Spirituality & Practice

On Saturday, December 12, after months of preparation and a week of discussion, representatives of 195 countries agreed on a historic document addressing the issues and problems associated with climate change. The document (see the key provisions here) has been praised for showing the way out of reliance upon fossil fuels, although some activists feel it has not gone far enough.

And so we pray this news . . .

The New York Times slideshow of photographs from Paris

On Friday night, November 13, terrorists killed 128 people and injured 180 others in gun and bomb attacks in Paris, France. The victims were attending a concert, watching a sporting match, or eating in a restaurant. The day before, 41 people were killed and more than 200 were injured by two suicide bombers on a busy shopping street in Beirut, Lebanon.

The Islamic State later claimed responsibility for both attacks. Muslims around the world condemned this despicable act as not being representative of their religion.

And so we pray this news ...

“The perpetrators of the Beirut and Paris attacks have invited us to join them in their cycle of hatred, fear, power-seeking and violence.

“Let us respond with love and kindness, purposefully today making the world around us a better, more just and compassionate place.

“And for those of us who share a faith, let us make sure it is one that binds the wounds of the brokenhearted, not one that breaks the hearts. Amen."

— Prayer posted by Sharon Linnea on Facebook

Compassionate One, we are concerned about global poverty. We have become too accustomed to facts about the plight of the poor in Africa — such as, in Sierra Leone, surveys have discovered that 82.5 % of the people are living in severe poverty.

Data: Now, as Americans, we learn from research done by Kathryn J. Edin and H. Luke Schaefer for their book $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America 1.5 million American households including 3 million children are living in extreme poverty. These writers and researchers were stunned by the pervasiveness of this devastating phenomenon and the finding that the number of those in this desperate economic situation has doubled since 1996.

Bountiful Creator, be with those who live with the fear and stress of extreme poverty. Forgive those who blame these deprived citizens for being lazy and not seeking work. Help the U.S. Congress to find ways to restore programs that provide a real safety net for the poor. May we hold in our hearts those living in such incredible poverty, both in the United States and throughout the world. Amen.

Lover of Animals, we are grieving the death of Cecil the Lion in Zimbabwe. We are concerned about all the other African lions, rhinos, and elephants who are victims of poachers and "trophy" hunters. The numbers of these animals, which used to roam freely and widely through Africa, are dangerously low. We know if we do not stop the killing, these iconic species could become extinct in only a few years.

A lion named Cecil

Balm to the Weary, we are shocked and saddened by the news that there are more refugees in the world today than have been recorded since the United Nations began collecting numbers in the early 1950s. They have been displaced by war, conflict, persecution, injustice, environmental pressures, and competition for scarce resources.

Report: According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, there are at least 59.5 million refugees in the world today, including 38.2 displaced within their own countries. That means that one in every 122 human beings is a refugee, and many of them are children. (UNHCR.org)

She Who Hears the Cries of All the World, be with these men, women and children as they are forced to leave their homes and struggle to find food, shelter, and respite from disease. Comfort them as they deal with their losses. Give them hope and the strength to seek a better future. Remind us to keep them always in our thoughts and prayers.

O Nourisher, we remember that when we were children, our parents used to remind us, "Finish your food. Think of all the poor starving people around the world." That plea usually worked by directing our attention back to the food in front of us. All too often we have not been really present during our meals, with our minds elsewhere.

As much as 40% of America's food

July 6, 1915. His Holiness the Dalai Lama is 80 today. He is the political and spiritual leader of the Tibetan people, a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and teacher of nonviolence, and a convener of multifaith dialogues on science, religions, the emotions, and the mind. We have profiled him in our Living Spiritual Teachers Project.

Celebrations of his birthday . . .

July 4 is Independence Day in the United States. Many Americans have mixed feelings about this day. As our friends at the Network of Spiritual Progressives wrote several years ago:

"Faced with July 4th celebrations that are focused on militarism, ultra-nationalism, and 'bombs bursting in air,' many American families who do not share those values turn July 4th into another summer holiday focused on picnics, sports, and fireworks, while doing their best to avoid the dominant rhetoric and bombast.

This year that kind of celebration ...

Update June 26, 2015: This prayer was written in 2013 when the Supreme Court of the United States made a turning point ruling that the core provisions of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a federal law enacted in 1996, are unconstitutional. Today's ruling by the Supreme Court goes further legalizing gay marriage throughout the land. The ruling was written by Justice Anthony Kennedy. This is the closing paragraph.

“No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right."
- Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, June 26, 2015

As people of God, who believe that all people are created in God's image, and all love reflects God's love, we rejoice with our gay brothers and sisters in the United States.

And so we pray this news . . .

On Wednesday night, June 17, a young man walked into the historic Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, where people had gathered for Bible study and prayer. After sitting with them for about an hour, he began making racist statements about black people, then opened fire on the group. Eight people, including the pastor, died on the scene and another died at the hospital.

And so we pray this news...

And so we pray this news