We praise you that your divine image is present in every human being, and that your beautiful light shines out through the face of every person. You love us equally. Our diversity of races and cultures and sexual identities and languages is a sacred expression of who you are, Beloved God.
We thank you, God, for the gift of life.
We thank you that we are here together on the earth at this time, awakening to your presence always coming with newness into our midst, showing us how to love one another with ever deepening reverence and kindness.
We thank you for the many gatherings around the country where people of all races stand in solidarity, to march and to witness and to shout out loud the core spiritual truth that Black Lives Matter and that our policies and our structures and our consciousness must change in order for this truth to become real and radiant in our daily life.
May our growing solidarity with each other be the beginning of a deep healing for our moral conscience as a people.
May we re-dedicate ourselves to creating a society where all can breathe, and thrive, and rejoice together as the equals you created us to be. Amen.
First published, Advent 2014; revised, November 24, 2021, with praise and thanks to God for the life of Ahmaud Arbery, and for his sisters and brothers on the jury in Georgia who recognized the sacredness of his journey here on earth.