Our Prayer for Community

Our Prayer by Dr. Joel Ying and Janis McCall

I call upon the deep Celtic Wisdom of the ancestors connected to the land and the Cycle of the Year. I pray for a sense of community and belonging in the world.

I call upon the spirits of the season of Yule, Winter Solstice, the darkest day and the returning of the light. I give gratitude for the quiet time to gather my resources. Help me to contemplate the source of community and belonging.

I connect to wisdom of the Goddess Brigit in the season of Imbolc. Thank you for the new life sprouting forth, the first roots and shoots. I ask for the new ideas to come to new life and new action. May we find new ways to gather in community and find belonging.

I call upon the spirits of the season of Ostara, the Spring Equinox. I give thanks for the birth and flowering of a new life. May a new sense of community and belonging come forth.

I connect to the energies of Beltane. Thank you for this time of new alliances and the fiery energy of this season that helps us to grow and flourish. Help me to nurture the new connections and alliances that will bring community together. Help me to burn off the old ideas that no longer serve. Help me to release limiting beliefs.

I call upon the spirit of Litha, the Summer Solstice. I give gratitude for the peak of the time of sunlight, activity, and life. In this time of “summer madness,” help me to remain sane. Help me to work without “burning out.” Grant me the wisdom to find the rest and self-care that I need, while enjoying the sense of community.

I connect to the Harvest Festival of Lammas, the time of abundance. Thank you for this bountiful time to gather the harvest and share the fruits of labor and plenty. I pray for the abundance of this sense of community and belonging. Help me to sit with the joy of this season and take it into the rest of the year.

I call upon Mabon, the Autumn Equinox, the time of balance. Thank you for the wisdom to recognizing this balance point, so that I may make preparations for the dark winter time ahead. Help me in those times when the sense of community wanes, to store up what is needed to keep community and belonging alive.

I connect to the spirit of Samhain. The veil is thin, and I call up the spirits of my ancestors. I am grateful for the wisdom that they have passed down about the turning of the year and the cycles of life so that I may create this sense of community and belonging. Thank you to all that have taken me into their community, may I pass this rich gift on to future generations.

I rest back into the Cycle of the Year, the Turning of the Wheel, and my connection to all that is. I give gratitude for the wisdom that has come forward to bring a renewed sense of community and belonging into my world and the greater world.

May this or something greater come to pass.