All praise to you, Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ,

    who Spirits your church into being,

    making us members one of another.

It is a great mystery that we are your body.

But we praise you for it,

    for otherwise we would be alone – 

    condemned to live alone, to die alone.

But you have given us one another in all shapes and sizes.

 

We do not fit together all that well,

    but we pray that the puzzles of our lives 

    may please you and entertain you,

  so that in the end we add up to be your kingdom.

Help us to live with the confidence of that kingdom,

    in light of your Son’s resurrection,

  so that when all is said and done, this may be said:

“They were a strange lot, but look how they loved one another.”

Amen

 

Stanley Hauerwas, 1940- , American ethicist and theologian

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Together, we are his house, 

    built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. 

And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. 

We are carefully joined together in him, 

    becoming a holy temple for the Lord.  

Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling

    where God lives by his Spirit.