Let us pray:

O Lord who said “Let there be light,”
we have reason still to fear the dark,
the dark of senseless death,
of murder, terror, fear, and strife,
testing faith in a future warm and bright.

This day, 18 July,
almost 250 years ago,
the Gazette in Boston published a patriotic hymn,
“The Liberty Song”:

Join hand in hand,
brave Americans all;
By uniting, we stand;
by dividing, we fall.

I was in a Beirut foxhole,
1983,
religious war,
but U.S. foxholes were unique:
interfaith.
Side by side,
some sought You
through different religious faith traditions;
others––not religious––
found faith and common cause in freedom’s call,
in freedom’s holy light.

Help us, we pray,
learn the truth I learned that day
that if more foxholes,
if more people made room for others’ faiths,
we would need far fewer foxholes
and have more cause for faith.

So give us strength to pray:
Join hand in hand,
brave Americans all.
By uniting, we stand;
by dividing, we fall.

Amen.