from today’s multifaith prayer circle: 

 

(this is the prepared script for the prayer, which is never quite the same as the prayer but still works if you need a prayer to utter)

 

we pray for our welcoming spirit.

 

our egos can make us forget that we had to be taught, politicized, gathered, organized and changed by others. our egos can make us forget that we still have unlearning to do, we still have indoctrination to heal in ourselves. and sometimes, because we forget, we project our guilt onto those behind us.

 

we pray that we can welcome like water. we are not closed to the tributary that joins the river downstream – we need to be a flood. leaving no dry land, no pocket of fear to fester into hatred. 

 

we pray to have faith, that those who are still lost, wounded and/or moving against their own humanity are being tended to by spirits and forces greater than we can imagine. 

 

now let us take a moment to un-dam our welcome, let our welcome flow gratitude to our growing movement, to each new person, each changed mind, until the last one.

 

and because we have a long way to go, we pray again for endurance, for the energy of duration. 

 

eclipse season is teaching us something about this. we all got to see how the light gets blocked out, and how it returns. zionism is a shadow, across our jewish family, across our human family, but we know that light is returning, the light of being able to see our connection.

 

we have so many causes for concern, so many crises, all in need of our attention. we pray to widen our hearts, to be able to hold our way on multiple frontlines, understanding it is all one interconnected struggle, for connection and belonging. 

 

we pray for steadfastness.

 

we pray for escalation, help us become louder than all our obstacles. 

 

duration allows us to see patterns. each time we do this prayer circle, without coordinating our topics, we show up on theme – today it is water.

 

take a moment now to harvest your miraculous energy. whose life do you carry with you in this fight? whose spirit fights alongside you?

 

take a moment now to remember – we are not alone. we are salt water moving towards salt water. we are with palestine, and palestine is with us.