Eternal One, Creator and Sustainer of us all,
As we join together, open our eyes to the vision that sustained Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., which led him to declare, as he accepted the Nobel Prize in 1965:
"I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men and woman have torn down, men and women other-centered can build up. I still believe that one day humanity will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive goodwill will proclaim the rule of the land. I still believe we shall overcome.”
We will overcome…when we see ourselves as not isolated from one another but dependent on each other for well-being and for hope.
We will overcome….when we, in Dr. King's words, continue to be, no matter what the obstacles we may encounter, true participants in society, taking our share of the responsibility to infuse democracy with liberty and substance.
We will overcome…when we realize that our unity is always enlarged by the alliances that we create and maintain with one another, and that our coordinated action can enhance the love and light that we can share from deep within our hearts.
May this gathering, at which we share food for our bodies and sustenance for our minds and souls, inspire us to make Dr. King's dream our dream and to do all that we can to ensure that his dream and our dream will become a reality.
Eternal One, give us the will and the strength to make all of this come to be.
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