Friends,

Rabbi Sheila Weinberg of the Jewish community of Amherst in MA writes the following:

Two peoples, one land,

Three faiths, one root,

One earth, one mother,

One sky, one beginning, one future, one destiny.

One broken heart,

One God.

We pray to You: 

Grant us a vision of unity.

My we see the many in the one and the one in the many.

May you, Life of All the Worlds,

Source of All Amazing Differences

Help us to see clearly.

Guide us gently and firmly toward each other,

Toward peace.  Amen. 

I know we are all broken-hearted over events in the Middle East.  We can only pray and work for peace in our own spheres of influence, always realizing that our own peace is intimately bound up with the peace of those around us.  When our neighbors live in sickness and poverty, the boiling point eventually comes, and whole cities are plunged into chaos.  And so we erect walls, but walls are often angrily breached.  Sharing, equality, and cooperation all address the root of the problems we face and are what our love of God looks like when consciously applied.  Let us therefore pray and love where we are, with all that we are.  

Prayerfully,

Co-Pastor Sandi