“Continue to be who and how you are,

to astonish a mean world with your acts of kindness.

Continue to allow humor to lighten

the burden of your tender heart.”

Maya Angelou

Let us pray that in our world of separation and misunderstanding, where many live without hope, and in a time when we so easily dismiss our common interests while so sharply accentuating our differences, that we may stand apart as those unafraid to astonish.  May we distinguish our efforts by our compassion.  May we cross to the side of the road between Jericho and Jerusalem to aid the forgotten, to offer hope to the suffering, and to uncover and liberate the light that guides our work.  Amen.