Prayer to Respect Each Other in Our Diversity

Prayer to Respect Each Other in our Diversity

 

Wisdom, bring us into the difficult and interesting conversations community by community, and help us find ways to nurture communities in which we all can thrive, in all our diversity of being and beliefs. May we honor and respect differences in our beliefs without causing harm to one another. May we stop discrimination on the basis of faith, whether prosecuted by the state or by neighbors or by family to differently believing members. May we learn how to have nuanced, challenging, and thoughtful conversations that open possibilities for thriving, for living together well, without causing each other moral, emotional or physical harm. Wisdom, teach us about the vastness of being and how difficult that is to grasp, and how to live humbly with one another, our differences only a few of the aspects of being that is so beyond mortal comprehension. Teach us not to take the easy way out by sticking to the idea that there is only one right way to believe for everyone, or at least, take these religious arguments out of legislation and state policies. Wisdom, challenge those of us who call ourselves believers to truly have faith, and not need to insist all those around us live and believe just as we do. Wisdom, help us learn to respect one another as reflective, moral people even though we differ from each other about what that means in living each day. May we learn to respect each others’ languages of reverence, traditions of ethics, ways of making home, and that includes the very many of us who have no language of reverence and root themselves in secularism. May we keep learning about the vastness of being, and stay humble, leaning into compassion and mutual care across our divisions. Amen.