Almighty God, we thank you for light and life,
for all your gifts and blessings upon us.
We thank you especially
for sending prophets among us,
to teach us to return to the ways
You have hallowed and blessed.
May all who profess your Name
work to stamp out the fires of hatred,
and bring mercy and forbearance to life in all things.
May the Light of Peace
illumine all our steps
and blaze within our hearts,
O God Our Peace.
Help us turn again, O Holy One,
deliberately opening our hearts
toward justice, compassion, and shalom.
deliberately opening our hearts
toward justice, compassion, and shalom.
Help us turn away
from exulting over each other’s losses or pain
but toward setting each other’s good as our own.
from exulting over each other’s losses or pain
but toward setting each other’s good as our own.
Help us work for the oppressed and the marginalized,
standing against systems of oppression and hatred.
standing against systems of oppression and hatred.
Help us to walk into the light of hope and peace,
secured on a foundation of justice and equality with all beings.
secured on a foundation of justice and equality with all beings.
Make our paths to you, Blessed Savior,
straight and true,
that we may not turn aside
to either the right or the left,
but being ever led by your gospel to holiness.
Holy One, we give thanks
for your abiding faithfulness to us
even when we wander.
Set our hearts and minds
on the path of compassion,
and place your blessing upon those
whose needs we raise before You.
Amen.
Photo:Dawn over the Oglala National Grassland.
The Rev. Leslie Scoopmire is a retired teacher and a priest in the Diocese of Missouri. She is priest-in-charge of St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Ellisville, MO. She posts daily prayers at her blog Abiding In Hope, and collects spiritual writings and images at Poems, Psalms, and Prayers.