February 12, 2019 Prayer Before the Harris County Commissioners Court

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as prepared February 12, 2019 for the Harris County Commissioners Court

Commissioners, public servants, and members of the public, I bring you greetings from the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Greater Houston. Unitarian Universalism is a religious tradition that celebrates the possibility of goodness within each human heart, the transformative power of love, and the clarifying force of reason. We believe that we need not think alike to love alike. Our communities include atheists and believers in the divine. Our religious communion contains some of the oldest congregations in the United States. The First Parish of Plymouth, Massachusetts, the congregation founded by the Pilgrims, in 1606, and the First Church in Boston are both members. Here in Houston, First Unitarian Universalist is proud to have been the first congregation to desegregate. We continue to be a religious home for all wish to join us: welcoming the GLBT community, declaring that love has no borders, proclaiming that black lives matter, toiling to address climate change, and struggling for democracy.

I invite you into the spirit of prayer.

Close your eyes,
open your ears,
open your minds,
open your hearts.

Oh, spirit of love,
and of justice,
that sometimes lies
latent,
and sometimes stirs,
within the human heart,
be with us this morning,
and all the days of our lives.

Help the elected leaders of Harris County,
And all of the political leaders of this country,
and each of us,
remember that we are called to serve the least of these:
refugees fleeing violence,
migrant children,
undocumented immigrants,
homeless, gay, lesbian, and transgender youth,
drug addicts,
prostitutes,
and all those who have no voice in the courts of power.

Help us to remember
that we live in the richest country in the history of the world,
that love calls us to be generous,
that tyranny thrives on inequality,
and that democracy requires equality.

Stir in our hearts,
stir our imaginations,
and open within us the power
to make the dream that Martin Luther King, Jr.
called beloved community
a reality.

That we may do so
within this generation
I say Amen.

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