I would like to begin this New Year with a poem by Minnie Louise Haskins called “The Gate of the Year (God Knows).”

And I said to the [one] who stood at the gate of the year:

“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”

And [s]he replied:

“Go out into the [night] and place your hand in the Hand of God.

That shall be to you better than light, and safer than a known way.”

So heart, be still:

What need…our human life to know, if God has comprehension?

In all the dizzy strife of things both high and low,

God seems to hide God’s intention…

The stretch of years which wind ahead, so dim to our imperfect vision,

Are clear to God.

Our fears are premature; In [God], all time has full provision.

Then, rest

Until God moves to lift the veil from our impatient eyes…

God’s thought around [all] creatures [may surprise].

Gracious and merciful God, help our legislature and all of us to believe in this New Year that is given to us—untouched, full of things that have never been, full of work that has never been done, full of tasks, claims, and demands.

Let us know the blessings that accompany our attempts to accomplish those necessary, serious, and great things.—AMEN.

^{(Adapted from Letters of Rainer Maria Rilke, 1892-1910 by Rainer Maria Rilke.)}

I search for you, O God, always elusive and hidden.
I long to dwell in the heart of Mystery.

I search for my true self, more of who I already am,
Knowing there’s so much yet to be discovered.

I search for vision in the shadows of my soul,
Impatiently waiting the moment of light.

I search for a quiet heart amid life’s harried schedule;
My soul cries out, yearning for solitude.

I search for Home, always for Home,
Forgetting, of course, that I am already there.—AMEN.

^{(Adapted from "Seeking and Finding,” May I Have This Dance? by Joyce Rupp.)}

As we give thanks for the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we pray that we can learn the practice of the non-violence that he lived and died for:

Spirit of God, we long to mend the broken circle.

We long to heal the fractures in the world around us and within our own souls:

To transform those parts of ourselves and our world that block our making contact with our deepest reality, and with the deepest most sacred dimensions of all other beings.

Spirit of God, we long to see reality:

To contact our deepest yearning for a world pulsating with justice and truth,

To create a society where all sit down at the Great Banquet, where all persons eat until they are full.

Spirit of God, we long to discover anew the courage deep within us:

To see and to listen, to discover our true selves,

To take steps to stop the cycle of violence, in our homes, in our work-places, in our neighborhoods, in our country, and in our whole world.—AMEN.

The Lord is my pace-setter; I shall not rush,
God helps me stop and rest for quiet intervals.
He provides me with images of stillness,
Which restores my serenity.
God leads me in the way of efficiency through calmness of mind;
God’s guidance is peace.

Even though I have many things to accomplish today,
And crisis may pile upon crisis,
I will not fall apart, for God’s presence is here;
God’s timelessness will keep me in balance.

God prepares refreshment and renewal in the midst of my activities.
God anoints my mind with the oil of inspiration.
Surely harmony and effectiveness will be the fruit of my hours,
And I shall walk in the peace of the Lord this day.—AMEN.
^{(Adapted from Psalm 23 for Busy People.)}

Good and gracious God, we thank You for the abundant blessings You have bestowed upon us.  We ask You to help us to use the gifts and the talents You have given us to serve the people You have entrusted to our care.  As we go about our business today, in the midst of so many pressing issues, help us to focus on the common good.  Help us to be mindful of the needs of those on the margins of our society.  Bless our efforts and grant us peace. We ask this in Your Most Holy Name.—AMEN.

Let us center ourselves in God’s holy presence as I read this poem called “Shine” by Diane Smigielski-Schilling, in acknowledgement of your work for the common good:

For just this Moment, and the Next,
Do not believe that this world cannot feel the Incredible Gift that you have been given and Hold.
There is no comparison to You.
There will always be another ahead of and just behind you on the Path.
One is beckoning for you to follow in the wake of their Wisdom,
the other is clinging to you for Hope and Guidance.

Are you to be the Student or the Teacher?
You have been granted the pleasure of experiencing both,
As they are meant to be One.

What this world has led us to believe as strengths and weaknesses,
are the Tools that have been given to Carve out our Unique Purpose.

It is time, Dear [Senator, Staff Member, Guest], to allow the Art of your Life to be Seen and Heard

from every angle of the beautiful Sculpture you are Creating.
Consider with Love, that all who are receiving your Gift, are doing so

from the Breath of this Moment we are stepping Upon.

Loving God, we ask You to be with us in this moment as we seek to carve out our unique purpose with all its challenges and creativity.—AMEN.

As we remember the people, families, and communities whose lives were uprooted by Executive Order 9066, I’d like to share a gift I was given almost 5 decades ago. Please join me in a moment of quiet reflection:

In the late 1960’s, I volunteered to help every Wednesday at the Hamilton Senior Citizens Program in San Francisco. Back then this Senior Program was comprised entirely of our Issei, first generation Japanese and Japanese-Americans, mostly women.

During our afternoons together, I would try to ask them about the Camps. It was a subject our second generation, Nisei, never-ever talked about.

When my persistence wore them down, to my dismay, they talked lightly about the experience. “Oh there were baseball games and sumo; and we learned to knit and sew…”

I wanted them to share their suffering and resentment for the injustices they had endured. I wanted to become their advocate and become angry and indignant for them, because they would not.

One afternoon, when again I persisted with my questions, a wonderful grandmotherly woman, Mrs. Kiyo Hirano, pulled me aside and quietly said, “Sono Camp no hanashii wa mo yamenasa.” (“Stop talking about the Camp.”)  “Mochiron, Tsurakatta.” (“Of course it was hard.”)

Then she told me not to pick up pain and hardship that was not mine.

She said that the Camp was her hardship, and the anger stops with her.

She said that if she lived with hate, she would never have been able to live her life.

Then she warned me—if I pick up this pain and anger, it would poison my life. She used the word “poison.”

We, who are a part of the generations that have followed, have been given a wonderful gift; a gift from all those who endured the humiliation and injustice that was euphemistically referred to as “Camp.” From them we received the gift of No Anger.

On this Day of Remembrance, to those who have endured and sacrificed so much, please know that we, the generations that have followed, are forever grateful for this gift that has been too easily overlooked and taken for granted.

Namo Amida Butsu — Let us try to live with Kindness and Gratitude beyond words.

According to Václav Havel, “Hope is an orientation of the heart; it transcends the world that is immediately experienced, and is anchored somewhere beyond its horizons….”

O God in whom we hope, we ask You to bless our efforts to bring leadership, justice, and ongoing solutions to the challenges of our times.

Give us the strength to accomplish the seemingly impossible with limited time, energy, and resources.

Help us to be especially sensitive to the needs of those on the margins, those who are vulnerable, those who are close to despair.

May all that we do today engender hope in our communities, for as Harvey Milk once said:  “the important thing is not that we can live on hope alone, but that without it, life is not worth living.”

And so we continue to hope in Your providence.—Amen.

Let us consider the blessings of our humanness as we ponder Rumi’s poem, “The Guest House.”

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes

as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows
who violently sweep your house

empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
[They] may be clearing you out

for some new delight.

The [negative] thought, the shame, the malice.
meet them at the door laughing, and invite them in.

Be grateful for whatever comes
because each has been sent

as a guide from beyond. 

Loving God, help us to be alert for those unexpected visitors of negativity; may their appearance not cause us to lose our composure and our gracious desire to bring peace and love to our world.—AMEN.

Let us continue to praise the greatness and gentleness of our God in the words of the Book of Wisdom (Wisdom 11: 21-12: 1, Jerusalem Bible):

Yahweh, our loving Creator,

Your great strength is always at Your call;

Who can withstand the might of Your arm?

In Your sight the whole world is like a grain of dust that tips the scales,

Like a drop of morning dew falling on the ground.

Yet You are merciful to all because You can do all things

And overlook our weaknesses so that we can repent.

Yes, You love all that exists; You hold nothing of what You have made in abhorrence,

For had You hated anything You would not have formed it,

And how, had You not willed it, could a thing persist?

How be conserved if not called forth by You?

You love all things because all things are Yours, Lord, lover of life.

We thank You, You whose imperishable spirit is in all.—AMEN.

Precious, Merciful, and Abundant God, we come before You this morning with thanksgiving in our hearts for this glorious day; as well as for the health of body, mind, and spirit that each of us enjoys, to the degree that we were able to rise up this morning and come here today to serve Your purposes.

We are grateful God also for yesterday, a day we know as International Women’s Day—a day to honor women in every culture, in every corner of Your Creation, as well as right here at home in California.

And I ask Your blessing, God, on each of these lawmakers, chosen by the people of their diverse communities to represent them here. As they do this important work, may You infuse them, God, with Your generous Spirit. Inspired by words used by our Governor recently, “The truth is marching on!” may this Senate know the truth that ours is a fine state, and that every Californian—men and women; old and young; black, white, and brown; gay and straight; immigrant and indigenous—that every Californian has something to contribute to the greater good.

And may this truth live on in the words and deeds of each of us, this day and always.—Amen.

The world traditions teach us that being present as you are present here is what leads us to wisdom, compassion, and understanding. I invite you to take presence a step deeper.

If you feel so called you may shut your eyes and simply feel yourself standing here in the room.

Finding where in your body you can experience your breath, the breath of life, flowing in and out; perhaps in the rising and falling of the belly, the expanding and contracting of the chest, or the whisper at the tip of the nose. For once you can let your belly be soft, nobody is looking, relax your shoulders, and simply notice the breath flowing in and out. If you wish you might consider that your out breath is none other than God’s in breath, and your in breath is but God’s out breath.  

God of the universe, we thank You for Your many good gifts -

For the beauty of Creation and its rich and varied life;

For clean water and fresh air, for food and shelter, animals and plants.

Forgive us for the times we have taken Earth's resources for granted

And wasted what You have given us.

Transform our hearts and minds so that we can learn to care and share,

To touch our earth with gentleness and with love, respecting all living things.

We pray for all those who suffer as a result of our waste, greed and indifference.

Help us to respect the rights of all people and all species, 

And help us to willingly share your gifts today and always.–AMEN.

(Fiona Murdoch, Eco-Congregation Ireland)

God of all peoples and nations:

Show us the suffering of the most miserable;
So we will know our people’s plight.
Free us to pray for others;
For You are present in every person.
Help us to take responsibility for our own lives;
So that we can be free at last.
Grant us courage to serve others;
For in service there is true life.
Bring forth song and celebration;
So that Your Spirit will be alive among us.
Let Your Spirit flourish and grow;
So we will never tire of the struggle.
Let us remember those who have died for justice;
For they have given us life.
Help us love even those who hate us;
So we can change the world.—AMEN.

(Prayer in honor of Cesar Chavez by Rafael Jesus Gonzalez)

If you can live without caffeine;

If you can be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains;

If you can resist complaining;

If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time;

If you can take criticism and blame without resentment;

If you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend;

If you can honestly say that deep in your heart you have no prejudice against creed, color, gender preference, or politics;

Then, you have almost reached the same level of spiritual development as your dog!

Dear God, we ask you for the grace to treat others with the same unconditional love with which our dog treats us, and we thank you for your unconditional love for us at all times.—AMEN.

God is our refuge and strength,
    an ever-present help in trouble.

 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
    and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
    and the mountains quake with their surging.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
    the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fail;
    God will help her at break of day.
The Lord Almighty is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Come and see what the Lord has done.
The Lord  says, “Be still, and know that I am God.

Gracious and ever-loving God, give us Your love and Your grace this day, so that we may know Your presence in all the events of our lives.—AMEN. 

With the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
All praise is for the Lord.

Who never disappoints those who hope in Him, never refuses those who ask of Him, never deprives those who thank Him, and never abandons those who trust and commit themselves to Him. And those who take refuge in Him shall be at ease.

His help we request to fulfill the immense right of the people.

We ask that You enable us to be a community that implements and lives by our constitution.

We ask that You make us a community that is worthy of the names that we advocate when we say that we are caretakers and custodians of the people.

All those who are suffering from sickness please enable us to be the remedy.
All those who are suffering from poverty please enable us to enrich them.
All those who are suffering from Injustice please enable us to be their advocates.
All those suffering from neglect please enable us to be their caretakers.
All those who are in fear please allow us to be their hope.
All those who are broken please enable us to make them whole again.
All those who are hungry enable us to feed them.
All those who are homeless enable us to house them.
All those who are displaced enable us to reunite them with what was once separated from them.

And all those who do not feel loved, we ask You to fortify our hearts with the capacity to love them.\        Help and guide us to achieve this. Grant us sincerity and pure intention in doing this. And fill our hearts with love and compassion for the people we serve

Oh Lord You are peace and from You comes peace

Oh Lord You are peace and from You comes peace

Oh Lord You are peace and from You comes peace.—AMEN.

Hanto Yo

God of surprises, You call us from the narrowness of our traditions to new ways of being human,
from the captivities of our culture to creative witness for justice,
from the smallness of our horizons to the magnificence of Your vision.

Clear the way in us, Your people, that we might invite others to freedom and renewed faith.

God of surprises, You call us from preoccupation with our own histories and hurts
to daily tasks of peacemaking,
from privilege and protocol to partnership and pilgrimage,
from isolation and insularity to inclusive community.

Clear the way in us, Your people, that we might invite others to wholeness and integrity.

Holy, transforming Spirit, You call us from fear to faithfulness,

from clutter to clarity,
from a desire to control to deeper trust,

from the refusal to love to a readiness to risk.

Clear the way in us, Your people, that we might all know the beauty and power of spreading Your good news of love.

^{(Adapted from From One Race the Human Race: Racial Justice Sunday, by Gwyn Cashmore and Joan Puls.)}

Pay close attention to your mean thoughts.

That sourness may be a blessing, as an overcast day brings rain on the roses,

And relief to dry soil.

Don’t look so sourly on your sourness.

It may be that it’s carrying what you most deeply need and want.

What seems to be keeping you from joy may be what leads you to joy.

Don’t call it a dead branch; call it the live moist root.

Don’t always be waiting to see what’s behind it; that wait-and-see can poison your spirit.

Reach for it; hold your meanness to your chest as a healing root,

And be through with waiting.

Creator of All That Is, help us to know today that Your deepest desires are being accomplished in and through us.—AMEN.

[God of all creation,]

I am always looking for You.

You turn the corner

just as I get there,

so I sense You have been present….

You tantalize me

by leaving clues everywhere….

a certain lushness in the air;

beauty that simply stops me, as I see

French lilac on the verge of blossoming,

an old man offering his arm to an older woman,

as they cross a busy road.

How can I have a love affair with the unknown?

How can I persevere for another year,

another day, another minute,
when you never show Your face?....

Prayers are not always answered the way I desire;

life often confuses me.

My bad habits cling to me;

my body and my loved ones grow old;

You keep changing.

Yet, I cannot help it.

…So I keep looking,

and listening, and praying, and I believe

You do leave clues for me. Everywhere.—AMEN.

^{(“A Love Affair with the Unknown” by Jennifer "Jinks" Hoffman.)}

Today we will reflect on a few lines of Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself.”

…Why should I wish to see God better than this day?

I see something of God each hour of the twenty-four,

And each moment then.

In the faces of men and women I see God,

And in my own face in the glass.

I find letters from God dropt in the street,

And every one is signed by God’s name….

Gracious and loving God, help us to be awake and alert to the clues of your loving presence strewn all over our hearts.—AMEN.

Blessed be the house that offers the traveler a place of rest.

Blessed be the table that sets a banquet for the stranger to share.

Blessed be the heart that opens to welcome the one who cannot repay.

Blessed be the one who receives and the one who gives.

Blessed be the belonging we can sense when the heart is still.

Blessed be the space created by kindness in which we step into our potential.

Blessed be mercy in all of its facets for it invites us to unwrap its gifts

And sing with all creation a song of joy.—AMEN.

^{(Adapted from Anne McMillan, RSM in Boots, Cracked Pots, and a Place at the Table by Madeline Duckett, RSM.)}

Gracious and loving Creator, we pray for renewed hope in our ability to mend the brokenness of our world, because in the words of Denise Levertov:

… we have only begun to love the earth.

We have only begun to imagine the fullness of life.

How could we tire of hope? —so much is in bud.

How can desire fail? —we have only begun to imagine justice and mercy,

only begun to envision how it might be to live as siblings with beast and flower, not as oppressors.

Surely our river cannot already be hastening into the sea of nonbeing?

Surely it cannot drag in the silt all that is innocent?

Not yet, not yet— there is too much broken that must be mended,

too much hurt we have done to each other that cannot yet be forgiven.

We have only begun to know the power that is in us

if we would join our solitudes in the communion of struggle.

So much is unfolding that must complete its gesture,

so much is in bud.—AMEN.

^{(“Beginners” by Denise Levertov in Candles in Babylon.)}

O God, who weeps at fractured lives,

Inspire us to heal the hurting.

Help us to seal the cracks

Created by our complicity in failing to love.

May our words and actions speak love and not complacency.

May we choose love—

When faced with mindless hate,

Love—when faced with retaliation,

Love—when tempted by deception,

Love—when addressing the  issues of our time.

May we choose love—

When speaking with our neighbors,

Love—when lured by bad choices,

Love—when electing leaders.

May we choose love—

when facing racism, sexism, heterosexism, homophobia, transphobia.

In all the things we do, in all the words we say,

May we always choose love,

And demonstrate our love with action.—AMEN.

^{(Adapted from Ann Freeman Price and Ciona D. Rouse in Alive Now.)}

            Eternal God, our Father, thou whose Wisdom has created us! Your Eternity overarches our days and undergirds our lives!!!

            We thank You that today we stand at the gates of “new” understandings!

            Grant, oh God, that the political leaders and staff assigned to this chamber will serve with broad understanding and penetrating vision and unswerving devotion to lasting principles of freedom and justice for all who reside in the great state of California.

            These are they, who are made for that which is high and noble!

            These are they, whom You have fashioned for such a time as this!

            I pray Your divine protection for each legislator! Help these men and women to follow Your creative works in this world. Help them, oh Lord, to discover how best to use their particular gifting to cultivate “just” policies that lead to a flourishing society!! May all their differences be beneficial to advancements for the whole population and not just the few!!

            We thank You that Your ways are higher than ours, alone.  And, Your ways are made known with each new day!! May You always be glorified by our cities, our states, and our nation!!! For the kingdom’s sake.—AMEN

            Oh timeless, eternal God, help us to look to the past with gratitude, and to the future with hope.  Today we remember those who have gone before us here, who worked not for themselves alone but with a vision of building for the future a better world than they had known. Inspire in us a similar vision, that we, too, might labor for things beyond ourselves, that our lives may be dedicated to high purposes and the common good. Make us unafraid of hopes and dreams; release us from cynicism and despair. Teach us to be realistic about our limitations, but never to lose hope in our ability to transcend them.—AMEN.

            Eternal Creator, we thank You for a new day to serve You. We thank You for sacrifices each elected official has made to serve the great state of California and its people.

            We stand before You at this moment to focus our attention on You and the work before this house.  I ask for Your blessing over those You have selected and appointed to lead our great state.  You offer wisdom to any that ask for it, so today, we ask that Your wisdom would be upon each of these leaders.  As each matter is considered today may we be mindful of the individuals and families who will be impacted by each decision. 

            We also take a moment to acknowledge that tomorrow we will celebrate the freedom we enjoy in our beloved county and we thank You for that freedom.  We are well aware that freedom always comes with a price and we thank You for those, who have given their all for the freedom we enjoy.   Be with us now, we pray. —AMEN.

            We awaken in our time to a universe which is holy,

            to creation, which is not an event in the past, but a living event of the present. 

            We enter a new mode of human presence where we are not merely observers, but where each of us is a participant in this moment of evolution.

            And so we pray, Gracious, Gentle Spirit of Love, Your energy permeates the universe, igniting Earth with Your goodness, truth, and beauty. 

            Open our minds and hearts to an ever-deeper awareness of our interconnectedness with You, each other, and all creation.

            May we experience Your unique presence within the sacred web of creation.—AMEN.

Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst for the waters of life,
And having fallen [too much] in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity….

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars.

We ask You to push back the horizons of our hopes,
And to push us into the future in strength, courage, hope, and love.—AMEN.

 ^{(Attributed to  Sir Francis Drake.)}

          Loving God, as our legislature reconvenes to complete the work of this session,

            May their integrity of mind, heart, and will eclipse the challenges to their image brought

about by fear, greed, and entitlement.

            May the work they do help to repair fractured relationships, bringing all of us into right relationship with one another, with our suffering world, and with our wounded earth. 

            May they be known as repairers of the breach, and restorers of the streets in which to dwell. (Isaiah 58:9-12)

            And may each of their constituents also work to know what part of our world God has left for us to repair.

            We ask this in Your name.—AMEN.

In the flood that is this life
some waters will sweep your home away
and others stop at your doorstep.
There is no choosing, no deserving
in their rising or receding.
On any given day one of us is picnicking,
another swimming for our lives.
For all of us some day waters will rise,
and with them,
beside us in the water, a reaching out,
above the swirling flood, a reaching out.
So many reaching out.
This is what we have to stand on.
^{(Adapted from Pastor Steve Garnaas-Holmes)}
    God of all creation, You have told us through the prophet Isaiah (43:2,4) that when we pass through the waters, You will be with us, and that even fire will not consume us. Help us to continue reaching out to those in need and to accept with humility the hands that continually reach out to us with encouragement and love.—AMEN.  

                God, please grant me the strength to pray today, and help our leaders and decision makers with all the hard things that they have to do in these Chambers. And make sure that we have the strength to do the right thing.

             God of all peoples and nations, help us remember that we are in constant development.
            Let us enter lovingly into the merits of each person we meet.
            Let what calls us to action be motives of admiration…and reverential regard everywhere in our environment.
            In culture, may we promote Liberty;
            In politics, may we promote Equality;
            In economics, may we promote Service to Others;
            In family and community, may we promote Inclusivity and Love.—AMEN.

Loving Creator, Eternal Friend,

Grant us an ease to breathe deeply of this moment,

This light, this miracle of NOW.

Beneath the din and fury of great movements

And harsh news, and urgent crises,

Make us attentive still to good news,

To small occasions, and the grace of what is possible

For us to be, to do, to give, to receive—

That we may miss neither our neighbor’s gift

Nor our enemy’s need.

Precious God, grant us the eyes to see

With the one who saw signs of your kingdom

In salt and yeast, in pearls and seeds,

In travelers and tax collectors, in foreigners and fishermen,

That we may follow your call in justice and joy.—AMEN.

^{(Adapted from “I Need to Breathe” by Ted Loder.)}

We turn toward the light of loving-kindness to direct us.

We bow deeply to the Awakened One and to our spiritual ancestors.

Today we begin anew to purify and free our hearts.

With immeasurable compassion to help humankind, we resolve to live beautifully.

May our heart’s garden of awakening bloom with hundreds of flowers.

May mountains and rivers be our witness in this moment

As we bow our heads and request the Lord of Compassion to embrace us all.—AMEN

^{(By Thich Nhat Hanh.)}

As you bring closure to this legislative session, we remember Ecclesiastes Chapter 3:

                There is a time for everything,
                and a season for every activity under the heavens:

                a time to be born and a time to die,

                a time to tear down and a time to build,
                a time to weep and a time to laugh,
                a time to mourn and a time to dance,
                a time to search and a time to give up searching,
                a time to keep and a time to let go,
                a time to speak and a time to be silent.

                 The writer of Ecclesiastes concludes—there is nothing better for us than to be happy and to do good while we live.

                May you be blessed for the good you have worked to accomplish this session.  You will continue to be in my prayers with gratitude.

Do you want to do something to help the world situation?

Then look within.

As you change your consciousness to love, peace, harmony, and unity,

The consciousness of the whole world will change.

^{(Adapted from Eileen Caddy.)}

            God of all consciousness, you know the deepest desires of our hearts.  May we never tire of bringing our love and energies to creating a world where all will feel at home and secure. We ask this in your name.—AMEN.

            Holy Spirit, known by many names and beyond all names.

            We ask Your blessings on the people who have been called to lead in our state.

            We ask that love be their ground of being and action. Remind them that, everyone—all races, creeds, religions, sexual and gender orientations—is our neighbor, our sibling. Help them to remember to respect and protect the least of those among us— those who live on the margins, those who are alone, those who are forgotten.

            Grant them and us the wisdom and courage to know and do what is good and true. Grant them the integrity to know the truth and to speak out when it is time to speak out and listen, patiently and receptively, when it is time to listen. May they always be guided by the spirit of community, by the spirit of justice, and by the spirit of love.

            This we pray in the name of the divine spirit that holds and connects us all.—AMEN.

            Behold, I am doing something new; can you not see it? (Isaiah 43:19)

            God of all creation, teach us the joy of being.

            Encourage us to be present to the gifts that are ours and lead us to greater joy and gratitude. 

            Grant us the courage to be our true selves, to let go of being so concerned about what others think, or of how successful we are.

            Strengthen our inner freedom so that we may celebrate, enjoy, delight in, and embrace our life in all its mystery.

            Guide us to our inner child. Draw us to Your playground of creativity, God of life, so that we will live more fully.—AMEN.

^{(Adapted from The Cup of our Life by Joyce Rupp.)}

    God of the past, present, and future, You have told us through our scriptures that You have called us by name (Isaiah 43:1), You hold our tears in a flask (Psalm 56:8); that our lives are worth more than many sparrows (Matthew 10:29).
    Grant us the grace to value all persons for their presence, their gifts, their contributions to the ongoing evolution of our civilizations.
    Banish from our hearts fear, prejudice, arrogance, and all that would prevent us from appreciating the beauty of all You have created.
    We ask this in Your name.—AMEN.

Creator of the sun and stars, we call You by many names and come to You in humility and in excitement for the day ahead. We know that we live in a world of paralyzing polarization and disagreements that leave us confused, distracted, and disheartened.

Speak to us once again Your words of comfort and of challenge. Speak to this body so that it may be for the world a beacon of hope, justice, equality, and sound governance.

In this golden state may we seek the true north and central message of Your Being: that we are all in this together and bound together for the tasks that lie ahead. May we treat each other with intrinsic dignity, fairness, and respect.

Most of all, Holy One, may we seek a better tomorrow for our children and our children’s children. May we be so bold as to enact policy that engages the last and the least so that everyone may be brought to Your table of grace.

This we ask in the name of equity, light, and love.—AMEN.

God of mercy, may those deprived of freedom and dignity find consolation in the life of Josephine Bakhita. Transform and heal the hearts of those who inflict pain and anguish on others.  Give hope and resilience to all those working to eradicate this crime of slavery around the world and in California.—AMEN. 

Say not, “I have found the truth,” but rather, “I have found a truth.”
Say not, “I have found the path of the soul.”

Say rather, “I have met the soul walking upon my path.”
For the soul walks upon all paths.
The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed.
The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals.

(“The Prophet” by Kahlil Gibran.)

God of mystery and wonder, grant that our unfolding may bring joy and peace to those who encounter us on the path.  We ask this in Your name.—AMEN.

At the beginning of Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, she uses Langston Hughes’ poem “Harlem” as an epigraph:

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up

like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore—

And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over—

like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags

like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

God of Mercy and compassion, in the midst of broken and deferred dreams, we ask for the grace and courage to face the injustices of our time with strength and integrity for the sake of the common good and the future of our children.  We ask this in your name.—AMEN.

                Spirit of God, we long to mend the broken circle.

                We long to heal the fractures in the world around us and within our own souls: to transform those parts of ourselves and our world that block our making contact with our deepest reality, and with the deepest most sacred dimensions of all other beings.

              Spirit of God, we long to see reality: to contact our deepest yearning for a world pulsating with justice and truth, to create a society where all sit down at the Great Banquet, where all persons eat until they are full.

            Spirit of God, we long to discover anew the courage deep within us: to see and to listen, to discover our true selves, to take steps to stop the cycle of violence, in our homes, in our work-places, in our neighborhoods, in our country, and in our whole world.—AMEN.

On this International Women’s Day, Audre Lorde encourages us when she says:

“When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.”

Gracious and loving God, as we enter a new mode of human presence where women are not merely observers, but where each can be a participant in this moment of evolution, we are determined to be bold participants, rather than timid saints-in-waiting; we choose to exercise the authority of honesty, rather than to fearfully defer to power; we wish to influence others for justice, rather than impress them for gain; and, by Your grace, we will bring treasures of joy, friendship, and peace to our world when we all use our strength in the service of our vision.—AMEN.

_{(Adapted from Wrestling the Light by Ted Loder.)}

            A Vision
            If we will have the wisdom to survive,
            to stand like slow-growing trees on a ruined place, renewing, enriching it…
            then a long time after we are dead the lives our lives prepare will live
            here, their houses strongly placed upon the valley sides,

            fields and gardens rich in the windows.

            The river will run clear, as we never know it, and over it, birdsong like a canopy….
            Families will be singing in the fields.

            They will take nothing from the ground they will not return….

            The abundance of this place, the songs of its people and its birds,
            will be health and wisdom and indwelling light.

            This is no paradisal dream.
            Its hardship is its possibility.

_{(Adapted from The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry.)}

            Gracious God, We ask for the grace of perseverance to bring justice and peace to all our people. We ask this in your name.—AMEN.

              This afternoon we come with hearts deeply thankful for all the gifts we have. We are thankful to those who have helped Senator Atkins arrive at this historic moment: your sister Teni (Tina) and her family, your spouse Jennifer and in-laws Jack and Kate, and your mentor and friend, former Senator Christine Kehoe.

            We are thankful for our Governor and your colleagues in the Senate and the Assembly whose hearts are overflowing with pride and gladness today.

            As you assume your new responsibilities to lead our Senate as President Pro Tempore, may you be empowered to bear the responsibility of leadership with the wisdom and tenacity of our Biblical foremothers: Miriam, Judith, Devorah, Shifra and Puah, Mary, Pricilla and so many others who were written out of history just as today we write Toni Atkins into history.

            May your wisdom and compassion inspire you to stand in solidarity with the needy and the poor, defeat injustice, and unify our state.

            May you be guided to know and to do what is right, to challenge and defy anything, anything at all, that would diminish justice in our state, in our country and in the world.

            May we all view this remarkable moment as an invitation to move forward, driven by purpose and determination, the work of repairing a world still struggling to overcome injustice, hate, and intolerance.

            May all of our intentions be sincere, our labor selfless, and may our beautiful state continue to be a moral compass pointing us toward justice and inspiring others to follow.

            In my Jewish tradition we recite a particular blessing when something new and wonderful happens in our lives. We say: Praised are you, God of many names, for giving us life, for sustaining us, and for enabling us to reach this great and auspicious moment together.……Shehechianu, v’kiyamanu, v’ higianu lazman hazeh.—AMEN.

Holy One of Blessing, whose presence fills Creation, bless this hallowed chamber. Its gilded walls and pillars proclaim the cherished history of this assembled body. Just as each and every one of us is a body well assembled and imbued with the spirit of holiness, so too, this Senate body well assembled and imbued with the spirit of its maker—the people of the California.

            And just as each are reminded to live out the divine mystery of holiness that is inherent in human life, so too may this body live-out the will of the people it represents. People. Not voters. Not consumers. Not business interests. Not teachers or corporations, or students or construction workers. Not prison guards or prisoners. Not Latino or black or Asian American or Caucasian. People. Humans imbued with the spirit of the divine, pursuing progress and fruition, aspiring towards goodness. People who expect integrity, ingenuity, thought, and care on behalf of all. May God bless this Chamber. —AMEN.