Ubuntu

Mother God,

Thank you for your spirit and that which connects us to you, to each other, to the earth, and to ourselves. Thank you for the common thread that binds us all together.

We mourn the ways we try to divide, to create false dichotomies, to separate our shadow self from our true self, them vs us, my present vs my past vs my future. May we learn to integrate. May we learn to see the unity that already is. And the unity we also can work for.

Thanks you for how we can offer support. How we can share our strength. Thank you for experiences of community that remind us how much we need each other. How we can carry our sorrows and joys collectively. That to live vulnerably is to learn to share the load. To learn radical compassion.

We bring to you our grief for ways community have failed us- ways we let each other down and ways we climb the ladder of success and comfort at one another’s expense. We mourn and we repent and we hope for healing and for greater love.

We ask for a gaze that is softened towards one another. Towards those that look different, think different, live in different contexts and vote for different candidates. A gaze softened toward the plants, animals, and, importantly, our own failures. May we find the knowledge of our sacred belonging. Amen.