Closing Prayers or
The
Serenity Prayer
God grant me:
the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change
the courage to change the things that I can
and the wisdom to know the difference.
There are many mysteries in the world: mysteries of how all that is, came to be; mysteries of why people suffer; mysteries of why
the good things happen to us—friends, love, new babies, beautiful sights and
sounds. For many people, God is somehow
part of those mysteries.
Mysterious
God, creator of alligators and hippopotamuses, creator of whirlwinds and starry
skies, creator of us with our loving and forgiving times and our angry and
resentful times. Help
us to be accepting of that which we don’t understand and can’t do anything
about but help us also to change for the better those things that we are able
to change. And help us to have the
wisdom to know one from another. Amen.
from the God Images curriculum
Forgiving God, though we
know it is only human to make mistakes and to occasionally do something that hurts another, we are truly sorry for those wrongs that
we have done. We try to correct them and
to say we’re sorry to any person whom we have wronged and we try to forgive
others who have wronged us. It is an
awful feeling to either not be forgiven or to not be able to forgive. Help us to be able to forgive more
quickly. Amen.
from the God Images curriculum
In the beginning was God.
Today is God, tomorrow will be God.
Who can make an image of God?
God has no body.
God is a word which comes out of your mouth.
That word! It is no more.
It is past, and still it lives!
So is God.
an African Pygmy prayer
Giver of Life, who is in and beyond the universe, we
would speak your name with thoughtfulness.
May we follow the laws of peace and understanding
here on earth as the stars obey the laws of heaven.
May there be food for all so that none may go
hungry.
When we have been unfair, unkind or thoughtless,
give us the courage to say we are sorry and help us to be forgiving when others
hurt us.
Give us the strength to do what we feel is right and
to turn away from whatever hurts ourselves or others.
For the wonder, beauty, and the goodness all around
us we give praise and thanks.
The
Lord’s Prayer
as
interpreted by Rev. Barbara Marshman
that we may know the world in which we live.
We are blessed with reason
that
we may begin to understand the realities that surround us.
We are blessed with intuition
that
we may tune into and be part of the mystery of life.
We are blessed with free will
that we may choose how we shall live.
Let us take a moment to be thankful for the many
blessings that we share and to renew our pledge to support those values that
create an environment in which the human spirit may grow.
In every age, God has scattered forerunners in the
world. They are those who are ahead of
their time, and whose personal action is based on an inward knowledge of that
which is yet to come.
Abbe de Tourville
This we know:
the earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth. This we know. All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons
of the earth. Man did not weave the web
of life. He is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to
himself.
Chief Seattle
We pledge allegiance to the earth and to the life
which she provides, one planet, interconnected, with beauty and peace for all.
Carol T. Daddy and Marianne Wolfman-Dawn
Great spirit, fill us with
light.
Give us the strength of understand, the eyes to see.
Teach us to walk the soft earth as relatives to all
that live.
A
Sioux Prayer
May the long time sunshine upon us,
All love surround us, and
the pure light within us,
guide
us all the way on.
May I be happy
May I be at peace
May I be loving and kind
May I forgive myself for anyting I have said or
done that plagues me
May I be free of all suffering
May I awaken my mind and be free.
Meditation from a Buddhist source
Doxology
From all that dwell below the skies,
Let words of love and peace arise;
Let joyful songs of praise be sung
Through every land by
every tongue.
For the beauty of the earth, for the splendor of the
skies,
For the love which from our birth over and around us
lies,
Source of all, to thee we raise
This our
song of grateful praise.
For the wonder of each hour of the day and of the
night,
Hill
and dale and tree and flower, sun and moon and stars
of light.
Source of all, to thee we raise
This our
song of grateful praise.
For the plankton in the sea, for the ozone up above,
For the seasons that renew, for the living earth we
love.
Source of all, to thee we raise
This our
song of grateful praise.
A children’s
prayer
Please, please, please
We love each other
And, we don’t want anyone to be sick.
We don’t want anyone to fight
We want to be happy
Please, please, please.
To All
Thoughtful Persons and Patient Scholars
To all Thoughtful Persons,
White and colored,
Primitive and modern,
Who have stopped to wonder-
Who asked the great questions-
Who searched for true answers-
Who tried to imagine-
Who told their imaginings:
To all of these
We are deeply grateful.
Sophia Lyon Fahs and Dorothy T. Spoerl
Isn’t It
Strange
Isn’t it strange that princes and kings
And clowns that caper in sawdust rings
And common folk, like you and me,
Are builders for eternity?
To each is given a bag of tools;
A shapeless mass, a book of rules:
And each must make, ere life has flown,
A stumbling block or a
stepping stone.
R.L
Sharpe
May we always love ourselves.
May we always love our neighbors.
May we always love our world.
May we always give our love to all who need it.
Go in peace.
May we always share our love.
May we always share our joys.
May we always share our concerns.
May we always share our dreams.
Go in peace.