Here is bread and here is wine,
Food and drink we savor with delight;
Now upon this altar blessed,
Moving us beyond our taste and sight.
For deeper love we spread the bread
I won’t be full till all are fed
Till every soul has home and bed
The rest of us can’t move ahead
God of love,
source of mercy and compassion,
weave your dream for the world
into the fabric of our lives.
A young man roams the city
With anger in his eyes.
His rage glows like an ember,
His soul is cold as ice.
O God of peace, be with us now.
Stand here beside us; bring hope this day.
Transform this world of greed and strife,
From domination to your new way.
Praise life that makes us change and grow
Praise love that makes compassion flow
Praise peace that ends all strife and fear
Praise hands that work for justice here
Their relationship remains unclear.
They may be unlikely brothers,
or perhaps like Oscar and Felix,
they are simply an odd couple
sharing the same highrise apartment.
We are here to praise and enjoy God with body and soul, mind and heart, with song and word, with hands and feet.
We are here to give because of the abundance God has given us, to share with each other, and to receive, because God has created us to depend on each other.
We are here to celebrate the differences that otherwise might divide us: differences of age, of body, of culture, of opinion, of ability, of religious conviction.
We are here to put things in perspective: to celebrate what matters, to laugh about things we take too seriously, to cry about things that truly touch our hearts.
So may it be this morning: Amen!
Aid will never save the world
Without changes in our lives.
Systems which embrace us all
Foster wealth’s destructive drives.
In A Joyful Path, Year Two, we focus on some of the main tenets of Progressive Christianity and Spirituality, giving our children the foundation they need to walk the path of Jesus in today’s world. It has stories and affirmations written to help children clarify their own personal beliefs while staying open to the wisdom of other traditions.
read moreMy desire for you, my friend,
Is the same as for myself
To be freed from gross desire
For more things or for more wealth
Through embracing sharing ways
That can nurture inner health.
Our hands, O God, are stained with blood
Which comes from family trees
Or flows from nations and the gods
They seek with fire to please.
Forgiveness is our most precious gift,
The most Christ-like blessing we can share.
Come to us, God of peace.
Come with your healing and your reconciling power.
Come, that fear may be cast out by love;
Jesus, you set before us the way of wisdom: to care for the poor, feed the hungry, share instead of hoard our possessions, but it is a way that is counter to the ways of the world.
read more
Guide us all in the way everlasting;
Guide us all in the Way.
This being human is a guest house
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Oh, Guide of the Way,
My safety in trust
Determine my path
