Blessings : “A Prayer of Dedication for a Meetinghouse”

May this house be truly a place of meeting:
     meeting in warmth and joy and openness;
     meeting in courage and love and trust.
May all who enter here trust one another so surely
     that they may share the deep fires
         that burst into anger
     as much as the sweet spring waters
         that swell into laughter;
     the slow erosion of wounded tears
         as much as the soaring song.

May these walls know silence
     as a hundred hearts search inward,
         each for its own small spark of hope
             that might otherwise be snuffed out in the noise.
May these rafters hear the voice of the child
         as surely as that of the orator
     and the sound of the lute
         and the clack of the typewriter
             and the swish of the broom
     and know that all are as holy
         as the shout of a million stars.

May the rain fall lightly on this house
     and the sun shine warmly
     and the winds blow softly
         and bless it
             as a place of joy and peace.