When visiting churches, I often explore rooms and tables and walls to see how other people connect and communicate. The nature of Sunday mornings prevents us from sharing the worship hour, but we can share ideas. Here are two discoveries that touched me recently.

I found this prayer on the wall of the dining room at Bower Hill Community Church in Mt. Lebanon and loved the way it connected the components of creation, and responsibility for them.:

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“Life within us, Love between us, joining us as one ,

“with soil and air, and living things, with water and with sun,

“Make us hopeful,

“Make us faithful,

“Make us know our worth,

“Helping others in their need,

“And caring for your earth.”

The prayer did not carry a title or attribution, and I could not find anything about it with an Internet search. It was posted on a bulletin board with thumbtacks. I love the idea of posting prayer in common spaces.

I found this prayer in a January bulletin from the First Presbyterian Church of Murrysville. It was written by Howard Thurman (1928-1981), an author and Civil Rights Leader who is regarded as a significant influence on Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Work of Christmas

“When the song of the angels is stilled …

“When the star in the sky is gone …

“When the kings and the princes are home, when the shepherds are back with their flocks …

“The work of Christmas begins

“To find the lost, to heal the broken, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations; To bring peace among the people, to make music in the heart.”:

Wonderful imagery, launching with “the song of angels” and landing with “music in the heart.” In between, the author gathers angels, kings and princes, shepherds and their flocks, the lost and the broken, into one circle. That’s the work of Christmas.