by Terrence

A note to the reader: "Terrence is a friend I met on the streets I travel. He is also known as 'T' or 'Uncle T'. Those who travel in certain circles will know him by that latter name." So writes the anonymous transcriber who posted this prayer to talk.religion.christian.anglican in July 2005, adding that a sentence or two was incorporated from an AA prayer, but that the work was Terrence's own. The transcriber thought it worthy of being passed on.

This is folk Christianity from the margins — not the theology of bishops and councils, but the practical, sweeping prayer of someone who has known streets and recovery, and who extends blessing to every person who has ever passed through his life, for good or ill. Its structure is AA-influenced (the gratitude, the character defects, the shortcomings), but its spirit is older than that: the desire to wish well to all beings, without exception. It belongs in the archive as a record of lived Christian practice at the edges of institutional religion.

Dear God, dear Jesus, dear Holy Spirit,

Please God bless everyone I pray for on a daily basis, everyone I come in contact with on a daily basis, everyone I have ever come in contact with, everyone I have loved in my life, everyone who has loved me, everyone who has helped me, everyone I have helped, everyone who has hurt me and everyone I have hurt.

Please forgive us for our transgressions and bless us for our good works, deeds, actions, words and our thoughts.

Please bless us all with good health, happiness, prosperity, sincerity, serenity, pureness of thought and help us with our:

Anger-Actions
Patience-Reactions
Resentments and stinking thinking.

Dear God, thank you for my life,
Dear Jesus, thank you for my life,
Dear Holy Spirit, thank you for my life.
Thank you for putting everyone in my life when I needed them.

Dear God, thank you for today,
Dear Jesus, thank you for today,
Dear Holy Spirit, thank you for today.
Thank you for everyone I came in contact with today.

Please help us all with our lives, our health problems, our financial problems, our housing problems, our resentments, our angers, our fears, our character defects and our shortcomings, our stinking thinking and jealousies, our procrastination, our laziness and lonliness, and our relationships.

In the name of the Most High God, Amen.

Colophon

Written by Terrence (known on the streets as "T" or "Uncle T"), a practitioner of folk Christianity in the AA tradition. Transcribed by an anonymous friend who encountered him on the margins and found the prayer worth preserving. Posted to the Usenet group talk.religion.christian.anglican, July 2005. Original Message-ID: <[email protected]>.

Preserved from the Usenet archive for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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