The Gift of Diversity

Dear Family of  Love!

Happy Take Care Tuesday! I hope everyone is managing to remain CALM (compassionate, accepting, loving and merciful) the days leading up to Thanksgiving! No one needs to become stressed out. If you do find yourself stressed out give yourself the gift of a special dessert by attending on of the Thanksgiving services in your community. If there is an interfaith service make every effort to attend and become acquainted with our wonderful extended family. The prayers, chants, music, and the overall experience in a collective spiritual setting will show you as it showed me this evening the gift of diversity. More than that it will provide you with a vision of how our world and family should look and act with each other. Tonight I could actually say and mean that I am in love and charity with my neighbors who are also my family members. Tonight I want us to think about how we honor and respect diversity in our own lives. It doesn't have to be difficult just meaningful to touch our hearts and ultimately touch the hearts of others. Remember what we say on Take Care Tuesday "Let us take care of ourselves so that we may take care of others. "

Let us take time in silence to meditate upon how we should honor  and respect diversity in our own lives and the lives of our family members throughout the world. 


Take time to listen to the soundtrack from Millennium - Hans Zimmer as you  do begin to think about the globe pictures below and begin to go deeper into the center of your being and take time to be present with God and keep developing your relationship by listening and  with your entire inner being. 

God we give you thanks this day for the gift of diversity. Thank you for all that diversity brings into our lives.

God we pray for all of the rich cultures found  throughout the world. We pray that we may see you in each and every face and reflect the love you give us back into their eyes. 

God we pray for peace in the world that wars and hatred may cease and that we may know only  how to be compassionate, accepting, loving, and merciful.

God we pray that we my be loving conservationists and help preserve the diverse landscape or your Cathedral of Life.

God we pray for all our loved ones who are facing yet another night in the cold weather. We pray for warm shelters, nourishing meals, and warm clothing to be made available.

God we pray for all who are dying and transitioning from this life into the next.

God we pray for all of us who are mourning the losses of loved ones during holiday time.

God we pray for refugees, victims of human trafficking, abuse, bullying, hatred, and the family members of terrorists who are mourning the loss of their children who have made a journey into the darker more harmful aspects of life. 

God we pray for ___________________________________

God we give thanks for______________________________

God we lift up all our faith communities this time of year that we may come to learn, respect, and love them and that we may come to their aid when hatred is lodged against them. May we sow seeds of love, hope, and generosity of spirit. 

God we lift up these our prayers and each other this night to your son Jesus for Love, healing, and refuge. Amen.

Tonight's extra prayers from THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER

Psalm 121 Levavi oculos

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills; *
from whence cometh my help?

My help cometh even from the Lord, *
who hath made heaven and earth.

He will not suffer thy foot to be moved, *
and he that keepeth thee will not sleep.

Behold, he that keepeth Israel *
shall neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord himself is thy keeper; *
the Lord is thy defence upon thy right hand;

So that the sun shall not burn thee by day, *
neither the moon by night.

The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil; *
yea, it is even he that shall keep thy soul.

The Lord shall preserve thy going out, and thy coming in, *
from this time forth for evermore.

For our Enemies
O God, the Father of all, whose Son commanded us to love
our enemies: Lead them and us from prejudice to truth;
deliver them and us from hatred, cruelty, and revenge; and in
your good time enable us all to stand reconciled before you;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For Social Justice
Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so
move every human heart [and especially the hearts of the
people of this land], that barriers which divide us may
crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our
divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Prayer attributed to St. Francis
Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is
hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where
there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where
there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where
there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to
be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is
in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we
are born to eternal life. Amen.


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Good Night Dear Family! I Love you! May you have a restful night! If you are traveling to and fro for Thanksgiving I pray for safe traveling mercies. I give God thanks for you this night always!
Have a Wonderful and Wonder-filled Wednesday.

With love,blessings, and gratitude,

Sara