Let us take a moment to settle into the silence.
(Silence)

As we sit in the quiet, feel the life that stretches
between us, filling this place.

Feel the opening of all the windows of our beings,
as we reach outward to the life around us,
beyond this place, throughout all the universe.
(Silence)

In a universe so vast, may we be helped to sustain
a good sense of who we are,
and a good sense of worth in ourselves.
When time and events and people go by so fast,
help us to know the power in pausing,
and in pausing,
help us to find our life renewed.
(Silence)

With others, and at this time, we share our concern for the universe:
creatures are dying, and every year more species vanish
that will never return;
great tracts of forest are torn down, and complex habitats destroyed;
rain washes the soil from naked land and rivers are polluted.

May we learn the ways of care and responsibility,
and that a just balance to earth may be restored.

In silence now, we also bring to our minds' eye
the people who have loved us and continue to love us:
people who are not here with us today,
but whose love we carry with us...
people who are there every day,
and whose care and love we sometimes take for granted...

In silence now, we hold these people in our hearts. 
(Silence) 

May our hearts be opened to all whose names and faces
have crossed our minds:
that old wounds may be healed,
that constant joys may be celebrated,
and that the love we share with the people in our lives
may be our abiding teacher.

May it be so.