Dear Friends,
For the next several weeks we’ll be featuring this special segment in the weekly email, Engaging with Grace! As our church’s motto expresses, we always strive to be United in Christ and the love that He represents, even when we are diverse in thought. Engaging with Grace will highlight prayers, scripture, articles and art to encourage each of us to be grounded in love even when the world seems so divided. We begin with this prayer, and a link to a list of books and a playlist of music that we hope you’ll find helpful:
A Prayer for Civility and Kindness
Lord God, we pray for your world. We pray for your guidance on all that is spoken in our world. We pray for our leaders, that they would speak with wisdom and integrity, for those in the media, that they would speak with freedom and truthfulness, and for each one of us in our daily lives, that we would minister to one another words that do not destroy and undermine but which seek to build up and encourage.
God our Father,
who gave us the gift of speech,
that we might tell of your truth
and speak to one another of the deepest thoughts of our hearts,
bless all the speaking of this world.
Take from our mouths all words of anger and cursing
and in their place let there flow tenderness and concern;
take from our mouths all words of hatred and pride
and in their place let there flow love and humility;
take from our mouths all words of humiliation and contempt
and in their place let her flow respect and esteem,
that all our speech would be a spring of water, fresh, nourishing
and clean,
reaching out to advise and strengthen those around us,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
From The Canterbury Book of New Parish Prayers, by M. J. Kramer
Click below to read Books on Hope and Music to Pray With from our friends at the Sisters of St. Joseph.
Blessings,
Meredith
ENGAGING WITH GRACE — Oct. 9, 2024
In addition to this great quote, click the button below to discover The Kind Humans Survival Guide by John Pavlovitz.