Today is the annual Day of Silence, a day when we stop, in silence, to support our kids and protect them from bullying, abuse, name-calling and harrassment in schools. Not only our children in College, but all the way down into the grades. As long as these children have to face this abuse, we must take one day each year to show our support through our resounding acts of Silence.
Our quiet should not be taken as a sign of our acquiescence. Nor as a sign that we take one day a year to (sometimes literally) tape our mouths shut, and feel good at the end of the day for doing a “good thing.” It is our promise to those who need us – to the Dry Bones mentioned in Ezekiel 37:
I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life.
In silence, let us remember those who we are obliged, through love, to support.
For those who strive to protect us day after day. For those who choose to give themselves to you, we pray to you, O God.
– Lord, hear our prayer.For those who are in despair and looking for light in their lives, we pray to you, O God.
- Lord, hear our prayer.For those who have been turned away at the doors of the church, the mosque, the temple. For those removed from schools, colleges, and universities. For those forced to move from their neighborhoods or wrongly imprisoned or hospitalized. For those who must pray to you only in the secret places of their hearts, we pray to you, O God.
- Lord, hear our prayer.For those who are bullied by others who appear to be falsely-stronger, for those who are neglected or abused, beaten in mind, body, and spirit, we pray to you O God.
- Lord, hear our prayer.For our children: for our natural children, our adoptive families, and those placed in our care, that we may lead each life toward its own direction, protect and defend their rights as human beings, and work together as a community to help each child reach their full potential. We pray to you, O, God.
- Lord, hear our prayer.For our families: for those of our blood relation and those who migrate in and out of our extended families, that all will be welcome and nurtured in whatever way you see fit by our radical hospitality, reminding us always that we are not meant to live alone. We pray to you O God.
- Lord, hear our prayer.For families going through difficult times, for parents, and their children. We pray to you O God.
- Lord, hear our prayer
Almighty God to whom our needs are known before we ask, help us to seek only what accords with your will; and those good things which we dare not, or in our blindness cannot ask, grant us, for the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
- Amen
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