Prayer for Community

Rev. Douglas Taylor

Eternal Spirit,

From whom all things come

And to whom all things return,

We gather this hour as individual seekers in a community of shared faith.

Each one searching along different paths,

Each one longing for familiar answers to intimate questions,

Each one yearning for deeper meaning amid private struggles,

We gather together as separate persons in search of understanding, of wholeness, of peace.

We are a people of faith, joined together by a bond of shared search and shared commitment.

We are a community of individual seekers, with a common story.

For hardship and suffering, we seek comfort, perspective, and a change to better days

For blessings and abundant goodness, we remind ourselves to notice these good things and lift them up with thanksgiving and wonder.

And may we always count as a blessing the faith community which now is, has been, and shall continue to be a community of hope and promise.

Here may the deep presence of the holy touch each one of us in a way that carries us closer to the life-giving power found through out the ages in community.

May it be here, may it be now.

In the name of all that is holy,

May it be so.

• Prayer