Let us send our thoughts and prayers to all of those who were involved in the recent shooting at Pulse in Orlando, Florida last Sunday morning. There are no words to express the gut-wrenching sadness that I feel, and I am sure you are feeling it as well. Where there is sadness there will be wisdom. A senseless act of violence took the lives of too many people and left the rest deeply wounded – physically, emotionally and spiritually. May their healing be swift, and with grace and ease. For those who lost their loved ones, we know that life will never be quite the same, yet we also know that Spirit surrounds them with the strength to move forward.

As difficult as it is to not be overtaken by anger or fear, that is our work and this is our opportunity to rise to greatness and remember the Truth: we are all one. Together, through our united prayers, we can contribute to the healing of our beloved global community. Let us open our collective heart in a love that is as wide as the world, and embrace everyone in it with compassion, kindness and forgiveness.

IIchi Lee’s beautiful Prayer for Peace says it all:

I offer this prayer of peace, Not to the Christian God, Nor to the Buddhist God, Nor to the Islamic God, Nor to the Jewish God, But to the God of all humanity,
For the peace that we wish for is Not a Christian peace,
Nor a Buddhist peace, Nor an Islamic peace, Nor a Jewish peace But a human peace for all of us.
I offer this prayer of peace To the God that lives within all of us That fills us with happiness and joy to make us whole and help us understand life as an expression of love for all human beings.
For no religion can be better Than any other religion For no truth can be truer Than any other truth For no nation can be bigger Than the earth itself.
Help us all go beyond our small limits & realize that we are one That we are all from the earth. That we are all earth people before we are Indians, Koreans, or Americans.
God made the earth, we humans have to make it prosper by realizing that we are of the earth & not of any nation, race, or religion.
By knowing that we are truly one in our spiritual heritage- Let us now apologize to all humanity for the hurt that religions have caused so that we can heal the hurt, Let us now promise to one another to go beyond egotism & competition, to come together as one in God.
I offer this prayer of peace to you the almighty to help us find you within all of us so that we may stand proudly one day before you as one humanity.
I offer this prayer of peace with all my fellow earth people for a lasting peace on earth.

Love, peace and deepest blessings to you,

Rev. Pam
6/15/16