III Creator of mercy and blessings, be present in our prayers this Shabbat eve. Shabbat joy follows the working week, and our troubled minds find their comfort and rest. With prayers and thanks we turn to You to make this day holy. Wipe away our sins in Your mercy, and strengthen our work for good. Cleanse us from selfishness, and give us new longing for all that is good and true. Enlighten the darkness that lies within us, and bring a blessing to our homes and to those we love. So may we keep Your covenant forever, for Your help is sure. May the blessing of this Shabbat come not for ourselves alone but for all. For it is in giving that we find contentment, in serving that we find our true freedom, and in blessing others that we ourselves are blessed. Through us may the promise be fulfilled ‘and all the families of the world shall bless themselves by You’. IV God of the spirits of all flesh, You are One, always and everywhere the same. We are multi–faceted, ever–changing, volatile. You have set within us instincts that drive us, emotions so that we feel, minds so that we think. We give thanks for each of them: for our animal nature by which we experience hunger, thirst, and physical sensation; for our emotions of love, fear, joy and righteous indignation; and for our minds with their ability to distinguish between right and wrong, truth and falsehood. Yet these are forces which may pull us in many different directions, producing turmoil and indecision within ourselves, and conflict with others. On this Shabbat, Your day of rest, help us to find rest and harmony for our inner selves, for our bodies, minds and spirits. Grant us the extra spiritual awareness that Shabbat brings. With this harmony in our heart, we pray that we may bring harmony to Your world, that our unity may mirror Yours. V We bless the God who conquers strife, who removes all hatred, and brings harmony to creation. We praise the God we cannot see, who binds together all creatures with unseen threads of service and of love. We honour the Creator who has brought us from ways of cruelty and shown us the ways of kindness. We bend low before the Majesty which teaches us humility and respect for the smallest things in creation. We glorify the Source of peace, for peace is the gate to our perfection, and in perfection is our rest. God, open our eyes to the beauty of the world and its goodness. Let us be the servants of Your peace which brings all life together: the love of parent and child, the loyalty of friends, and the companionship of animals and people. On this Shabbat day of rest, we know this harmony again and Your presence within it. With all creation we respond in praise, and unify Your name.
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