Avinu Malkaynu!
From infinity draw down to us
The great renewal
And attune us to Your intent,
So that Wisdom,Your daughter
Flows into our awareness,
To awaken us to see ahead,
So we can help instead of harm.
May all the devices we make and use,
Be sparing and protecting
Of Your creation.
Help us to set right
What we have debased,
To heal
What we have made ill,
To care for and to restore
What we have injured.
Bless our Earth, our home
And show us all
How to care for her,
So that we might live
Your promise
Given to our forebearers,
"To live heavenly days
Right here on this Earth."
May all the beings,
You have fashioned,
Become aware
That it is You
Who has given them being.
May we realize
That You shaped our lives
And may each one who breathes
Join with others who breathe,
In the delight of shared knowing
Of the great breath.
Assist us in learning
How to partner,
With family, neighbors
And friends.
Aid us
In dissolving old enmities.
May we come to honor,
Even in those whom we fear,
Your image and form,
Your light
Dwelling in their hearts.
May we soon see the day when
Your House will be, indeed,
The House of prayer
For all peoples,
Named and celebrated
In every tongue and speech.
On that day You will be one
With all cosmic Life.
Amen!
The problems we face at this time
Don't seem to yield
To the solutions
Our traditions and lineages
Have provided in the past.
Each one of our traditions
Had built in a high degree
Of surface tension
And saw itself
As sharply separate
From others.
Often universalistic statements
Were made which
In subtle and not so subtle ways
Were what people call inclusivistic;
That is to say
"If you come under our umbrella
As a lesser adjunct,
As a minor satellite,
We will legitimate you."
Still the attitude
Was basically triumphalistic;
when the Mashiach—Christ––
Mahdi—-avatar—Maitreia––comes
We will be proven right
And you will end up to be
On a lesser plane than we.
Then came Auschwitz-––
Hiroshima—Nagasaki––
The moon walk––the internet––
And now
We can no longer afford
Any reality map
That does not base itself
On an organismic view of life
On this planet.
Our traditional theologians,
In order to defend themselves
Against existential terror
And high anxiety––
The spiritual vacuum
In which they have to preach––
Have by and large,
Been co-opted
By those haves,
Who have the deep pockets,
To hold onto the status quo––
Or by the have-nots
Who want to return
To implausible security
Of the old-time religion.
More and more
Have deep thinking eco-theologians
Come to the conclusion
That each religion
Is like a vital organ
Of the planet
And that we
For the planets sake
Need, each one of us,
To aim to stay alive and devout
In the most healthy way
We can manage.
Hence for all my universalism
I need to be
The best and healthiest Jew I can be
And urge my co-religionists
To become the best and healthiest Jews
They can be in order to contribute
To the healing of the planet.
While I have gained much help
From our tradition which provided me
With the sacred tools and means
To higher consciousness
Many of them seem not to be
Immediately applicable
To our current situation.
However,
There is a revelation
Coming down to us
From helpers above our ken
As well as the result
Of a chthonic push
From below
From our mother the Earth.
This leads me
Not so much to offer answers
As to raise questions.
Read the Entire Prayer Here
