Opening Prayer
Refreshing Water, Fountain of Life, You wish us to bathe only in the living streams of Your dreams. We love to regale you with sacrifices, devotions, rituals, liturgies, and prayers, yet You demand that we work for justice and right behavior. Is that why You block Your ears to our endless rituals? Why is it easier for us to sing Your praises and celebrate Your presence, than to work for the peace, justice, goodness and reconciliation of Your reign? Why is it that the demonic forces sometimes perceive you better than we do? Please turn us not into self-destructive pigs, even as we try to consume everything around us and drown in the muddy waters of our selfishness and evil. Be for us the living stream of life, which quenches our deepest hungers and refreshes us. Be fresh, clear water which revives our goodness and renews our Baptism.
Bless our country today as we celebrate our independence. May we seek the independence, freedom and dignity of all your people. God, bless America, land that I love!
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