Posts Tagged ‘imam’

 

Faith Reunion

Posted on: March 8th, 2017 by Alden

This prayer is for use at Jewish/Muslim interfaith gatherings. I wrote it about an hour ago in response to a tweet from Rabbi Rachel Barenblat asking for a prayer for a Muslim/Jewish student interfaith gathering. She needed it right away. Rav Danya Ruttenberg tweeted to Rachel and added me: “Why wouldn’t you just write one? You’re so good at that.” After a few back and forth tweets, I began to write. 33 minutes later, I finished this. Rachel is sharing it with the student committee later today.

Faith Reunion
Children of Abraham,
Daughters and sons of Ishmael and Isaac,
We are family,
Cousins and kin,
Separated only by time and history.

Let this moment be a celebration.
Let this moment be a holy convocation.
Let this be a moment of blessed reunion.

Some of us proclaim: Allāhu akbar (الله أكبر).
Some of us proclaim: Adonai, Hu Ha’Elohim (יי הוא האלוהים).
All of us yearn for holiness and light.
Each of us prays for kindness and grace.
Together we will build a world of justice and peace.

One G-d,
Voice of Creation,
Whisper of Eternity,
Source and Shelter,
Let our voices resound in the heartbeat of our peoples.
Let our hopes resound in the pulse of our longings.
Bless those who are here.
Bless those who stayed away.
Bless the doubter and the cynic.
Bless the hopeful and the optimist,
That one day
All peoples embrace each other,
With Your love.

© 2017 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

Postscript: This piece borrows a few lines from my prayer “For Peace in the Middle East.”

Please check out my Meet the Author video and This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day. For reprint permissions and usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” To receive my latest prayers via email, please subscribe (on the home page). You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter.

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Prayer after Abuse by Clergy

Posted on: June 14th, 2015 by Alden

Clergy Abuse Healing GardenADDENDUM: 18 Feb 2022 – First written in 2015 as a result of the sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church, with sadness I’ve slightly modified the prayer in the wake of the ethics report just released by the Union for Reform Judaism on sexual harassment, abuse, and misconduct in URJ institutions, offered as a step toward tikkun, repair, and refuah, healing. May the work continue.

[Original Introduction] This is a difficult prayer addressing the abuse of power by clergy that — once hidden and disregarded — has become painfully obvious. Such revelations may offer a first needed step to healing. The prayer is written to be flexible, employing optional lines [in brackets] with which individuals may tailor the prayer.

Prayer after Abuse by Clergy
You had no right.
You had no right.
You abused your power.
You abused my trust
You abused our time together, [with manipulation] [and with force].
You abused G-d’s word.
You abused my hopes,
My heart,
My joy, my body, my self.
[I loved you. Damn, I loved you.]

[G-d of Old,
How could you let this happen?
How can this exist in Your world?
How can this happen in Your house?
How could this be perpetrated in Your name?
Damn, I loved You, too.]

In the shadow of this grief,
This yearning and despair,
I turn to You,
Ancient One,
To show me the path
To wholeness and consolation.
Teach me to trust,
To love [again] with fullness of heart.
Teach me willingness to surrender to awe and beauty.
Teach me to treat myself with patience and kindness.
Bless me that I may live fully, with zest and zeal.

G-d of compassion,
Heal all who have suffered abuse by clergy.
Bring us from darkness to light.
Bring justice to those who commit these crimes.
Heal the holy congregations who pray in Your name.
Make us all, now and forever, whole again.

© 2015 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

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