a prayer for these days

Hope–filled Source of all that matters,

         Healing Presence,

                  Heart of the world,

We come again to this Advent time of waiting . . .  anticipating . . .  expecting

    knowing that the tenderness in us,

         sitting quietly beneath our busy-ness

                   is ready

and so we stop . . . not easily, perhaps, but now

         and now is enough

to allow what is Everlasting to be born . . . once again

         for the Light to escape from our generosity

         for the Hope to radiate from our courage

         for the Joy to shine into our shadows

         and for the Peace and Love that so quietly erases our anxiety

                  to reveal the very best our hearts have to give away

So by whatever name . . . whatever tradition . . .

         May we recognize that there flows a constant stream of tenderness

                  a stream that seems to have extinguished all petty desires

                           making us ready to be kind to each other

                                    with all the goodness that is in us.

By whatever name . . . whatever path . . .

         Open us wide enough to receive the gift that places us gently

                  on the other side of all our questions.     

                                                               Let is be so . . . oh, let is be so.