Eternal Spirit,

From Whom all things come

And to Whom all things return.

We gather this hour as a community of faith

seeking to transform our world through prayer and action.

seeking to transform our lives through justice and beauty and righteousness.

We pause together to reflect.

We reflect upon our times, our culture, and ourselves.

We reflect upon the needs of all people,

and upon our own needs and those of the people we love.

And yet, we gather this way every week,

and every week we work for and pray for

goodness and righteousness to triumph.

Every week we speak of the power of hope and of justice.

Every week we take one step more for peace.

And yet, every week there is registered in the media and in our lives

more tragedy, more injustice, more suffering.

And yet, every week the injustice and assault continue or rise anew.

O Spirit, hear our cry!

Help us to find hope against the embittering despair

to find strength to act in the face of continued injustice and apathy.

to find courage to still believe in those ideals of justice and beauty and righteousness.

Help us to reach out from our very being to transform the world

and to be transformed in ourselves.

Help us to know, despite the messy complexity of life,

that we do not labor in vain,

that peace will one day prevail,

that perseverance will be rewarded

and that hope is a powerful response in the face of such difficulty.

Be thou an ever present strength on the journey, O Spirit.

This we pray to the name of all that is holy

May it be so

• Prayer