A season of prayer for Social Justice: Refugees and the plight of so many are on my mind tonight.

Good Evening Dear Family,

As we continue our season of prayer for social justice may we once again take our feet out for a virtual prayer walk that will place us on the road as fellow refugees. The virtual prayer walk comes from an old and pointed blog from last year;

Walking in the footsteps of a refugee

                                    A Guided Meditation and Virtual Prayer Walk

Let us imagine ourselves through the eyes of a refugee and pray along the way.

Imagine you have decided to leave the only home you and your family have ever known.

God I don't want to live in this country where my children and husband and I are having to dodge bullets and face daily fears.  God help us to have courage to leave this war torn city and country and find safety.

Imagine having to carry a loaded in a backpack without any of the usual comfort items.

God I'm not ready to become homeless but in order to find a better life for my family I must. Give me courage to take what I really need for my husband, children and myself.

Imagine the first day on the road by foot. How do your feet feel and what does your body feel like going long distances?

God my feet feel like they have become calloused, blistered, and in a lot of pain. Give us courage to honor our bodies, minds, and spirits when we need to as we flee our country of origin.

Imagine not having enough warmth on these cold nights out in the open.

God help us to find a suitable place of shelter for the night and that we may find warmth.

Imagine meeting up with other refugees and telling your stories and developing a new kind of family.

God we thank you that we have met many of our fellow refugee families and that we finally realize that we are all in this as one big family. God help us to find and make lasting friendships and that we may find safety together.

Imagine being in danger and seeing lawless gangs.

God help us to remain safe and secure and we pray for our enemies and those who wish to do us harm.

Imagine us having to find shelter, clothing, and food everyday on the road and there aren't any refugee camps nearby.

God help us to find shelter, clothing,food everyday. Help us to keep our eyes and ears open to finding refugee camps that are run by compassionate, accepting, loving, and merciful people.

Imagine becoming ill on the road.
God help us to find ways to cope with illness each day that we are not in familiar territory.

Imagine having a loved one die on the road. 

God help us to mourn our loved ones loss on the road and that we may honor their bodies by burying them reverently in the ground. Help us to always to remember to carry white sheets for burial shrouds along the way.

Imagine you have finally reached the refugee camps and are awaiting resettlement. 
God we thank you for finally reaching the camp and we pray that we may have patience to wait our turn to go through the resettlement process.

Imagine the day when you meet your sponsoring family.
God we thank you for our new family. Help us  when it is our turn to welcome the stranger that we may model our lives after you Jesus and remember that you, Mary, and Joseph were refugees too.

Let us pray to the God of Compassion and Love as we add these our prayers tonight!

St. Teresa of Avila Says it best

A few reminders before we pray:

We are called to do this whether we like it or not. We find ourselves in the midst of a broken world that  keeps being visited by violence, terror, disease, hate and the like. The only antidote for this is Love, peace, hope, and joy. mercy, justice, and acceptance of  everyone. We are all vulnerable people  even if we don't recognize it in ourselves. Sometimes and often the most vulnerable family members may become those who hate, kill, maim,, bully, abuse, as a defense mechanism because they themselves have been victimized. Think of  many timid animals who strike out in fear. We all need to help our vulnerable family members to find appropriate responses to fear,bullying,abuse, and the like.This goes back to many blogs about being loving and neighborly to ourselves.  The time is  now, when we must keep our eyes and hearts on and for all of  our most vulnerable family members and  assure them that they are loved , accepted , and aren't alone. We all need to teach our  youngest and oldest family members to Stop Bullying and teach them how to love, accept, nurture, and be kind. This teaching starts at the beginning of life and continues until we breathe our last breath.  God wants us to be loving, kind,and generous to our family members one to another. Tonight we will meditate on stopping hate, bullying, violence, and inequality.  Please take out your timers, mindfulness apps, or music.  Tonight's music is this: John Michael Talbot mix . Take time to go deeper into the center and if you have any  negative thoughts that need to be let go of, this it the time, this is the place.

God of love and compassion help us to be truly loving and that we may protect all those who are being bullied, abused, and hated.

God of love and compassion, encircle this broken and fragile with you love, justice, mercy and light so that there may be peace on the earth.

God of love and compassion, drive away all things that divide us ! May we be one with you O God and stand and live united as one family under the shadow of your wings!

God of love and compassion, give us tender hearts to give comfort and help all those who are in any need or trouble.

God  of Love and compassion, heal all of our family members who are ill in body, mind , or spirit. Give us courage to help them and reach out to them when  our fears and anxieties hold us  back.

God of Love and compassion, we pray for all of our family members who are pre-grieving their loved ones who are transitioning into the Thin Places.

God of  Love and compassion, we pray for all those who live in places of  violence, especially Ferguson, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan , Africa. We pray particularly for the many refugees who have been displaced from their homes and workplaces.

God of Love and Compassion We pray for all who are dying and those who have died today that they had a peaceful and warm journey into the Thin Places. 

God of Love and compassion, We pray that we may become the voices of our voiceless and vulnerable family members.

God of Love and compassion, please shower  upon us the gift of rain to heal and cleanse all drought parched areas of the world and in our country.

God of Love and compassion, we pray for all the leaders of the nations that they may learn to  lead with compassion, justice, and mercy. and that their citizenry may be afforded human and equal rights and that they may respect 

the dignity of  every human being.

God of Love and Compassion, we add our prayers for ourselves and those who have asked to pray on behalf of others ______________.

God of Love and Compassion we offer these prayers in the name of his only Son Jesus, Amen.

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Good Night all! I love you! Have a blessed and restful night. Thank you for being you!

Love,

Sara

A season of prayer for social justice!: Let us imagine..........! What's this about? Please take a journey inside and look.

Dear Family of Love,


Happy Take Care Tuesday one and all! Today I spent my second day down at church handing out sack lunches to our homeless population. As I listened to our family members I learned their stories and struggles from those living in encampments near the riverbed and as our brother said today " It's like being in the Flintstones". Joseph told me about being cited for illegal camping and the infraction is about $200.00 dollars. I ask you, what homeless person has 200.00? Bobby had the same thing happen to him. Housing and food are problems among many others. There is a shortage of compassionate people who are willing to listen without judgement. We find ourselves spending misguided energy in criticizing people who sit down and protest when we should be looking inwardly and helping find necessary solutions to today's problems.  Tonight we are going to pray as if we are the marginalized and protesters who are now modern day hippies. This won't be easy but I think it will help us in the words of two of the questions in the Episcopal baptismal covenant as found in the BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER

Celebrant Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving
your neighbor as yourself?
People I will, with God’s help.

Celebrant Will you strive for justice and peace among all
people, and respect the dignity of every human
being?
People I will, with God’s help.

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Now let us begin our virtual transformation into the least of these:

Let us imagine that we are wearing raggedy clothing and cannot look at another person in the eye.

Let us imagine that we are having to find places where food is distributed.

Let us imagine having to live as a transient and be cited for illegal camping.

Let us imagine being denied help just because we have a visible drug addiction and mental illness and that the church you have selected to go to has a nervous volunteer who shoos you away.

Let us imagine that we are outcasts and that the government you rely on for help is distant and thinks that we are lazy.

Let us imagine that we are homeless LGBTQ  youth and persons who haven't a place to go because family members have disowned you.

Let us imagine that we have come to this country illegally in  order to find a better life and that all our money goes to pay off the coyote who brought you here is in reality a brutal human trafficker.

Let us imagine that we are invisible and cower in the dark corners of buildings who are afraid to seek help and dig in dumpsters for food and that because we have a mental illness cannot go to shelters.

Let us imagine that we haven't anywhere to lay our heads and we are experiencing severe weather.

Let us imagine being discriminated against because of our lack of knowing how to speak and read English.

Let us imagine that we do not have sufficient medical, dental, vision, and mental health care and have to resort to using ERs.

Let us imagine being urban refugees with families seeking food, clothing, and shelter.

Let us imagine if only .....

Let us pray our responses to the above.

God we pray for all who are seeking warm clothing and the courage to look family members in the eye.

God we pray that we may have courage to share from our abundance food and clothing. We give thanks for Food banks and clothing distribution centers.

God we pray for shelters to meet the needs of all people and that housing may be built for our homeless and housing insufficient family members. 

God we pray for all who are mentally ill and in need of assistance from our government and social service agencies.

God we pray that our churches may be responsive and educate our personnel how to treat and care for homeless and indigent people. May our churches be a place of sanctuary.

God we pray for safety for our LGBTQ youth and especially the many cultures where being LGBTQ isn't safe and we are shunned by living authentically.

God we pray for all who come to this country illegally and that we may welcome the strangers and help them out of dangerous situations. May we have courage to love our neighbors and the strangers in our midst.

God we pray this night for all the invisible ones who are living like true outcasts and on the the extreme margins of society. 

God we pray for all who are lacking sufficient shelter due to severe weather and natural disaster.

God we pray for our family members who are urban refugees who live in cars and on the streets we remember our poor families who do not have access to food, clothing, and shelter. 

God we pray that we may imagine, pray, and then act by showing each of us compassion, acceptance, love, and mercy. 

God we pray for good medical care for our family members who lack insurance and are financially unable to pay for good care. We give thanks for Medicaid and social programs designed to help them. 

God give us the courage to stand up and fight against injustice, bigotry, hatred, terror, racism, inequality and all things that seek to divide your family.

God we lift up our own prayers _____________________

God we give thanks and lift up these our prayers and petitions in the name of Jesus who taught us to love, wander like a homeless hippie, and care for the least of these. Amen.

Tonight we light our single candle in loving memory and in conscious knowledge of all the marginalized. We pray for the living and the departed ones whose names we do not know but you know O, God Amen.

Good Night Dear Ones! Let us imagine this world where we all know what it mean to take care on Take care Tuesday and at all times! I love you! I give thanks to God for you this night and always!

Love to all!

Sara

A season of prayer for social justice: Yes it is ok to practice civil disobedience as a person of faith! Jesus did it and so can we!

Good Evening Dear Family!


Happy you matter Monday! For the past few weeks I have been seeing quite a few people putting fellow family members down because they are participating in acts of civil disobedience and peaceful non-violent protest. Criticizing our family members for doing what is right and also permitted by the laws of this country is a very sad occurrence indeed. As people of faith we have been encouraged by God, the prophets, and Jesus to do this. Yes, we are called to practice civil disobedience by none other than Jesus who cleansed the Temple and turned the tables on the money changers. Jesus wasn't a meek and mild person in this, he was strong and resolute. We need to know that as people of faith we must be strong and resolute too. God is always calling us to rattle cages and speak truth to power as the authentically and beautifully made Children of God. When we practice acts of civil disobedience we are affirming the faith that God is calling us into. It is times like these as never before where we don't get to cower in the corner and be robo people who look uniform. That doesn't help the least of these and yes even ourselves. In order to be the true Children of God we must step out of our comfort zones, get out of our boxes, and color outside the lines in order to affect change within ourselves and in this fragile and broken world. We must take time in our prayers to affect change by using words that are prophetic and justice oriented. It won't be easy but it must be done.

Let us be at prayer and light our candles in the spirit of unity and social justice. Let take time to sing a few protest songs by Peter, Paul, and Mary to get us ready to join together in unity 

If I Had a Hammer- Peter, Paul, and Mary

God we come to this night with our hearts and hands open as we light our candles and pray as we in the words of Psalm 141

 "Let my prayer be counted as incense before you,

   and the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice. 

God may we come to you with a vision clear that this isn't a time of gimme, gimme, gimme or instant expectations but, with hearts full of prayers and thanksgivings not just for ourselves but on behalf of others and this world where there is great need. We pray that with our hands ready to serve you and the least of these we may find this a time of bridge building and peacemaking  We pray that with our open hands we may seek to use them as offerings of help, love, giving, and solace and our word for soothing of our souls, soulace. We come to you as we lift up our hands in grateful thanksgiving and praise and that they may rise to the heavens in holy and enthusiastic joy and hope. We pray that we may extend our hands in peace to our enemies and those who hate us and offer to them a sign that we are here to build and not destroy. We lift these our prayers and place them in your loving and healing hands O God. We also present the Light of Christ to each other remembering these words as we close our time of prayer "The Light of Christ in Me recognizes the Light of Christ in You!"  We pray these prayers with hands and lights uplifted in Jesus most Holy Name. Amen.

God you have called us to march for our family members who have no voice.

Let our pounding footsteps sound speak the words of justice and liberty for all your children.


God you have called us to picket in front of places where our family members are being denied proper wages, healthcare, educational opportunity and any other cause that divides us.


Let our pickets speak the words along with our feet to ensure justice, liberty, and human rights for all of your children.

God you have called us to sit down and sit in so that our bodies may show others that we have the courage and resolve to stay put and do the necessary work that needs to be done for the good and protection of us all.

Let our bodies while we sit down and sit in be made strong so that when we protest we may show the world what true civil disobedience looks like.

God you have called us to write and circulate petitions to affect change. Help our words to be made clear and that change may come through our words and actions.

Let our words ring clear and that our petition may reach the right places where our voices need to be heard and change may happen. 

God you have called us to love radically with our actions not just for today but for tomorrow.

Let our love energy be the empowering force for good and to affect great change in this world  and with each other.

God you have called us to go hungry and strike when we want to make a visible sign of how the least of these are going with out and that the pangs of hunger aren't just food related but liberty related.

Let us in the words of the Beatitudes to "Hunger and thirst after righteousness".

God you have called us to afflict the comfortable so that the afflicted may receive comfort.

Let us be the agents of CALM (Compassion, acceptance, love, and mercy)

God you have called us to use our gifts of prophesy, peacemaking, writing the wrongs of injustice, and giving of ourselves to be agents of change and your beloved children.

Let us be the lights, voices, hands, and feet in this world and may we never be afraid to practice civil disobedience and be non-violent protesters. 

God help us to remember these things. Amen.

God we pray these classic words:

The Beatitudes

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

The Magnificat

My soul glorifies the Lord, *
my spirit rejoices in God, my Saviour.
He looks on his servant in her lowliness; *
henceforth all ages will call me blessed.
The Almighty works marvels for me. *
Holy his name!
His mercy is from age to age, *
on those who fear him.
He puts forth his arm in strength *
and scatters the proud-hearted.
He casts the mighty from their thrones *
and raises the lowly.
He fills the starving with good things, *
sends the rich away empty.
He protects Israel, his servant, *
remembering his mercy,
the mercy promised to our fathers, *
to Abraham and his sons for ever.

Isaiah 2:1-4

The Future House of God

The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 

In days to come
   the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
   and shall be raised above the hills;
all the nations shall stream to it. 
   Many peoples shall come and say,
‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
   to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
   and that we may walk in his paths.’
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
   and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 
He shall judge between the nations,
   and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
   and their spears into pruning-hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
   neither shall they learn war any more. 

Micah 6:8  New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
    and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
    and to walk humbly with your God?

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A pledge to practice civil disobedience and peaceful non-violent protest when we are called to do so.

God we sit here in the silence listening and waiting to know what you are calling us to do when this world has gone awry and that we no longer know how to be united. We come to you O God and offer our bodies, minds, and spirits in loving and courageous service to be your hands and feet in this world and that when we are called to do so to engage in acts that do not require violence but in prayerful and peaceful non-violent protest. May we courageously petition, sit in and sit down, hunger, march, speak truth to power, picket, and stay the course to affect change in the world without fear and if it should happen to freely give up our lives to the justice system and risk our own lives to spread your God News and Good News to all so that peace may prevail upon earth and that we may finally be united as one people, one family, and one world. We lift up this our pledge to you O God with a conscience and vision clear.

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Good Night dear Ones. I love you! I give Thanks for you this night and always! 

With love, peace, and joy,

Sara


Bonus prayersGod of peace and love, we pray that violence may cease and that we may be united as your Family under the banner of love, peace, and inclusion.

God of peace and love, we pray for the people of Ottawa and Canada and for all of our family members who are mourning the loss of their loved ones. We pray that in the coming days that we find out what lead the shooter to this act.

God of peace and love, provide us with the means to become your peacemakers in this your fragile and broken world.

God of peace and love, help us we pray that we may use our voices and writing skills  on behalf of our family members who cannot speak and defend themselves.

God of peace, we pray for all who are in hospice and receiving palliative care and that they may be receiving good comfort care.

God of peace, help us to respond to cries of all your children both great and small and that we may lovingly serve them.

God of  peace, we pray for all our brothers and sisters around the world who are refugees, captives, and victims of  human trafficking that they may be protected and released to return to their homes and families.

God of peace we pray this night for all who have requested our prayers remembering especially___________

God of  peace we offer our many thanksgivings, remembrances, and celebrations to your especially for_____________


God of peace help us to learn the truth about the many cultures, customs, and faiths that we may not understand. Give us the grace to love them as you love them.

God of peace we pray for all who are ill and have chronic illnesses. We pray for healing and a return to health if it is possible. 

God of Peace may we rest, relax, refresh,and renew our bodies, minds, and spirits this night and that we may awake to do what you are calling us to do and to be.

God of Peace we lift these our prayers in the name of your only son Jesus. Amen.


Or these

Let us pray!

God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Ishmael may we find unity with all of our family members in love, mercy, justice and peace. 
God and maker of us All hear our prayer

We pray for all the war torn areas of the world and protection for all of our brothers and sisters.
God and maker of us All hear our prayer

We pray for all who are living with mental illness. We pray that we may reach out and support with love and compassion to them and their caregivers.
God and maker of us All hear our prayer

We pray for our family members who are ill that they may be healed of their illnesses.
God and maker of us All hear our prayer

We pray for the least of these and all the wonderful things they bring to this world. We give thanks to God that they are reminders to all of our family members who need to be aware that not everyone is fortunate.
God and maker of us All hear our prayer

Give us strength to speak truth to power and keep doing it until Justice rolls down 
God and maker of us All hear our prayer

Take away all of our fears, hate, isolationism, and replace it with trust, love, and unity.
God and maker of us All hear our prayer

We pray for all who are dying and have died today and entered into the Thin Places with Joy and gladness.
God and maker of us All hear our prayer

We pray this night for all who travel that they may safely arrive at their destination.
God and maker of us All hear our prayer

We pray for ourselves and on behalf of others
God and maker of us All hear our prayer

We pray for all faith communities and leaders who enrich our lives each day. 
God and maker of us All hear our prayer

We give thanks this night for _______________ and that we may put on an attitude of Gratitude
God and maker of us All hear our prayer

We pray that we will awake refreshed, renewed, and re-created to do the work and service God is calling us to do.
God and maker of us All hear our prayer

We pray for rain and the cleansing and healing of Your Creation.
God and maker of us All hear our prayer


We ask these our prayers in Jesus' most Holy Name. Amen.

A Season of Prayer for Social Justice : Time to radically rest and renew!

Good Evening Dearly Loved Family!

This is Sunday and our time of Sabbath rest and renewal. This is also a time for us to consider in the next coming weeks a time of being radical and letting ourselves, families, faith communities, and even our world that we take this time of rest seriously. Sundays do not need to be a time when activities need to be layered on top of each other. If rest is good enough for God it is certainly good enough for us. So tonight we enact our own blue hours in honor of the old blue laws, and allow ourselves time away from unnecessary work and a bit of time going off the grid. Tomorrow we will talk about how important the art of protest is and that civil disobedience does play a roll in serving the least of these and bringing loving change to this fragile and broken world. 

So here are tonight's suggested ways to do blue hours:

Radically rest and renew.
Turn off the TV and go Off the Grid.
No online shopping.
No ordering food in.
Limit social media.

Let us engage in the "Be Stills"

Be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know.
Be still.
Be.

Let us light our candles and pray in silence. No words for this vigil only your conversation between you and God. 

Life Calls Us On- Jason Shelton


Here are tonight's prayers: We repeat and engage in 'The Be Stills" again.

Practice our Mindfulness exercises and breathing:
It is simply this we start with our breathing exercises using this format:

Inhale the Holy Spirit.
Exhale Love.

Inhale the Holy Spirit
Exhale Love

Inhale the Holy Spirit
Exhale Love

Now repeat the following 3 times;

Be Still and Know That I am God.
Be Still and Know
Be Still 
Be

Now get out some kind of timer, mindfulness app, or music and set them for 5 minutes when you begin. Then close your eyes and be silent. If the music goes long don't worry that will lead you into our time of prayer and thanksgiving.

These prayers come from a blog I wrote during chemo.

For those who never went through my cancer treatment time I divided  my cycles of chemo into the Holy Trinity: God , Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. This was the beginning of the Holy Spirit cycle;

Holy Spirit, enliven us with your spirit so that we may bring love, peace, hope, and joy to this broken world.

Holy Spirit, heal our weary bodies, minds, and spirits that we may be wholly whole and spread the Good News of God in Christ to those who are in need of love, compassion, and acceptance.

Holy Spirit, bring your comforting spirit to all those who mourn and have been affected by tragedies.

Holy Spirit, quicken our minds that we may think aright and that our thoughts, words, and deeds may heal, comfort, and speak truth to power and that justice and peace may prevail upon Earth,

Holy Spirit, may we be soothed by the Waters of Life coursing through our veins and may we never  thirst but thirst after righteousness.

Holy Spirit,empower us to practice random acts of kindness and to what is pleasing in God's Sight.

Holy Spirit, may we respond with a resounding yes to God's Call for our lives.

Holy Spirit, empower us to speak for and serve the powerless.

Holy Spirit, may we feel your energizing presence that we may be guided to do all the things that God is having us do and to be.

God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit may our prayers be acceptable as we lift them to you and lay them gently in your holy and gracious arms. Amen.

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Good Night Dear Ones! I love you! Take time for self-care if you haven't already. Make every day that you live count and filled with empowering LoveEnergy. I give God thanks for you this night and always.

With Love, 

Sara


What are Blue Laws?
 Please click on the link below for more info!

Blue Laws

A Season of prayer for Social Justice : Praying for the protesters and our valiant and courageous family members

Good Evening Dear Family!

Happy Self-Care Saturday! Today I attended the Pacific Pride Festival in Santa Barbara today. I loved pride and seeing so many friends. Lots of thoughts have been wafting through the head today and I feel that God is calling us to pray for those who have the courage to engage in non-violent protest and speak out even if it ruffles our feathers. 

Let us vigil tonight in support of those who have the courage to speak truth to power and engage in non-violent protests.

God we pray for our brothers and sisters who have the courage to protest against the many troubling issues in this fragile and broken world. 

We light one candle and ask for the courage to speak truth to power and follow the example of our brother Jesus who cleansed the Temple from the greedy money changers.

God, we pray for our brothers and sisters who had the courage to sit down and stay seated in response to the need for gun violence after many of the shootings in our country.

We light one candle,pray,  and sit down in solidarity of those who felt the need to not be moved regardless of the consequences.

God we pray for all who work to secure liberty and to affect change by doing petition drives and letter writing.

We light one candle and pray that we may have the courage to petition and write letters continually to affect change.

God we pray for all those who seek to do non-violent protest at military bases even when it is risky.

We light one candle and pray for all who take risks in protesting where it is not allowed or encouraged.

God we pray for those who work tirelessly for equality, justice, and for universal human rights. 

We light one candle and pray that we may all may be one and that Justice may roll down and that we may ever seek to be CALM (Compassionate, Accepting, Loving, and Merciful) 

God we pray for all protesters and change makers remembering especially these courageous ones:
1. Jesus. 
2. The early followers of Jesus who spread the God News and Good News to a broken world.
3. Our country's early fighters for liberty.
4. The civil rights martyrs
5. The marchers in Selma
6. The Martyrs of Japan, New Guinea, and all who spoke out and risked their faith.
7. The underground railroad
8. The Abolitionists
9. Chief Seattle
10 Martin Luther King Jr.
11, Stephen Biko
12. Martin Luther
13. Galileo
14. Those who fought at Wounded Knee
15. The Saint Patrick's Battalion
16. Vida Dutton Scudder
17. St. Francis of Asissi
18 Bernard Mizeki
19. Elie Wiesel and Dietrich Bonhoeffer
20. Moses
21. Susan B. Anthony
22. Rosa Parks
23. The early suffragettes 
24. Terry Waite, Canon Andrew White
25. Black Elk
26: Festo Kivengere
27 Nelson Mandela 
28 Malala
29. Anne Frank
30. Raoul Wallenberg
31. Frederick Douglas, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, William Wilberforce, John Newton, Alex Haley, ROOTS 
32. Archbishop Desmond Tutu
33. Schindler
34. The Albanian Muslims who Saved the Jews in World War II
35 Johnathan Myrick Daniels
36, Florence Li Tim Oi
37 The Dalai Lama
38 Sacheen Littlefeather
39 Harvey Milk
40 Mahatma Gandhi
41 Oscar Romero
42. Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin
43. The Trail of Tears
44. The Righteous Gentiles
45. Madame C.J. Walker
46. Margaret Sanger
47. Gabby Giffords
48. The Orlando 49
49. Stonewall Martyrs 
50. Ryan White, Arthur Ashe
51. Matthew Shepherd 
52. Malcolm X, Mohammed Ali, Salam Al Maryati, 
53. Cesar Chavez
55. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Katherine Lee Bates, Marie Curie, The Philadelphia 11, Barbara Harris, Katharine Jefferts Schori 
56. Seneca Falls Conference.
57. Christine Jorgenson, Billy Tipton, Renee Richards
58 Sally Ride, Billy Jean King, Sheila Kuehl, Martina Navratilova 
59. Your heroes of social justice.
60. Triangle Shirt Factory Fire.
61. Dorothy Day
62 Jane Addams 
63. Bishop Gene Robinson

Let us sing this song:
As we light our candles tonight!

We Are Marching int the Light of God

Tonight we will reflect on what is happening in our lives, the nation, and the world and asking ourselves how we can with God's and Jesus' help to help heal and bring peace to a broken world and for the reconciliation of the Family of God in love. Put on your favorite music or set the timer for 10 minutes and begin reflecting, resting, and center yourself in prayer. 


Musical Selections:

I want Jesus to Walk With Me
Precious Lord Take My Hand 



Let us be at prayer

Jesus help us to go over to the other side and rest and pray with you. 

We ask you Lord Jesus to come and tenderize our hearts and enliven our spirits to be the loving brothers and sisters to you and follow where you lead us.

Jesus show us the pathway to peace in our world. Help us to lay down our anger, suspicion, fears, and resentment of our family members whom we don't know very well. 

Jesus we ask you to heal the many people on our prayer  list who are ill and have been newly diagnosed with cancer or any other disease. We remember them in our hearts and by name__________________

Jesus we pray for peace in the Middle East and all the holy places where you preached, healed, walked, and  made a difference in people's lives with your loving and accepting touch. 

Jesus may we continually be at prayer for all of the 51 million + refugees who do not have a place to call home. Help us always to remember that you , Joseph, and Mary were refugees and went into the land of Egypt until the death of Herod.

Jesus we pray for all of your servants who are preparing for worship on Sunday. May they find the words to  amplify and enlighten the words of  Your Gospel Message. 

Jesus we give thanks to you this day for_____________________
Jesus may we remember this day__________________________
Jesus may we celebrate with you this day these events in our lives and the lives of others especially____________
Jesus we give thanks to you this day for_________________________

Jesus we ask for forgiveness of our sins and help us lovingly forgive those who have harmed us and let go of the past and move forward.

Jesus give us loving and accepting hearts for all those who differ from us and may we see each person in God's world as reflection of You. May we always remember this 'The light of Christ in me recognizes the Light of Christ in you!' May we all be the light of the world and especially to this broken and violent world in which we live. May we sow seeds of peace and love wherever we go and live by your example.


Jesus may we with you comfort those who mourn the loss of loved ones and wrap our arms around them with prayer, love, compassion, and comfort.


Jesus we pray for all those who have died and are dying today remembering especially_____________may they rest in peace and rise in glory.

Jesus  we pray for the least of these may we never look down on them but see you reflected in them. May we come to their aide and serve them.

Jesus may we never find ourselves too busy to help those in any need or want. May we and our faith families provide sanctuary for the least of these and never deprive any one of food, clothing, or shelter.

Jesus we lift up these our prayers to you in Your most Holy Name. Amen.

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Good Night Family of Love! I love you and may we find rest for our souls tonight. Take time for you and know that tomorrow is our time of Sabbath Rest. I give thanks to God for you this day and always!

Love, prayers, and blessings !

Sara