prayer

Prayer for Travelers/ Oración Para Los Viajeros

This beautiful prayer by Rev. Angela Herrera, the assistant minister at First Unitarian in Albuquerque, NM, was first published in her new Skinner House meditation manual Reaching for the Sun: Meditations. – Ed.

This is a prayer for all the travelers.

For the ones who start out in beauty,

who fall from grace,

who step gingerly,

looking for the way back.

And for those who are born into the margins,

who travel from one liminal space to another,

crossing boundaries in search of center. (more…)

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A Prayer as the Supreme Court Considers SB 1070

On April 25, the Supreme Court of the United States will begin hearing oral arguments about the constitutionality of Arizona’s S.B. 1070 law, a law that broadly targets undocumented immigrants. Many across the country, including Unitarian Universalists and other people of faith, anxiously await the outcome of this case, which will likely be announced around the time when we convene in Phoenix for justice GA. This post offers a prayer for Unitarian Universalist individuals and congregations  that calls us to pay attention to events at the Supreme Court, in Arizona, and elsewhere where such legislation has been enacted or is being contemplated. Written by Rev. Marta I. Valentin, this prayer speaks to our hearts and seeks to shore up our resolve to stand on the side of love with those whose lives are most at stake. Read more about the case before the court and follow the arguments online. – Ed.

Justices of the United States Supreme Court

 

Spirit of Compassion

Isn’t it amazing

how we crave to know an outcome

before its time

even as we accept

that we cannot know

how anything will go?

 

We do not know if the mounds of obstacles

will become dirt cleared away

or earth made into mountain…

 

We do not know if fresh air will degenerate

into a stagnant suffocation

or be sucked out of lives

longing to breath freely and easily…

 

if the deserts will spring a true oasis

or continue to offer a false vision of survival…

 

if the shores will be flowing invitations

into unfathomable freedoms

or a fearfully ebbed withdrawal

of even the tiniest hospitality…

 

We who walk on ground taken for granted

we who speak of an Earth that has no borders

ask for guidance as we aid those in need

as well as those who would obstruct our care.

 

Spirit of Compassion

strengthen our resolve to carry forth

this ministry

regardless of the reality of the decisions

made to seemingly thwart our efforts.

 

Let us, in one grounded body

strong in our Unitarian Universalist faith

in solidarity with those whose lives

are most at stake

resolve never to give up this fight for them

nor for our country.

 

Let ours be the voices that demand

a true accounting of these legal human beings.

 

Let ours be the hearts that resolve

whether through light or dark times

to stay the course

no matter what

no matter how long.

 

Let our love be the kind they have been waiting for.

 

Marta I. Valentin

April 6, 2012

 

Rev. Marta I. Valentín is the minister at First Church Unitarian in Littleton, Massachusetts

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