Prayer for A Troubled and Puzzled World

Without Love
“As we face a troubled and a puzzled world,
We too are troubled and puzzled.
As our fond dreams remain unrealized-
And our bright hopes of yesterday wither
In the bitter disappointments of today,
Our courage fails, our spirits droop,
Our faith trembles,
And, frustrated, we bow our heads
In despair.
Nevertheless, we come to God in this hour of worship, in this house of prayer.
As we pray for peace in our time,
O God,
May we be at peace with
The world,
with ourselves and
with Thee.
May we know that without love there
Will never be peace.
Teach us therefore to love.”

    —-  Rev. Egbert Ethelred Brown
from Been in the Storm So Long,
edited by Rev. Dr. Mark Morrison-Reed and Jacqui James,1991

*****

Rev. Egbert Ethelred Brown (1875-1956) was born in Jamaica to a very religious family.  When he was a teen, he rejected the Christianity of his family and embraced Unitarian theology. He studied at The Unitarian Theological School in Meadville, Pennsylvania. He was the first Black man to be ordained a Unitarian minister in 1912. He established churches in Jamaica and he went on to found the Harlem Community Church in 1920. However, Brown encountered resistance and discrimination from white Unitarian leaders who gave him only limited and grudging support.

You can learn more about Rev. Ethelred Egbert Brown’s life and legacy in this thoughtful essay by Ken Jones in the Jamaica Gleaner and in this moving piece by Rev. Dr. Mark Morrison Reed in the UU World.