Rejecting Exclusion

Blessed Lord,

You warned us of a broad path
that leads to destruction,
a path that so many seem to be walking.

It is an easy path
that calls us to
give in to our temptations
to hate, despise, and fear,
to become something less
than what you have created us to be.

You have called us to a higher path,

to renounce fear,
and proclaim faith,

to cast off hatred,
and put on love,

to reject exclusion,
and embrace the world
with open arms as wide
as those that stretched out
upon the cross for us,

but not just for us.

Amen