It is the seeming contradiction that we must be fully committed, but we must also be aware at the same time that we might possibly be wrong . . . to believe fully and at the same moment to have doubts is not at all a contradiction: it presupposes a greater respect for truth, an awareness that truth always goes beyond anything that can be said or done at any given moment.
The Courage to Create, Rollo May, pp 21-22
from the 23 July 2006 bulletin at Kirkland Congregational Church
And a prayer for the Middle East at a time of war. It's written in the style of the Kyrie Eleison, a call and response prayer. One voice/many voices
You did not make us, O God, to die in bomb craters or to huddle through the night in basement shelters. You made us to play under olive trees and cedars and to sleep soundly with animal toys and gentle lovers.
Lord, have mercy.
You did not make us, O God, to hold hostages for barter or to rain deadly fury on innocent children and beautiful coastlands. You made us, O God, to welcome strangers and to cherish all creation.
Christ, have mercy.
You did not make us, O God, to oppress in the name of security or to kill in the name of justice. You made us, O God, to find security in justice and to risk life in the name of peace.
Lord, have mercy.
While leaders in Tel Aviv and Damascus, Tehran, Washington, and southern Lebanon pander to ancient fears, claim the mantle of righteous victim, and pursue their little empires in the name of gods of their own devising, the people of Lebanon and northern Israel are made captive to fear, true victims whose only advocate is You.
Save us from self-justifying histories and from moral equations that excuse our folly.
Search our hearts for our own complicity.
Spare us from pious prayers that neglect the prophet's angry cry.
Let us speak a resounding "no" to this warring madness and thus unmake our ways of death, so that we may be made more and more into your image.
Kyrie eleison
Kyrie eleison
Kyrie eleison.
from the Rev. John H. Thomas, 19 July 2006
General Minister and President, United Church of Christ.