This prayer is based upon James Luther Adams’ essay “Guiding Principles for a Free Faith” in On Becoming Human Religiously: Selected Essays in Religion and Society, Max Stackhouse, ed. Beacon Press, 1976, pp. 12-20.

Cut into five parts and give to volunteers to read in the Opening.

Part 1:

This stone embodies our living tradition,

We always learning new truths,

we are always growing in knowledge,

and revelation is never sealed.

Part 2:

This stone embodies that we are a free people,

gathering in free will to join in a spiritual journey.

Part 3:

This stone embodies our call to create a just and loving world,

to work to abolish oppression in all its forms.

Part 4:

This stone embodies this acknowledgement;

that good things do not just happen,

but instead that we work to make those things happen.

Part 5:

This stone embodies our knowledge that there are spiritual and human resources “for the achievement of meaningful change, [which] justify an attitude of ultimate optimism.