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Christmas Eve Prayer
(by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Loving God, Help us remember the birth of Jesus,
that we may share in the song of the angels,
the gladness of the shepherds,
and the worship of the wise men.

Close the door of hate
and open the door of love all over the world.
Let kindness come with every gift and good desires with every greeting.
Deliver us from evil by the blessing which Christ brings,
and teach us to be merry with clear hearts.

May the Christmas morning make us happy to be thy children,
and Christmas evening bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts,
forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus' sake. Amen.

Christmas Dinner Prayer
(adapted by GP)

God of all gifts, we thank you for the many blessings this day.
We are grateful for each of those who are gathered around this table, and
We look outward for those we love who are not with us today.
We are grateful for our food, and
We look outward for how to help those who are without enough to eat.
We remember the humble birth of Jesus into our lives.
We remember the stable in which Jesus was born, and
We look outward for how to help those who have no place to live.
We remember the message of caring and giving, and
We look outward for how to find peace for families and nations throughout the world.
We give thanks for the Spirit of Jesus who brings our hearts to life Christmas Day, and
We look inward to find the same Spirit of goodness within us so that we may Christ forever. Amen.

Prayer for Christmas Morning
(by Henry Van Dyke)

God in heaven, the day of joy returns, and crowns another year with peace and good will.
Help us rightly to remember the birth of Jesus,
that we may share in the song of the angels,
the gladness of the shepherds, and
the worship of the wisemen.
Close the doors of hate and open the doors of love all over the world…
Let kindness come with every gift and good desires with every greeting.
Deliver us from evil, by the blessing that Christ brings, and teach us to be merry with clean
hearts.
May the Christmas morning make us happy as the little children,
And the Christmas evening bring us to our bed with grateful thoughts,
Forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus’ sake. Amen

Family Prayer
(Based on "Evening Family Prayer" by Robert Louis Stevenson)

God that is all around us and within us,
we are thankful for our family here assembled,
for this place in which we dwell,
for the love that unites us,
for the peace accorded to us this day,
for the hope with which we expect the morrow;
for the health, the work, the food and the bright skies
that make our lives delightful;
for our friends in all parts of the earth. Amen.

Children's Prayer
ABCDEFG, Jesus help teach me to see,
HIJKLMN, thank you for the food and then,
PQRSTUV, may god always dwell in me,
WXY and Z, wondrous God be good to thee.

Quick Meal Prayer
God is great and God is good and we thank thee for this food,
by God's hand must all be fed, a gift from God, our daily bread. - Amen

Simple Meal Prayer
This food is truly blessed, as it comes from the great and magnificent bounty that is God.
Let us remember how we all depend upon others, God, and nature for sustenance.
When we see others in need, let us also remember that we are God's angels.
May God be always in our hearts and may we be healthy and live to show goodness to all. - Amen

In Jesus Christ We Pray
(by GP)

God we give thanks for the birth of Jesus Christ.
We celebrate his life for the warmth of his love,
For the breadth of understanding of his teachings, and
For the depth of his devotion to God and to his fellow beings.
Help us to learn and understand God through Jesus Christ,
To listen to his teachings and to act according to his way,
Help us to remember that he has shown us the way to live, and
To behave in this world filled with both Good and Evil.
We pray to remind us of his teachings and of what we are in God,
So that we may live a Good life and be saved by Jesus Christ. Amen.

May We Live in God Prayer
(by GP)

May the weather be pleasant and safe. May the snow be white and soft.
May the pine trees be green and fragrant. May the branches be supple and strong.
May the decorations be bright and colorful. May the cards be clever and loving.
May the carols be melodious and jolly. May our house be warm and sheltering.
May the fire be bright and warm. May our table be laden with good food.
May our hands be kind and comforting. May our pockets be full and generous.
May our neighbors be friendly and kind. May our friends be many and gracious.
May we know God. May we preserve God's bounty.
May we remember that God dwells within us.
May we hold the love of the teachings of Jesus Christ in our hearts for all the years of our lives. Amen

No Man is an Island
(originally by John Dunne, as sung by Joan Baez)

No man is an island, No man stands alone,
Each man's joy is joy to me, Each man's grief is my own.

We need one another, So I will defend,
Each man as my brother, Each man as my friend.

I saw the people gather, I heard the music start,
The song that they were singing, Is ringing in my heart.

No man is an island, Way out in the blue,
We all look to the one above, For our strength to renew.

When I help my brother, Then I know that I,
Plant the seed of friendship, That will never die.

(Though not a Christmas Prayer, per se, the words are often used as a prayer and resonate in the love, behavior and teachings of Jesus Christ and are presented here as a Natural Christian ideal.)

Thanksgiving Prayer
(based on a prayer by Harry Jewell)

In God's Heaven on Earth,
We give thanks for the pleasure
Of gathering together for this occasion.
We give thanks for this food
Prepared by loving hands.

As we partake of this food,
We pray for health and strength
To carry on and try to live in
Harmony with the spirit of God.
This we ensure by following
in the footsteps of Jesus Christ.

08/04/2011

NOTE

The Tolstoi "The Kingdom of God is Within Us" book review has been provided in its entirety on the Review Page. Stay tuned for additional reviews and features in the NC BLOG.

11/22/2010

Comment on Coining of "crassilization"

I wanted to tell you that I liked the new word you coined called "crassilization" where people are in the process of bringing a civilization down instead of building it up to a better place. I feel that this is what we are in the process of doing around the world but it is probably similar to other societies over the centuries. Have you thought about what established societies to do better and be civilized? I was thinking of the great eastern societies that have spent thousands of year teaching philosophy to their people through religion and state mixed together. It is like having passion and learning and a system of living all rolled into one and it can be very good or very bad. We come from the western way of thinking and more modern times of great violence from europe and so have a terrible distrust of mixing state and religion. Indeed, over the centuries we can see that it can produce great distructions of societies. Confusionism and budda have shown us great examples of how to live already. Why aren't we mimicking such examples here in the west? Perhaps, social engineering you are looking for is already what pilgrams from these religions and such others as the hindu, the moslems, and christians are already doing.They are actually putting aside their possessions and "regular lives usually lived" in their culture and living separately or communally within this different way of living. - JL

9/14/2010

We Can Make A Difference!

Human beings should learn that they are part of God. They should realize that devoting themselves to God means learning what God is and how they fit in God’s plan. They should be positive, optimistic and joyful in their contribution to the universe that surrounds them.

God can provide so much more through us, if we begin to know the spirit of God through contemplation and study. Through God we can build a civilization that is God’s heaven on earth. We can work together to become protectors and guardians of each other and of nature. We can become gardeners to sustain ourselves and each other. We can become builders to provide shelter from the challenges that God places in our path. We can be joyful and happy with the world we create through God; a world that can be free of violence and aggression, if we so choose; and a world in which we can love and cherish those around us, rather than fear them. We can devote ourselves to God and the study of God’s universe and learn to see God in all that surrounds us. We can understand what God is and how to live life to the fullest and contribute whatever we can. We can sing the praises of God and be mindful of all that God is and does.

We are not what other people think we are. We are too complex for people to know and understand us fully. We are the sum of all our experiences within our biological being. We are what we think, say and do, and all that we have thought, said and done in the past. We are a facet of God presenting to each other another view of what God is and can be.

We can contribute to the change and being that is the spirit of God. We can change things for the better to suit our new ideas of what should be. We can fight evil by not giving in to temptations ourselves and by teaching others why greed, violence and domination cause damage to God’s creatures. We can learn to stop the behavior that is abhorrent to us by not idolizing what scares us. We must know all that is possible in God’s universe; we need to prepare for what may come and learn how to deal with it; but we do not need to dwell on it and let it consume us. By not idolizing what is wrong with our world, we may limit the influence of evil, slow its spread, and possibly eliminate it.

We should be joyful in our chance to be a part of it all. We can be optimistic that we can work to make our lives better. If we can get others to join in our enthusiasm, the world, God’s world, can grow into something wonderful. - GP

9/11/2010

We must not let hate and fear rule us.

Much has happened to sadden our hearts on this day in the past. The thought of such insane hatred that would cause the deaths of thousands paralyzes our minds so that we find dealing with such crimes difficult. The destruction of the world trade center towers and the murder of all those people was a crime by uncaring and insane men, who let their own minds become distorted by extreme views of religion and hatred of another culture that they do not understand. Our culture is not pure and chaste by any means and there is much there to be fixed, cut out or improved upon. Just as these men should not have let their own demons drive them, we should not let them become our demons. We must continue to think rationally about the world around us; we must learn to understand the things that we clearly do not understand; and we need to take measured careful actions to make our culture and the rest of the world a better place to live. Terrorism is a very serious crime, but it is a crime nonetheless. War is a crime also, so to declare a war on terrorism is to become the terrorists. Unless the pursuit of terrorists is carried out as the performance of police investigating, arresting and bringing the criminals to justice, then the victims and our country become criminals, as well. For us to take on the hatred of our enemies is to make an enemy of ourselves. By working toward a better world with God in our hearts, we work to create a world where terrorists will not exist. We should not fear terrorists, because we may prepare to defend against criminal acts, both in action and in our devotion to and understanding of God. We must remain good in order to fight evil and not become it. - GP

8/30/2010

Consideration for Animals

Intelligent life is all around us, in the animals that we call pets, wild creatures and domesticated animals that we prey upon and many people consume (NOT ME). These animals may not be as clever and sophisticated as we are, but they exhibit all the abilities and emotions of humans. If you believe the raccoon is not as intelligent as a human because he walked in front of your car, just remember that over 40,000 humans die in car accidents EACH YEAR - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) - and almost 5,000 of those are pedestrians. So I believe we should give animals almost all of the credit that we give ourselves! If we are smarter than them, shouldn't we use that intelligence to take the responsibility to protect the animals? Please, drive safely and save lives - ESPECIALLY those that have not been trained to cross at a cross-walk, young children and all of the other animals! - GP

4/25/2010

Discussion "Hate Mongering"

I was just reading what you said under "hate mongering". I really appreciate and agree with what you wrote. I would also like to include the following discussion:

I think that people who are teasing and joking about praying for someone's death are vastly different from people that are really and truly praying for the death of another. Those that really are praying for the death of another are not following the teachings of Jesus or Mohammad or the Buddah or God. They are not truely praceticing the words of God's love and compassion for others.They do not make this world a better place, but rather, make it a more hatred filled place hurting everyone through their example and acts of hatred. I think people can more clearly agree with this idea and hope and work to stop this type of person's hurtful behavior that is not in cinq with God.
However, the other group of people who are joking when they make such statements about "wishing someone else death" are also hurting other people, as well. The idea of a joke or tease is to take something "somewhat true" and make fun of it. Americans are very adapt and proud of their ability to take life less seriously by joking about life's problems or circumstances. All joking is not a bad thing in my opinion. However, the type of joking that involves wishing for the death of someone is not the right type of joking. The problem with joking about praying for the death of anothe,r is that, down deep underneathe the joke is the feeling they agree with the premise of hurting that person. I don't think a great deal of people truly think about what they say and they should. The reason they should is it is difficult for people to figure out whether they really mean the joke or not. I think that praying is meant for a communication between someone and God and is a serious endeaver to communicate with the eternal spirit of their maker.
Joking about the death or killing of another can send a mentally ill person "over the edge" because it is a way of condoning an action without taking full responsibility for it and that mental ill or religiously zealot extremist may take as the "call to action". Most people will know a joke is not meant to be really cared out. But what of this other group who does not and thinks the jokers mean what they say and that they should go kill or hurt another person? That is the danger of joking about killing or hurting another person besides it being the opposite of God's love and calling. Joke about the football team loosing a game or the shape of a package or many other things but I believe we should not joke about killing, hurting, or humiliating others. It is just wrong in the eyes of God and me too. - Ruth

4/24/2010

Hate Mongering

I heard that somebody was praying for the death of someone else and I had to gasp. How can this be? How can someone pray for harm to another person? The nature of a prayer is to suggest that we would want the prayer to come true. Furthermore a prayer suggests that the individual praying is a religious person, believing in God, wanting God to hear the prayer and perhaps respond, or as a Natural Christian would interpret a prayer they would want to remind themselves of their thoughts and choices in the prayer. Hatred and violence is not the way people should think or behave. We should not desire the death of another person. I can only imagine that the person praying worships demons or the devil to want the death of another for it would not be the behavior of a true Christian. Hate and Violence are opposite to the path of Jesus. Can you imagine Jesus praying for someone’s death? Jesus taught of peace and love rather than violence and hate. Jesus wished to heal our wounds and free our minds and hearts from hatred and violence. He wished to teach us that through rejecting the greed, violence and hatred of our world we could find peace and joy in God. So please, do NOT pray in hatred for you will gain nothing but hate and violence. Instead pray with love and understanding, for you can not be a true Christian without these two things. - GP