Holy Conversations are an intimate way to come together in small circles to have dialogue between other participants with common faith and values but who had different experiences, different preferences and different needs as it pertains to their Christian journey. I was skeptical this would be another diocesan program, but I was curious to hear what would be discussed so I signed up for an in person circle. It was an amazing experience.  The conversations allowed all participants to...

May, today, there be peace within you.May you trust God, that you are exactly where you are meant to be.May you not forget the infinite possibilities,that are born of faith.May you use those gifts that you have received,and pass on the love that has been given to you.May you be content knowing that you are a child of God.Let this presence settle into your bones,and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance,and to bask in the sun.It is there for each and every one of you. Image by Free-Photos...

Most high, glorious God,enlighten the darkness of my heart;give me, Lord,       a correct faith,         a certain hope,           a perfect charity,             sense and knowledge,so that I may carry out Your holy and true command.

O God, we thank you for the lives of great saints and prophets in the past, who have revealed to us that we can stand up amid the problems and difficulties and trials of life and not give in. We thank you for our foreparents, who've given us something in the midst of the darkness of exploitation and oppression to keep going. Grant that we will go on with the proper faith and the proper determination of will, so that we will be able to make a creative contribution to this world. In the name and...

Lord, make me a channel of your peace, thatwhere there is hatred, I may bring love;where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgivenesswhere there is discord, I may bring harmony;where there is error, I may bring truth;where there is doubt, I may bring faith;where there is despair, I may bring hope;where there are shadows, I may bring light;where there is sadness, I may bring joy.Lord, grant that I may seek ratherto comfort than to be comforted;to understand than to be understood;to...

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right...

As you hovered over the darkness that covered the earth at the beginning of time, may your Spirit move among us in the silence of this day, preparing us for new life. Amen. Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Eternal God, thank you for the Holy Spirit who leads us in the truth. Thank you for the gifts you have so freely first given us. Help us to share your love and your promises in word and deed with all those we meet. Amen. Beth Walch, Associate Pastor, Lord of Life Lutheran Church, Bismarck, North Dakota

O Great Love, thank you for living and loving in us and through us. May all that we do flow from our deep connection with you and all beings. Help us become a community that vulnerably shares each other’s burdens and the weight of glory. Listen to our hearts’ longings for the healing of our world. [Please add your own intentions.] . . . Knowing you are hearing us better than we are speaking, we offer these prayers in all the holy names of God, amen.Fr. Richard Rohr  Image by John Hain from...

May God make us brave. May God root us in our own and others’ absolute belovedness. May God grant us a vision for beloved community and lead us with care and boldness on the sacred path toward that dream. Amen. -the Rev. Canon Stephanie Spellers, Canon to the Presiding Bishop for Evangelism, Reconciliation, and Creation Care

Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart [especially the hearts of the people of this land], that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Book of Common Prayer, page 823 Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Dear Jesus, help me to spread Thy fragrance everywhere I go. Flood my soul with Thy spirit and love. Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly that all my life may only be a radiance of Thine. Shine through me and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with may feel Thy presence in my soul. Let them look up and see no longer me but only Jesus. Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as you shine, so to shine as to be a light to others. Amen. Mother Teresa’s Daily Prayer