Creating Access and Inclusion in Worship

RITUAL BLESSING

BLESSING FOR THE END OF THE CEREMONY

Ask the assembly to please be seated.
Loving God, for charity’s sake, you instilled in each of us a need for others. Help us do your good works by sharing our gifts with others and allowing others to share their gifts with us. Welcome us all at your banquet table as we welcome one another today in the spirit of awareness and inclusion.

Extend your hand over the people:
Let us call upon God to make holy our weaknesses so that they may bring us closer to our neighbors and our divine master. May each of us learn that our greatness lies in our humility. May we find the wisdom to accept others as they are and the courage to become the person God intended us to be. May our open hearts and minds bring us everlasting peace.

Continue extending your hand over the people:
Let us call upon God to make holy our strengths so that they may be used to foster God’s plan. May each of us learn that our salvation lies in our ability to receive the most vulnerable among us. May we find joy in surrendering our lives to God and loving our neighbors as ourselves. May our open hearts and minds bring us everlasting peace. Heavenly Creator, your son showed us that faith sustains us at all times. With every cross we bear, may Jesus’ example free us from anxiety, and with every blessing we receive, may we look to Jesus to teach us to be servants of all. We ask this in your name with humble and grateful hearts for the promise of inclusion in your everlasting embrace.

Response: Amen

Above Materials Developed By: Prepare the Word: Homilies from the heart that hit home, TrueQuest Communications Chicago, IL, www.PrepareTheWord.com