Prayer for Service of Remembrance and Hope
September 11, 2002
Composed by the Reverend Dr. Laurie E. Proctor
As we bow our heads in prayer, may we open our minds and hearts.
Spirit of Life, who has spoken to all peoples, in all ages,
be with us and bless us with a few whispers this night.
We come here to remember.
We come here in hope.
We come here to make confession.
In this past year, we have cried over lost lives - men and women
torn from the fabric of their families and their communities.
The bravery of firefighters, police and emergency workers has brought
us to tears.
On September 11, 2001, we knew our lives to be changed forever,
and we vowed to live differently.
We vowed to honor Life as the miracle it is.
But, too often, in the months that intervened, we have forgotten this
vow.
Too often, we have forgotten to treat the lives around us as precious.
Much too soon, we were reminded
that the temptation for greed is everpresent,
that far too many look for salvation in the stock market,
that far too often exploitation -
of children, of workers, of the resources of this Earth -
is the governing principle of human action.
We have been asked to place our hope in war.
We have been asked to turn in our neighbors
and to turn against the stranger.
We have been given platitudes and slogans,
and too often, we have accepted them,
or we have despaired that we could make an adequate response.
Beginning today, and in the days to come, I pray that we will remember:
that ours is a country that has not been afraid to put its faith in
freedom and openness,
and not in repression and secrecy.
I pray that we will demand more of our leaders
and ask more of ourselves;
that we will remember the important things, the precious things.
I pray that we will not buy personal comfort and luxury at the expense
of others and of this Earth.
I pray that we will remember that far too many are denied the most basic
of human needs,
and I pray that we will do something to change this.
For only when we remember that our lives are inexorably tied to the
lives of all others
and to all life on this planet, will we know true security.
Though grief still lays heavy in our hearts, we cannot erase what happened,
but we can learn from it, and in this learning we can find new hope.
In a future shared with all peoples, may we see this hope,
and may we also know the nurturing spirit that creates and sustains
all life
and is the common humanity which binds us each to the other.
I pray that all our lives will become channels of justice and love
,
peace and compassion
and in this becoming
that we may grow ever closer to the heart of all that we call Holy.
Amen and blessed be.
