Spirit of life and love,
light within and without,
mystery from which we have all emerged,
within which we live and die:
be with us now as we allow ourselves
to drop into the silence and stillness
at the center of our being.

As people of faith,
we seek to live in a spirit of love,
a spirit of community, justice, and peace.
And yet, in so many corners of the world both far and near,
we see divisiveness and hate.
If we look deep within ourselves,
perhaps we will even find those shadow energies there too.
We struggle to respond to the outer world
and our inner dramas
in ways that manifest love.
At times we may fear that love will not be strong enough.
At times we may question whether love really is at the root of all things,
in this world with so much struggle and suffering and discord.
We may struggle to hold on to our faith in love,
knowing that if all things come from the one source we proclaim,
that source must somehow hold hate as well as love,
violence as well as peace,
evil as well as good.

This is the mystery within which we live and die.
These are the questions that haunt our days and nights.
And yet we are not without hope.
Our struggles and our questions testify to our longing for peace, for love.
Our very longings
are born out of that mystery
we dare to address as “Spirit of life and love.”
In the stillness and silence of our own heart
we read the imprint of love
created not by our own will,
but planted there for us to discover.
By what or whom, we cannot know, and yet it is there:
A clue,
a talisman,
a beacon,
a light within.
May it keep hope alive
even as we dwell in mystery.
May it guide us all as we seek to act wisely and well.
May it help us to be vessels of compassion for one another
and for our world.

Amen.