Words for Jon

We set the clocks back this morning, and I was pleased to rise early and take a walk around the Indiantown development where I am staying with Ferry Beacher Ann Nozawa. Walking the circumferential road around the development, listening to neighbors discuss how cold it had become last night (57 degrees Fahrenheit!), feeling the warm sun on my face and enjoying the leisurely pace of bicycles and golf carts, I felt a few words organize themselves in my heart which I typed up to send to June Urdy at UU Church of Flint, who will be serving as Worship Associate this morning while I am away in Florida.

Words for Pastoral Prayer:

Oh Thou, Whom no person at any time hath seen,
And yet Who, through all the ages and places of the human story hath revealed Yourself
in the love of each mother for her babies,
in the growing creativity of each child,
in the communities of affection that be build to accept, nurture and inspire our children;
Be with us now as we share with each other the grief
of the shocking death of Jon Owen,
a member of our church, a leader of our young adults,
a worship leader of our celebrations and our sorrows,
a brother of us all in the human family.
Make us now a community of solace, each for the other,
and all of us for Susan, his mother, and for his grandmother.
Be present to us in our shock and in our grieving,
in our happy remembering, in our recovery,
in our creation of caring community among and within.