"Blessed is the Person ..."

Prayer of a Stranger

Blessed is the person who understands me, who looks at me, who really sees me.

Blessed is the person who does not run away from me, but comes to meet me.

Blessed is the person who talks to me and greets me kindly.

Blessed is the person who is not afraid of me because I am a stranger.

Blessed is the person who does not judge me because of my origin, my skin colour, my language or my clothes.

Blessed are the people who help me and understand me when I am learning another language.

Blessed is the person who does not ridicule me because I come from a different culture.

Blessed is the person who patiently explains to me when I ask about something I don't yet know or understand.

Blessed is the person who knows how to welcome me and offers me opportunities to live, work or study in a new country.

Blessed is the person who is interested in my story, who listens and respectfully accepts what I share in order to make a contribution with my gifts.

Blessed is the person who shares their time with me in order to enable me to live together fruitfully.

Blessed is the person who understands the meaning of the universal language of smiles, looks, tears or hugs and communicates through this language in a loving and welcoming way.

Blessed is the person who shows empathy and understanding when I express myself in different ways.

Blessed is the person who opens up to "the new" and converses with me and my family.

Blessed is the person who is free from prejudice and racism and acts on the basis of justice so that others are not violated in their human dignity.

Praise be to God for the people who meet me on my way and help me to feel at home in my new "home".

Praise be to God, whom you and I confess, albeit in different ways and forms.

Praise be to God, who has preserved my life, even when I am far from my home and my relatives, whether I have fled from wars, persecution or disasters, whether I am only in another country for a while or stay there for the rest of my life.

Blessed are you and I, because we are daughters and sons of God in this world as strangers in search of our "eternal home".

Praise be to God who allows us to inhabit the same "holy land" and walk on the same "blessed soil".

Amen.

This prayer was written by Cristina Scherer, an ecumenical member of the ELM from Brazil. She has been living in Germany since the end of 2021.