A Unity Prayer for the City Council

EDITOR'S NOTE: Councilman Derek Reeve gave the invocation at Tuesday's City Council meeting, calling for a spirit of healing and unity for the community after the November election. Patch asked permission to reprint the prayer. Reeve indicated he combined several existing prayers to fashion this one.

If you please will you bow your head as we pray?

Dear wise and loving Father:

As we gather we give thanks for the gift of life, and the gift of this new day. For the blessing of this community, colleagues, friends, and extended family, we give thanks. For generations of brave men and women who secured our liberty, we give thanks.

Tonight we introduce a new council. We say goodbye to our trusted colleague Laura and welcome our new colleague Roy. In the wake of the November election, let us give thanks for all those who offered themselves for public service and opened their lives to scrutiny, and thanks for the days worked, dollars given, miles walked, and the hours of sleep sacrificed by the candidates, their families, friends, and volunteers. We celebrate with all who won the election. To those near and far disappointed by the outcome of the election, we extend words and gestures of understanding, reassurance, and care. For putting their hearts into their campaigns for our community, we extend our thanks and our fellowship.

May all be blessed first, with times of rest and reflection, and then, with a new sense of purpose and vision. Perhaps among us are those who felt betrayed or let down by others, or by themselves, in the recent campaign. Perhaps among us are some who feel our own words or deeds have not reflected the best of who we are as people, and who we aspire to be. Indeed, in life most of us fall short of our principles. We let one another down, or let ourselves down. May we receive a measure of humility and forgiveness, and may provide us with a new chance, a fresh beginning in the days and months ahead.

As we gather today, let our minds extend beyond these walls to all those who are vulnerable and all who need our support and advocacy: children and families, people without  a job or struggling to keep their home; people suffering afflictions of body, mind or spirit,. We extend our thanks for those who help others and those make our city more livable and safe. We pray for the safety of all now serving abroad and we pray peace for all who call such places home.

As the work of this new council begins, we invoke the commitments that call us into service and sustain us through times of challenge as well as times of joy: the values of freedom, civic duty and personal responsibility; understanding and inclusiveness; and the values of dignity and respect for all members of San Juan Capistrano.

May God bless our precious republic and our beloved city of San Juan Capistrano

It is in your most blessed Name we pray, Amen.