A Prayer to Humankind
(from Chief Medicine Story, Wampanoag Nation)
Reader I: Hear O Humankind, the prayer of my heart.
Are we not one?
Have we not one desire,
to heal our Mother Earth,
to bind her wounds?
Reader II: Are we not all sisters and brothers?
Are we not all grandchildren of the same mystery?
Do we not all want to love and be loved?
Do we not want to work and play, and sing,
and dance together?
Leader: May we live forever
All: May we live forever
Leader: In Jesus' name
All: In Jesus' name
Leader: As with one desire
All: As sister and brother
Leader: Together as one
All: May we live forever.
Reader I: But we live in fear
Fear that is hate
Fear that is mistrust,
and envy and greed . . .
Fear that is anger
and cruelty, loneliness
and bitterness.
Reader II: We live in fear that is love, twisted
and turned back on itself.
Love denied and love rejected.
Leader: In Jesus' name we pray: let us love forever.
All: May we love forever in Jesus' name.
Reader I: Hear my heart's prayer, O Humankind!
Life is the only treasure.
We are the custodians of it.
It is our sacred trust.
Life is wondrous, awesome, and holy.
Life is burning glory
And its price is simply this: Courage.
We must be brave enough to love.
