Freeport, Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas - Remembrance Day on November 11th was serenely observed at the
Garden of the Groves in the beautiful, sacred setting of the Labyrinth,
where all the benches were occupied by locals and visitors from around
the World. Poppies were available for everyone.
The sun shone from an exquisitely blue sky and many of our
feathered friends sang to the accompaniment the quiet background
music from selections of the Maastricht Salon Orchestra, and Richard
Shulman's 'Music to Walk the Labyrinth'.
Just before noon, Barbara Chester welcomed everyone and commented
on the wonderful news of the joint ceremony, held that day in France
commemorating the end of the Great War conflict, when the leaders of
Germany and France finally came together in peace . She said that this
proved that Peace could eventually be possible, even though, as in this
case, it had taken 91 years!
She continued this theme by opening our ceremony with St.Francis'
Prayer, "Make me a channel of your peace" which, she remarked, is the
anthem of the Royal British Legion and used each year for services of
Remembrance. St. Francis is, of course, the Patron Saint of the Garden of the Groves.
The 'Remembrance Prayer' was then recited and was followed at 12
noon by the traditional 2 minutes silence. It was particularly moving,
at this time, to hear the strains of "The Last Post" being beautifully
played by Rick on his Saxophone.
These quiet moments of personal reflection were followed by the
specially selected "Prayer for World Peace", written by Jane Goodall
and rendered by Barbara Chester who then invited everyone to join her
for a Peace Walk on the Sacred Path to the centre of the Labyrinth
where a large Peace Candle was burning and waiting to digest the
individual written prayers being offered up to the Universe.
Through out the prayerful walk, Rick's soft and gentle music was
quietly floating on the soft breeze.[Photo by Erika Gates...of Rick
providing sacred music for walking the path]
"The Prayer for World Peace"
We pray to the great Spiritual Power in which
we live and move and have our being.
We pray that we may at all times
keep our minds open to new ideas and shun dogma;
that we may grow in our understanding of the nature of all living beings
and our connectedness with the natural world;
that we may become ever more filled with
generosity of spirit and true compassion and love for all life;
that we may strive to heal the hurts that we have inflicted on nature
and control our greed for material things, knowing that
our actions are harming our natural world and the future of our children;
that we may value each and every human being
for who he is, for who she is,
reaching to the spirit that is within,
knowing the power of each individual to change the world.
We pray for social justice,
for the alleviation of the crippling poverty
that condemns millions of people around the world
to lives of misery - hungry, sick, and utterly without hope.
We pray for the children who are starving,
who are condemned to homelessness, slave labor, and prostitution,
and especially for those forced to fight, to kill and torture
even members of their own family.
We pray for the victims of violence and war,
for those wounded in body and for those wounded in mind.
We pray for the multitudes of refugees, forced from their homes to alien places
through war or through the utter destruction of their environment.
We pray for suffering animals everywhere,
for an end to the pain caused by scientific experimentation,
intensive farming, fur farming, shooting, trapping,
training for entertainment, abusive pet owners,
and all other forms of exploitation
such as overloading and overworking pack animals,
bull fighting, badger baiting, dog and cock fighting and so many more.
We pray for an end to cruelty,
whether to humans or other animals,
for an end to bullying, and torture in all its forms.
We pray that we may learn the peace that comes with forgiving
and the strength we gain in loving;
that we may learn to take nothing for granted in this life;
that we may learn to see and understand with our hearts;
that we may learn to rejoice in our being.
We pray for these things with humility;
We pray because of the hope that is within us,
and because of a faith in the ultimate triumph of the human spirit;
We pray because of our love for Creation, and because of our trust in God.
We pray, above all, for peace throughout the world.
Shalom!
