INTERFAITH WISDOM

Rabbi Harold Kushner is an 82 year-old prominent author of books on life and living; good and evil.  His best known work is When Bad Things Happen to Good People.  Day to day, he is the rabbi laureate of a temple near Boston, MA.   Here is a prayer he penned which he called A Prayer for the World.

Let the rain come and wash away the ancient grudges, 
the bitter hatreds held and nurtured over generations.
Let the rain wash away the memory of the hurt, the neglect.
Then, let the sun come out and fill the sky with rainbows.
Let the warmth of the sun heal us wherever we are broken.
Let it burn away the fog so that we can see each other clearly;
so we can see beyond labels, beyond accents, gender or skin color.
Let the warmth and brightness of the sun melt our selfishness 
so that we can share the joys and feel the sorrows of our neighbors.
Let the Earth, nourished with rain, bring forth flowers to surround us with beauty.
And let the mountains teach our hearts to reach upwards to heaven.  Amen