Moment of Oneness, April 24, 2024 - Prepared by Kathie Ryan

Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81507551772
Meeting ID: 815 0755 1772
To connect by phone dial: +1 646 558 8656

Be grateful for the things and people you have in your life. Things you take for granted someone else is praying for.   (Marlan Rico Lee)

Opening Prayer: Let us breathe deeply for the Holy One is as close to us as our next breath.   We often feel lonely, but we are never alone. We often feel separated, but we are always connected. We are connected by the spirit of the Holy One. Amen

Opening Song: Breathe In by Peter Mayer

https://youtu.be/JJ0horvBHWc?si=xgPcQqIeWE1pLoI6 

A Prayer for the Forgotten

Holy One, we do not know how to pray as we ought to pray. Sometimes we just list our grievances, but you know them already. Sometimes we ask for favors--to make a budget, to elect the latest savior, to make it rain, to make it stop raining, to win the lottery to feel superior to those we hate, to advance our portfolio, to add square footage to our house.

But today, Holy One, let’s try something different. This prayer is not a tweet, or a post or the pronouncement of yet another talking head. This is a prayer for all those people who live in the shadows, who wonder if their lives count for anything. The people whose houses we walk by in the darkness but whose threshold we will never cross, whose faces we will never see, whose joys and sorrows we will never know. 

This is a prayer for the forgotten ones, in our neighborhoods, lying abed in hospitals, staring through the bars of a prison cell, sleeping on the cold floor of a refugee camp, digging through a garbage dump for dinner.

This is a prayer of lament for the way the world is set up to care about famous people, powerful people, often cruel and selfish people.  Meanwhile the little ones we are commanded to care about are everywhere hidden and invisible.  The teacher who doesn’t know if she can afford to keep going, the girl who can’t tell anyone about the abuse, the teenager who hears voices in his head and doesn’t see the point of living, the spouse who covers once more for her partner’s lies. 

This prayer is for all the people we don’t know, will never know, and will never see on the evening news. Yet the prophets have told us that the forgotten ones are precious, and that either all of us matter or none of us do.  Help us, we pray, to run our gaze away from screens and mirrors and toward the stranger—hold open the door, invite someone new to dinner, speak a word of gratitude—so that the forgotten are not forgotten.  After all, they hold the world together, and they are doing the best they can.  AMEN

Silent Reflection

Intentions:   We bring to the table:

All those gathered here, for our Community, and for all of us on earth.  

All our families- for those struggling with careers, with health issues. 

All those suffering from mental illness, those who are grieving, and those who await surgery.

All those suffering from emotional, physical, and sexual abuse.

All those who are in-need of fairness-those mistreated because of the color of their skin, sexual orientation, disability, size or gender.

All those who live in abject poverty and for those suffering the devastation of war. 

All those suffering from earthquakes, famine, fires, floods and all environmental disasters.

All those who are suffering from cancer especially those we have on our prayer list.

All our politicians who are at war with each other for the sake of power. May they lay their gauntlets down and do their best for our nation and world.

All nations who are at war, especially the Ukraine and Russia, Palestine and Israel. May all find a way to peace.

All of creation. May we take care of all that you have given us and may we take care of each other with loving kindness.  

Who and what else would you like to bring to the table tonight?

We pray for these and all the unspoken intentions in our hearts.

Closing prayer: Holy One we brought those we love and those who are in-need of knowing they are loved to you tonight. Even in our forgetfulness we know you are holding each of them as we know you are holding each of us. We are one with you and each other.  Amen

Closing Song: Be a Light – shortened Thomas Rhett (lyrics ) ft. Keith Urban, Chris Tomlin, Hillary Scott & Reba McEntire

https://youtu.be/Oqiw54l_x-8