A Prayer For Social Action

This is a poem/prayer that I want to share by Jack Riemer. It is as much a call for social action as a prayer. Whether we are believers or not, we each need to find what it takes for us to stand up and do something to make a better world.

A Prayer for Social Action

We cannot merely pray to God to end war;

For the world was made in such a way

That we must find our own path of peace

Within ourselves and with our neighbor.

We cannot merely pray to God to root out prejudice;

For we already have eyes

With which to see the good in all people

If we would only use them rightly.

We cannot merely pray to God to end starvation;

For we already have the resources

With which to feed the entire world

If we would only use them wisely.

We cannot merely pray to God to end despair;

For we already have the power

To clear away slums and to give hope

If we would only use our power justly.

We cannot merely pray to God to end disease:

For we already have great minds

With which to search out cures and healings

If we would only use them constructively.

Therefore we pray instead

For strength, determination, and will power,

To do instead of merely to pray

To become instead of merely to wish;

That our world may be safe,

And that our lives may be blessed.

Habitat For Humanity - people spending their Sundays helping give others a roof over their heads.

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Alon Shalev is the author of The Accidental Activist and A Gardener's Tale. He is the Executive Director of the San Francisco Hillel Foundation, a non-profit that provides spiritual and social justice opportunities to Jewish students in the Bay Area. More on Alon Shalev at http://www.alonshalev.com/ and on Twitter (@alonshalevsf).