we are called to be wise not just in knowledge, but in compassion and doing. Let us pray* for our community, for the world, and for all people in need, that we might be wise in body, mind, and soul. As I ask for your prayers, please pray silently.
- I ask your prayers for our community, and all who inhabit it, that it may be blessedly troll-free, and that we may respond to one another charitably. May our leaders be wise in every sense of the word, and may they teach us - and we teach one another - what we need for the cause of peace, justice and freedom. Pray for our community.
- I ask your prayers for the members of the Daily Kos and Street Prophets communities, especially those who are in need. Comfort those who are grieved; calm those who are angry; heal those who are sick; shelter those who are storm-tossed and homeless. Build us up to serve one another. Pray for our brothers and sisters.
- I ask your prayers for our local communities. May we be unafraid to turn off our computers and join them. May they be blessed with good water and good schools, good government, and full employment. May they have plenty of children. And last, may they always have someone to guide and support them as they seek to protect the least of their citizens. Pray for our communities.
- I ask your prayers for the people of Darfur, soon to be left alone and unprotected. Shield them from violence, starvation, and neglect. Strengthen the nations of the world to intervene more forcefully to prevent mass casualties. Pray for Darfur.
- I ask your prayers for the people of Iran, and for the leaders of their nation and our nation, that nuclear foolishness be averted. Let wiser heads prevail, O Lord. Pray for Iran.
- I ask your prayers for the people of Iraq and Afghanistan, who have suffered enough. Bring peace and security to their nations. Ease the factional fighting, root out brutality, the flow of arms, and the opium trade.
- I ask your prayers for the United States of America, beset with division, hostility, and heartlessness. We are now a nation of 300,000,000. May we still be united - and may we still care for one another. Pray for our nation.
- I ask your prayers for all nations wracked by warfare, poverty and oppression. May all people live freely, without fear, and without want. Pray for the nations.
- I ask your prayers for the leaders of our world. May they speak wisely and act more wisely yet. May they always govern with an eye to peace and to justice for your chosen people: the poor, the powerless, and the forgotten. Pray for our leaders.
- I ask your prayers for prisoners, for the victims of violence, for the ill - especially the mentally ill - for the lonely, for the abused, for the grieving, and for all those in any need. May we be unafraid to stand with them and give to them sacrificially. Pray for those in need, and for one another.
Evening prayer: Grant that we may lie down in peace, and raise us up to life renewed. Spread over us the shelter of your peace; guide us with your good counsel; and for your name's sake, be our help. Shield us from hatred and plague; keep us from war and famine and anguish; subdue our inclination to evil. O Guardian and Helper, gracious and merciful Ruler, give us refuge in the shadow of your wings. O guard our coming and our going, that now and always we have life and peace. Amen.