27.
John O’Donohue, Anam Cara (New York: Harpers Collins, 2007), 62-65
Statement of Faith
We believe in the Holy One, a divine mystery beyond all definition and rational understanding, the heart of all that has ever existed, that exists now, or that ever will exist.
We believe in Jesus, messenger of the Divine Word, bringer of healing, heart of Divine compassion, bright star in the firmament of the Holy One's prophets, mystics, and saints.
We believe that We are called to follow Jesus as a vehicle of divine love, a source of wisdom and truth, and an instrument of peace in the world.
We believe in the Spirit of the Holy One, the life that is our innermost life, the breath moving in our being, the depth living in each of us.
We believe that the Divine kin-dom is here and now, stretched out all around us for those with eyes to see it, hearts to receive it, and hands to make it happen
Prayers of the Community
Presider: We now invite you to share your intentions beginning them with the
words: I bring to the table…
Presider: We pray for these and all unspoken concerns of our hearts. Amen.
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
Eucharistic Prayer by Diarmuid O’Murchu
Gracious God, source and sustenance of life, redeeming presence to the pain and brokenness of our world, Holy Spirit, who enlivens and inebriates all that exists, we beseech your healing power upon us and upon all we pray for today.
Down through the ages, you rescue us from darkness. you light up our ways with wise and holy people. You restore our lost fortunes and you revive our dwindling hope.
For all you bring to our lives, and for all we seek amid pain and suffering, we acclaim your love and greatness, and we join with all creation to sing our hymn of praise:
Holy, Holy, Holy: Here in This Place by Christopher Grundy
Source of our health and wholeness, healer of body, mind and spirit, we bring before you the darkness of our world, and the pain and suffering of your people. We seek to be healed and made whole; we seek to be reconciled and united; we seek peace in our hearts and in our world. We ask you to awaken anew in our hearts the empowering grace of your abundant Spirit, who infuses these gifts of bread and wine with the transforming energy of life, to nourish and sustain us in our time of need. That same bread, Jesus took and broke, to restore the unity of our broken world. Jesus blessed you, God of healing and hope, then, along with the cup, Jesus shared the bread with those at table saying: Take and eat, the bread of life for all who hunger for peace and justice.
Then offering the cup of blessing, poured out for the liberation of all, Jesus gave thanks and shared the cup in a spirit of mutual solidarity saying: Take this all of you and drink from it; This is the cup of my life-blood, the life of the new and everlasting covenant. In prophetic solidarity, it is poured out for you and for all. Sustain one another in the power of sacred memory.
As we gather around this Eucharistic table, we recall God’s blessing and love from ages past, and we celebrate anew the gift of life which we share among us at this Eucharistic feast using the words, “Dwell in the Hope of the Divine.”
Communion Song: Choose to Hope by Marty Haugen video by MTStreck
May the Spirit of life and wholeness, who transforms the gifts we present, transform us, too, that we may be refreshed in our inner being and be empowered to bring mercy, love, hope and healing to those whose lives we touch.
So grant, that in union with all peoples, living and dead, we may strive to create a world where suffering and pain are diminished, where justice and peace are restored, and where all people can live in health and wholeness, united in acclaiming the God of life, whose abundance is offered to each and to all, ‘til the Kingdom arrives in the fullness of time.
This prayer we make in the name of our healing and nurturing God, through, with and in whom we offer these gifts, sources of life, love and goodness, now and forever. Amen.
Presider: Let us join together to pray the Prayer of Jesus:
O Holy One, who is within, around and among us,
We celebrate your many names.
Your Wisdom come.
Your will be done, unfolding from the depths within us,
Each day you give us all we need;
You remind us of our limits, and we let go.
You support us in our power, and we act with courage.
For you are the dwelling place within us,
the empowerment around us,
and the celebration among us, now and forever. Amen (Miriam Therese Winter)
BLESSING
Please raise your hands in blessing and join together in our closing prayer:
We pray for harmony in the midst of divisiveness and for hope in the middle of hurt. We pray for our civic leaders and ourselves and all peoples with a call for harmony and deep peace: May we awaken to the Hope of the Kindom of Heaven within, around, and among us. Amen.
Closing Song: The Climb by Miley Cyrus sung my One Voice Children’s Choir
