Example prayers

By Graham, a Unitarian from Southampton (used with permission)

Spirit of Justice and Truth:

We gather here together as often as we can
To share our hopes and our prayers
And to support one another as we each seek
Our personal truth and spiritual fulfilment.

We look about us and see a world that is hindered
Rather than helped by its religious and belief systems.
We see internal strife that embitters and divides,
Where it should offer comfort and solace.

All too often, differences are magnified and lauded
Whilst those values common to all humanity are disregarded
In the interest of narrow interpretations and prejudice,
To the detriment of those who seek blessing and comfort.

Enable us to do what we can to combat irrational prejudice,
In our personal lives, in our congregational outreach,
In all and any spheres of activity in which we mingle with others
In fellowship, mutual respect and human dignity.

We cannot change the world in which we live,
But we can live in a world that we are helping to change.
Offering an example and living an intentional life
Guided by reason and open to convincement.

Let it be so.  Amen.

By Tony, a Unitarian from Bolton (used with permission)

Let us be quiet in our thoughts and let the spirit of holiness be in our hearts, touching us with peace, filling us with love for the world we live in.

When life is difficult, if we are ill or we are sad for another’s illness, if we are hurt or hurt for another’s unhappiness, if we are doubtful or concerned for another’s doubting, let us turn to that spirit of holiness and allow its strength to flow in, giving us confidence, giving us courage, giving us power to talk, power to act.

Let us use prayer to reach towards that spirit, to speak our feelings in the silence of our hearts, to declare the thoughts that worry us, to say the words we dare not speak out loud, to share the secrets we cannot share with anyone else.

Through the spirit of holiness let us know the presence of God, God who is the formless, nameless loving presence that is part of us and part of everything around us, that lifts us up and shows us the light ahead when all around is dark  God who is the vibrant energy of life and the strength of silence.

The prayer that Jesus of Nazareth is reputed to have taught – adapted by a Salisbury Unitarian from a translation by Hubert William Legget Jr (full source still being sought)

Divine, unconditioned Absolute,

present in, as, across and beyond all that is :

hallowed be the names and metaphors we know You by.
Holy is Your presence.
Universal are You, entire are You,
and as and where You are, there is being ;
which is love manifest.

We long to put meaning to that love ; that is to say, to our own lives and all creation.

You are.

You are the source of our nourishment this and every day, day by day by day;
the source of our release and re-direction when we have not met our obligations;
the source of our acceptance and graceful incorporation of others when we have allowed ourselves to become irritated or disappointed by them;
the source of strength and remembering during temptation;
the source that pulls wholeness and wholeheartedness out of alienation and idolatry.

You are the power that is love,

and that love the source of all being ; the source of our strength, our awakening, and our transformation.

Amen

A prayer of Benedict, universalised from the classic version

Gracious and holy Bestower,
through your power and invitation as Motive Spirit
and your love as the Redeemer Within,

Give us wisdom frameworks through which to get glimpses of you, diligence to seek you,
patience to wait for you,
senses that we feel wafts and hear whispers of you,
a heart to meditate on you,
and a life to proclaim you.

A Prayer of Confession, by Anna, Unitarian minister (used with permission)

God of love, you whose spirit calls us to a life of caring,

we come before you full of guilt and shame, in desperate need of your forgiveness.

You call us to love you -

with all our heart, that we might embrace the enormity of your compassion,

with all our soul, that we might behold the vision of your people reunited,

with all our strength, that we might work without ceasing for justice and reconciliation,

with all our mind, that we might marvel at the mystery of your creation.

You call us to love you – we hear your voice – and we turn away.

You call us to love you -

by healing the sick and the heart-sore,

by holding the lonely and abandoned,

by standing alongside the weak and downtrodden,

by speaking with those who have not been heard.

You call us to love you – we hear your voice – and we turn away.

For to love you is to love all your people -

those who frighten us by their difference,

those who threaten us in our complacency,

those who challenge us in our arrogance,

and those who hurt us as we witness their suffering.

We confess our pride, our insecurity, our self-absorption and irrational fear,

all those times when we have walked by on the other side.

Help us to see you in the faces of those around us -

and help us to find the courage to love you by loving your people.

For we long to be able to say with truth,

that we love you, our God, with all our heart, all our soul, all our strength and all our mind,

and that we love you, our Neighbour, as much as we do ourselves.

Amen.

A Unitarian version of the famous "Jesus prayer" used as a mantra ('Lord Jesus, have mercy on me, a sinner.')

May kindness release me; I keep missing the mark.