In light of the hate-fueled violence in both Pittsburgh and Kentucky this past weekend, the Campus Ministry offers:
- A prayer for peace and understanding in the face of hatred
- Campus and online resources to support opportunities for peace and dialogue
- Action steps to take to embrace difference
A Prayer for Peace
Source of all life, we come together in this time of great sadness.
Hear your people as we lift up our hearts in bewilderment and anger.
As a community, we join our prayers with others throughout our country and our world for love and peace to overcome hate.
We are deeply disturbed by acts of bigotry and racism.
We mourn the lives lost this weekend in Pittsburgh and Kentucky.
Please comfort and console the family and friends of those lost.
We know prejudice and hatred, just like love and understanding, are seeds that are planted, nourished and harvested.
Holy Wisdom, guide us as we struggle for justice.
Sustain us in our efforts to break down walls of oppression within ourselves, our relationships, and our world.
Give us grace and strength to work for equality to bring about peace.
Renew us as we grasp one another’s hand to mend divisions and end oppressive systems.
Heal us as we restore these broken relationships to wholeness.
May we reach across cultural, ethnic and religious differences to affirm one another and deepen our common humanity, purpose and partnership.
We find comfort and strength in knowing that while it is not our responsibility to finish the work, we are also not free to refrain from it. Amen.
Campus Resources and Opportunities for Prayer, Reflection and Peace
- The Interfaith Prayer Room (CTR 221)
- Dandelion Stories: Sharing the Stories that Shape Us
Mondays through Nov. 19, 2 to 3 p.m. (CTR 270) - Mindfulness Meditation
Thursdays 11 to 11:30 a.m. (CTR 270)
Online Interfaith Resources
- Texts on the Shared Value of Hospitality — a workshop guide
- Identity: Moving Through the World in Challenging Times — from the Common Knowledge podcast
- Intersections: Race, Religion, and the Conversation after Charleston — from the Common Knowledge podcast
- Interfaith Cooperation in Judaism — from the Common Knowledge podcast
- The Case for Pluralism in a Divided Democracy — from the Common Knowledge podcast
- Hillel International’s list of vigils and remembrances for Pittsburgh happening on campuses across the U.S.
- Facing History and Ourselves offers excellent resources related to anti-Semitism, racism, and religious intolerance
- The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has published resources to help educators and parents discuss the Pittsburgh attack
- Teaching Tolerance provides educators with powerful classroom resources focusing on religious and other forms of diversity in the U.S.
Small and mighty ways to embrace action, understanding and dialogue
- Take the steps to see the other side of the story, conversation, point of view particularly when it impacts someone who is marginalized.
- Educate others and yourself about the inspiring aspects of different faiths and worldviews.
- Talk with someone new, unlike yourself and find shared values and common concerns as a basis for understanding.
- Build and strengthen relationships across the kinds of lines that others refuse to cross through dialogue, service, and, sometimes, by sharing in others’ grief or fear.
- Bring peace, patience and silence where there is violence, anger and noise. Practice wherever you are, in all places — in line at the market, at the gym, in the parking lot, on the Northway.
Published: Wed, 31 Oct 2018 12:16:24 +0000 by m.thivierge