There is One Life, One Presence, One Spirit, One Source of all that is.
This Presence is Truth.
This Presence is Love.
This Presence is Justice.
This Presence is the sacred ground beneath every person, every people, every nation, every generation, and every longing for freedom.
Today, we turn toward this Presence on behalf of our nation.
We do not come to flatter America.
We do not come to condemn America.
We come to tell the truth in the presence of Love.
We give thanks for every noble promise that has been spoken in this land: liberty, equality, dignity, democracy, conscience, freedom, and the sacred worth of every human being.
We give thanks for every person who has labored to make those promises real — the prophets, organizers, teachers, elders, ancestors, truth-tellers, healers, artists, resisters, reformers, and ordinary people whose courage moved this nation closer to its own ideals.
And we also make room for grief.
We remember the lands taken.
We remember the treaties broken.
We remember the bodies enslaved.
We remember the labor exploited.
We remember the votes suppressed.
We remember the families separated.
We remember the communities displaced.
We remember the stories silenced.
We remember the people told to wait for freedom, to wait for justice, to wait for recognition, to wait for repair.
We remember, not to remain in sorrow, but to become honest enough for healing.
Spirit of Truth, awaken the conscience of this nation.
Where we have postponed justice, call us to repair.
Where we have hidden behind innocence, call us to responsibility.
Where we have mistaken comfort for peace, call us to courage.
Where we have confused unity with silence, call us to right relationship.
Where we have spoken noble words without embodying them, call us into integrity.
May America become mature enough to tell the truth about itself.
May we become brave enough to face what has been done, wise enough to understand what remains unfinished, and loving enough to choose a different future.
May our patriotism grow deeper than performance.
May our love of country become strong enough for accountability.
May our celebrations include remembrance.
May our freedom include responsibility.
May our democracy include everyone.
May our spirituality refuse to look away from suffering.
May our laws protect the vulnerable.
May our economy honor human dignity.
May our institutions serve the common good.
May our communities become places of belonging, repair, and shared courage.
We pray for leaders with moral imagination.
We pray for citizens with awakened conscience.
We pray for teachers who tell the truth.
We pray for communities willing to listen.
We pray for the healing of old wounds and the transformation of old systems.
We pray for those who still carry the cost of promises broken before they were born.
We pray for those who are afraid of change.
We pray for those whose hearts have grown numb.
We pray for those who are weary from the work of justice.
We pray for those who are just beginning to see.
Infinite Spirit, let this nation be guided by something deeper than fear, greed, domination, or denial.
Let us be guided by Truth.
Let us be guided by Love.
Let us be guided by Justice.
Let us be guided by the sacred recognition that no one is free while others are disposable, no one is secure while others are excluded, and no nation is whole while it asks the wounded to wait.
We affirm that a new possibility is even now emerging.
A more honest nation is possible.
A more compassionate nation is possible.
A more just nation is possible.
A more spiritually awake nation is possible.
Not someday.
Not after every condition is perfect.
Not after truth becomes convenient.
But now — through us, as us, among us.
May the soul of this nation stop looking away.
May the conscience of this nation be restored.
May the promise of this nation be reborn through truth, humility, courage, and repair.
And may we, the people, become willing instruments of that rebirth.
We give thanks for the Spirit that is greater than our fear.
We give thanks for the Love that is stronger than our division.
We give thanks for the Truth that cannot be postponed forever.
We give thanks for the courage awakening now.
And with open hearts, clear minds, and willing hands, we say yes to the unfinished work of freedom.
And so it is.
Amen.
Rev. Dr. David Alexander D.D., is a public theologian and spiritual writer exploring the intersection of spirituality, justice, and moral imagination in public life. Bringing 20 plus years of pulpit ministry with Centers for Spiritual Living, into everyday life and the call for a better world. He is the author of Freedom from Discord: The Promise of New Thought Liberation Theology and the visionary behind Recovery from the Lie of Whiteness. David also writes the monthly column Philosophy in Action for Science of Mind magazine. Visit www.revdavidalexander.com to learn more.
This is my full time work and primary source of income. Thank you for sharing your good with me. Together, we can demonstrate that abundance is the nature of reality.
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