1 November 2023 – Pause & Pray

Image: ““We are Surrounded by a Great Cloud of Witnesses,” Brenda K. Robinson Art

Every Wednesday we invite you to Pause & Pray with us. Today’s reflection is written/curated by Beth Quick.

PRAY:

God you have been with us throughout the ages.
You have bore witness to the ways in which the story of us – of all that has come into being – has been woven together piece by piece, life by life.
We recognize, today, that it is because of the saints who have gone before us, that we are. Those who have struggled for justice, who have given so that others may live more freely – we would not be, if not for them.
In remembrance and gratitude, we name the saints who hungered for righteousness and whose sacrifices have contributed to a more just society.
Because of those who have loved us – those who have nurtured us, embraced us, celebrated us, or supported us. We are because they were. In remembrance and gratitude, we name the saints who have shaped our lives and being.
We also hold in remembrance the ones whose lives were taken by injustice, the ones who were severed from their own sense of belovedness, those who passed on our faith, who gave us art, gave us song, gave us poetry. We are because they were.
Like us, we know they were imperfect too. There is no life that is not messy and contradictory, often betraying the very justice and love we seek to embody. And yet, you, O God, promise that our labor to Love is never made in vain.
Help us to lean on the witness of those who have gone before us, drawing on the love, justice, community, and faith that weaves us together, generation after generation – past, present, and future. With gratitude and in remembrance we pray, Amen.

(Prayer from enfleshed)