photo by Tina Hartung
In light of events in Ukraine which affect our world and each of us in different ways, members of The Church Lab’s interfaith dialogue community gathered for an informal time of inter-religious vigil, bringing prayers, meditations, Scripture, poems, and whatever we were moved to lift up during this time. With permission, TCL is sharing a few of the words offered up from members of our interfaith community to further your own reflections and prayers.
Shehechiyanu (שֶׁהֶחֱיָֽינוּ), a meditation on this moment, recited by one of our dialoguers with a Jewish background:
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יהוה, אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, שֶׁהֶחֱיָֽינוּ וְקִיְּמָנוּ וְהִגִּיעָנוּ לַזְּמָן הַזֶּה
Baruch Ata Adonai, Eloheinu Melech Haolam, shehechiyanu, v’kiy’manu, v’higianu lazman hazeh.
Blessed are You Eternal Spirit who has given us life, sustained us and allowed us to arrive in this moment.
A prayer shared from one of our Bahá'í dialoguers:
O Thou Provider! The dearest wish of this servant of Thy Threshold is to behold the friends of East and West in close embrace; to see all the members of human society gathered with love in a single great assemblage, even as individual drops of water collected in one mighty sea; to behold them all as birds in one garden of roses, as pearls of one ocean, as leaves of one tree, as rays of one sun.
Thou art the Mighty, the Powerful, and Thou art the God of strength, the Omnipotent, the All-Seeing.
—‘Abdu’l-Bahá
Our Pagan dialoguer shares a portion of a prayer from the author, teacher & speaker, Mat Auryn:
“I call to Mighty Hekate,
She of Many Names and Many Faces
She whom Zeus son of Kronos honors above all
She who is the saffron-veiled keyholder,
She who holds Kronos’ chains,
She who wears his crown, and his scepter
She who is the Anima Mundi, the World Soul
She who is Pammetor, Mother of All
She who is Dadouchos,
whose torches have the power to slay
the very Giants and Titans themselves
She who is Adamantaea,
The Unconquerable One
She who is Damnodamia,
The Subduer of Subduers
She who is Pasimedeonsa, The All-Protecting
She who is Soteira, the Savioress
Lend your protection and safety
to the people of Ukraine”
Our dialoguer identifying as a Jesus follower shared this timely prayer for Lent in relation to Ukraine, and current events from the author of This Here Flesh & creator of @blackliturgies, Cole Arthur Riley:
"Lent is the forty-day liturgical season that embodies a longing for liberation as well as a commitment to bear witness to the suffering of the world. In many Christian traditions, Lent is a season to choose a desire or practice to give up, as a kind of sacrifice. But we can also consider taking up a new practice. What are practices we can commit to in solidarity with those suffering? How will we bear witness to the dust? Lent is about existing in the pain of the world, not rushing past it toward some kind of spiritual toxic positivity. There's a heaviness in the air. I suspect you feel it too. In Lent, we are reminded we are free to say so. Free to grieve. Come, let us journey together."
A breath prayer
INHALE:
I won't rush from grief.
EXHALE:
I make space for the ashes.
One of our dialoguers from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community shares this sincere prayer of the Promised Messiah Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian.
