“rain for my roots and room to grow. . .”
This week, posts will focus on prayer and its use in Unitarian Universalist churches that do not proclaim a universal belief in a higher power.
And this is just the question raised by today’s material, from the Rev. Tom McCready, who serves Hull Unitarian Church in Great Britain. Unitarian churches in Great Britain are members of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches rather than the Unitarian Universalist Association, but proclaim a philosophy of religion that would be right at home in our American congregations:
“WE BELIEVE THAT:
- everyone has the right to seek truth and meaning for themselves.
- the fundamental tools for doing this are your own life experience, your reflection upon it, your intuitive understanding and the promptings of your own conscience.
- the best setting for this is a community that welcomes you for who you are, complete with your beliefs, doubts and questions.”
So with that in mind, here is Rev. McCready’s take on the question, “Who are you praying to?” in a format suitable for a responsive prayer.
Who do you pray to if you believe in prayer, but do not believe in God?
by Rev. Tom McCready
And who, or what do you pray to, if you believe that the sacred depth that binds us together and holds us forever cannot be separated from the reality of ourselves, in order to be prayed to?
Where do you aim your prayers if you truly believe that the beauty and grace and glorious frailty of the human spirit is all the God we need?
If there is a God who listens, then he or she is listening in the people gathered here. And if the great creator spirit who was before the world began is present here among us, it is in the hearts and in the hopes of the people gathered here that that spirit is within reach. Most real, most near, and most fully with us.
Let us pray together;Creator spirit, spirit of love and renewal from which we all spring and in which we all share, I send my prayer to you, I share my deepest fears and dreams with you; grant me, I humbly ask, that which I most need: Not pride nor glory nor worldly success; But rain for my roots and room to grow.
We send our prayer to you, we share our deepest fears and dreams
with you; grant us, we humbly ask, that which we most need:
Not pride nor glory nor worldly success;
But rain for our roots and room to grow.Hear me, spirit of love and unity
And grant me, I ask, that which I need most:
Rain for my roots and room to grow
And a place to belong
And friends to forgive me when I go wrongWe send our prayer to you, we share our deepest fears and dreams
with you; grant us, we humbly ask, that which we most need
Not pride nor glory nor worldly success;
But rain for our roots and room to grow.
And a place to belong, and friends to forgive us when we go wrong.
Source: “Who do you pray to if you believe in prayer, but do not believe in God?” by Rev. Tom McCready, serving Hull Unitarian Church in Great Britain.
Tags: British Unitarianism, God, prayer, roots, Tom McCready
