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A Prayer for Our Country (during COVID-19)

Two girls smiling and holding an American flag in a park.

Composed by members of Or Hadash: A Reconstructionist Congregation during the COVID-19 pandemic


A Prayer for Our Country (during COVID-19)

“What do I desire for my country? How do I vision the land I love?

Let it be a land where knowledge is free,”

May all our people live together as brothers and sisters

A land where we emerge from this with more caring, a greater appreciation for each other

A land where no one is forced to go to bed hungry or live on the streets

A land where everyone loves themselves well enough to love their fellow human being as themselves as we are commanded

A land with a wise, humane leader to serve as a role model for the country

A land where our leaders speak the truth

A land where our leaders truly work for the greater good

A land of compassion where we all work and play together

Where poles of separation become poles of mutual support and understanding

Where reason wins out over blind faith

Where we recover our historic genius for voluntary community commitment

Where our vision is restored to embrace humanity, inclusiveness, and empathy

A land where the light within each of us can begin to illuminate the world

Where, as we care for each other, we don’t forget to care for our fragile earth

Where there is equitable medical care for all

A land where we have economic security and justice for all

A land where kids are free to be happy and thrive and grow

A land that once again welcomes the “huddled masses yearning to be free”

Empathy

Where we all have the support and love of community

A land where we work together for the good of all

A land where knowledge and expertise are more valued in all ways so that people are motivated to become epidemiologists and teachers rather than reality TV starts or influencers

“Where the mind is led forward into ever-widening thought and action,

Into that heaven of freedom let my country awake.”


Portions at the beginning and end in quotations are excerpted from the Rabindranth Tagore reading in Siddur Kol Haneshamah (Shabbat Vehagim, p. 419)

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