During this time,
We pause from our usual activities, our preoccupations, our busyness,
to reflect on the meaning of our lives.
We step back from our work, our chores, our distractions,
to rest for a moment, to be held in sacred space and time,
to open our minds and our hearts to deeper insights about life.
As alone and independent as we may sometimes feel,
We are part of an Interdependent Web of all Existence.
Our lives are sustained by many gifts beyond ourselves,
just as our lives touch others in ways both known and unknown to us.
We pray for Healing for our loved ones, strangers, and ourselves
that all may move toward greater Wholeness.
We pray for the Energy to do the hard things we know we are called to do.
We pray in this Advent season, to wait with an expectant heart
for more Light and Love to break through.
May we remember the true spirit of the season comes not
through sales or busyness
but through quiet moments when Mystery and Beauty enter our hearts.
May we invite a greater degree of Joy into our days
Not through over-eating or over-drinking or over-spending
But through Gatherings where we take time to truly share with one another.
And let us be Grateful, every moment of our lives,
For all the Blessings that sustain us,
and for the opportunity to be a Blessing to one another.

~Rev. Amy Freedman