A Nurse’s Perspective on the Science and Art of Healing

by Lee Beasley

Our Opening words today are Prayer for a Time in Need of Empathy,
by Tanya Cothran.

God, teach us to consider also how others experience the world. To understand how my reality and their reality are different and yet they share qualities of the same core desire.
Teach us to listen for shared feelings, for places of connection.
Teach us to be curious and open to hearing differences.
Teach us to love into brokenness
to give space for,
to be patient with,
Healing.

Let us be strong in our vulnerability
in our not-knowing,
in exposing our less-than-perfect scary bits, to those in front of us.

Give us courage to face judgment, scorn, and hatred because of the greater good.
Let us be disciples of Essential Goodness, strong in our knowing that in each Being there is a divine light of the soul.

Give us the strength, God, to keep feeling empathy, even when we are tired and broken.
For it is then that You are feeling the empathy through us.
Amen.

Glory, Glory, Hallelujah
Trad. Used with Permission
Performed by Eva Riebold

Life is so much sweeter, so much sweeter! Since I laid my burden down.

Solveig’s Song
From the Peer Gynt Suite
By Edvard Grieg
Public Domain Work
A song of love, forgiveness and atonement.
performed by John Prescott and Eva Riebold

Waltz in B Minor
Op. 69, No. 2 by Frederic Chopin
Public Domain Work
Performed by Carter Meints

Meditation on Loving Kindness
Words: Trad. Metta Lovingkindness Meditation
Music by Emily McKinney
Performed by the First UU Virtual Choir

Our closing words are Share Your Glorious Light with the World,
by James Morison.

Within each of our hearts there is a most glorious light.
Go forth, and let its spark help you understand what troubles both you and others;
Go forth, and let its light of reason be a guide in your decisions;
Go forth, and bring its ray of hope to those in need of help in both body and spirit,
that they may find healing;
Go forth, and fan the flames of passion to help heal our world;
Go forth, and spread the warm glow of love, pushing back the darkness of the world;
Go forth, and share your glorious light with the world.