As Bridgefolk of both the Catholic and Mennonite traditions, we are people who have found that we cannot do otherwise than to pray this prayer, together and daily, in words and silent groanings, in deeds, and in the very ordering of our lives:
O Lord our God,
eternally living and giving,
a Trinity of persons,
may all your Christian people
come to share in truth
the table of your Son Jesus Christ,
unified and peaceable,
joining in the communion of saints,
martyrs, apostles and bishops
who have beaten their swords into ploughshares.
Empowered by that very grace of your Holy Spirit
who unites the Trinity in mutual love
they have been a bridge to your coming Kingdom,
already present in our broken world.
By that same grace and love,
empower us then we pray –
empower us here today –
to be a bridge to that future
of unity and peace
which you ever yearn to give to your Church
yet ever give in earnest through your Church
as you set a table before us
making present the life and death,
body and blood,
faith, hope and love of your Son,
in whose name we pray,
Amen
March 25, 2001
Saint John’s Abbey, MN
Bridgefolk Planning Retreat