First, from the Psalms,
sacred to Jews,
honored by wise people everywhere,
we hear the words:
"Love and faithfulness will meet.
Righteousness and peace will kiss."
May we pray for the day
when all people will find ways
to embrace what is lovely and good
beautiful and just,
and work together
for the flourishing
of people everywhere.
Second, from the Gospel of Matthew,
sacred to Christians,
honored by wise people everywhere,
we hear the words:
"Love your neighbor
as you love yourself."
May we work for the day
when all of us will treat each person,
different from ourselves,
not with suspicion, distrust, envy, or hatred,
but with an awareness
of our oneness,
our kinship,
and the gifts we bring
to each other
and to the common good.
Third, from the Qur’an, sacred to Muslims,
honored by wise people everywhere,
we hear the words:
"Whoever saves a human life
shall be regarded as though they had saved
all humankind."
May we each act today,
in such a way,
that we help save each others,
and especially now, each refugee,
from fear that leads to anger,
anger that leads to violence,
violence that leads to bloodshed,
and so may we, one by one, contribute
to a new and better way of being human.
And fourth, from Chief Seattle, words sacred to the indigenous, honored by wise people everywhere, we hear the words:
"Human beings did not weave the web of life,
we are merely a strand in it.
Whatever we do to the web,
we do to ourselves."
May we live today
in such a way
that our humility
and curiosity,
our cooperativeness
and our gentleness,
and when necessary,
our fierceness,
offers a true alternative
to the ways of prejudice
and injustice,
cruelty and tyranny
so that all things may thrive,
the Earth may heal,
and we may all know peace. Amen.
—Pastor Chris Erdman
