A prayer before a meeting
Before we become involved in the routines of our work, we pause to seek inside for strength and wisdom.
Though we are each experienced in the ways of the world, we all of us know too little of the ways of the spirit.
Our community calls us, by appointing us to office, to give all of our worldly knowledge in this meeting; the spirit that moves between us calls us, by a secret whispering in our hearts, to give all that we can of love.
May we find in ourselves the ability to forgive and forget the failures and failings of the past, so that we may be set free from them.
May we be always more ready to see the good and hopeful in any person and any matter than we are to see the bad and the despairing.
May we remember that when we set standards for what we expect of others, we should expect more from our selves.
In our differences may we be kind, in our agreements may we be humble, that those who learn of our work may see the fruits of the spirit working among us.
Amen
Jeffrey Bowes - 2003