SACRED SCRIPTURE
Here are some central texts in the Jewish and Christian traditions. We invite you to read slowly, always open to fresh meanings. No bible at hand? www.biblegateway.com has 150 translations for your screen.
Leviticus 19: 32-36
and
Deuteronomy 24: 17-22
Earliest codes for holiness and wholeness.
Psalm 65
You crown the year with your bounty.
Psalm 72
May all nations be blessed, freed from oppression and violence.
(Psalm for ingathering / Epiphany)
Psalm 77
In some faith traditions, this psalm is listed for MLK Day.
In some translations, its heading is, “confidence in God during national distress.”
Psalm 146
The Lord watches over the strangers.
Isaiah 60
The brightness of dawn – the ingathering of all nations as God’s Glory. (Passage long associated with Epiphany.)
Zephaniah 3: 14-20
Hymn of Joy for interfaith unity.
Matthew 2: 13-15, 19-23
“The family of Nazareth in exile – Jesus, Mary and Joseph, emigrants in Egypt and refugees there to escape the wrath of an ungodly king – is the model, the example and the consolation of emigrants and pilgrims of every age and country, of all refugees of every condition who, beset by persecution or necessity, are forced to leave their homeland, beloved family and dear friends for foreign lands.”
Pope Pius XII (1952)
Matthew 25: 31-46
The ultimate test for every nation and person!
PRAYER TEXTS FOR THE NEW YEAR
O God, who are without beginning or end,
the source of all creation,
grant us so to live this new year
that we may abound in good things
and be resplendent with works of holiness.
Thus we pray to your glory, for ever and ever.
The Roman Missal, “At the Beginning of the Civil Year” (alt.)
FOR MARTIN LKUTHER KING DAY
Almighty God, by the hand of Moses your servant
you led your people out of slavery, and made them free at last.
Grant that your Church,
following the example of your prophet Martin Luther King,
may resist oppression in the name of your love,
and may secure for all your children
the blessed liberty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ;
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Amen
Episcopal Church, Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2006.
CALLING US TO MERCY
Loving God,
you create every person in your image
and unite us all in one human family.
As our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers,
fill us with courage and compassion,
that we might meet the hardships of migrants and refugees,
not with silence and indifference, but with generous acts of mercy, welcoming
every stranger as You. Amen.
(Catholic Charities, USA)
FASTING
As a supplement to the readngs above, or as an alternative, on any day you
select, for whatever number of hours, fasting can clear the mind and heart. It is its
own strong form of prayer.Immigrant Safety (updated 2/6/25)