Who are the hope of the world, give us hope. Give us hope that beyond the worst the world can do there is such a best that not even the world can take it from us, hope that none whom thou hast loved is ever finally lost, not even to death.
O Thou who died,
In loneliness and pain, suffer to die in us all that keeps us from thee and from each other and from what we have it in us at our best and bravest to become. O Lamb of God, forgive thy butchers.
O Thou who didst rise again,
Thou Holy Spirt of Christ, arise and live within us now, that we may be thy body, that we may be thy feet to walk into the world's pain, thy hands to heal, thy heart to break, if need must be, for love of the world.
Thou risen Christ, make Christs of us all.
Amen.
~ Buechner
