Prayer 33
Worship
Prayers for the Age of Technology
Object:
Dear God Of Gods:
People from earliest times have sensed your existence and sought to interpret the evidence of your presence. Though their interpretations have varied greatly, each has been held with sincerity and reverence, though sometimes too with awe and fear. The resulting systems of religion have provided coherence and meaning to the societies in which they developed, giving evidence of your bountiful grace.
Have you not, in this universal process, been revealing yourself to all people everywhere, working with them to develop insight and understanding? Are you not pleased to note the earnestness with which all social units express their religious concerns, even though you may be seeking to improve the level of their insight?
And are you not also concerned, as we are being forced to be, that this universal religious earnestness tends toward idolatry of imperfect understandings? Does not the dogmatism and intolerance of the various religions displease you? Are you fully honored in such attitudes, no matter how sincerely they are expressed?
Dear God, above all our understandings of you, teach us tolerance of one another and appreciation of one another's efforts to be rightly related to you. Deliver us from the prejudice, hatred, and conflicts that are devastating the world of our time in the name of religion. Help us to understand one another and grow in the grace of humility and true ecumenicity.
In the name of the One you sent to show your love for everyone, Amen.
People from earliest times have sensed your existence and sought to interpret the evidence of your presence. Though their interpretations have varied greatly, each has been held with sincerity and reverence, though sometimes too with awe and fear. The resulting systems of religion have provided coherence and meaning to the societies in which they developed, giving evidence of your bountiful grace.
Have you not, in this universal process, been revealing yourself to all people everywhere, working with them to develop insight and understanding? Are you not pleased to note the earnestness with which all social units express their religious concerns, even though you may be seeking to improve the level of their insight?
And are you not also concerned, as we are being forced to be, that this universal religious earnestness tends toward idolatry of imperfect understandings? Does not the dogmatism and intolerance of the various religions displease you? Are you fully honored in such attitudes, no matter how sincerely they are expressed?
Dear God, above all our understandings of you, teach us tolerance of one another and appreciation of one another's efforts to be rightly related to you. Deliver us from the prejudice, hatred, and conflicts that are devastating the world of our time in the name of religion. Help us to understand one another and grow in the grace of humility and true ecumenicity.
In the name of the One you sent to show your love for everyone, Amen.
