Grace for the library: a wing and a prayer

At last night's Library Foundation fundraiser, the "I Love My Library" dinner, Library Board member Rev. Will Bloedow offered the following:

In 1943 Harold Adamson and Jimmie McHugh wrote a patriotic song which tells of a damaged warplane barely able to limp back to base.

ON A WING AND A PRAYER
Comin’ in on a wing and a prayer
Comin’ in on a wing and a prayer
Though there’s one motor gone
We can still carry on
Comin’ in on a wing and a prayer.

This image and song came to mind for me on January 15 of this year when US Air Flight 1459 came in on a wing and lots of prayers as it landed in the Hudson River in New York City. The image of 155 people standing literally ON A WING speaks to where we as Americans and Fox City residents stand at this junction of history. On that day the people of the world witnessed how a potential tragedy was averted by TEAM WORK (pilot, crew, air controller and rescuers working together, helping all to live to see a new day).

Tonight we gather to celebrate our library, an important wing on which we stand together (community, city government, corporations, patrons of the library, library staff), all part of a great team that not only hopes but believes that we will live to see many new days as we live into the future.

So with this in mind, let us pray as we gather together:

To you who is the guide for love and life, we give thanks for the wing of community and support.

We give thanks for the wing of teamwork and collaboration. We pray for hope, understanding, new vision and the courage to take risks.

Bless our fellowship, our food, and give us a continuing appreciation for the Appleton Public Library which provides sources of uplift for the people of the Fox Cities and beyond.

Grace for the library

Rev. Will Bloedow asked for grace at our annual "I Love My Library" foundation fund raising dinner:

God of Creation,

We gather together on this cold night to to warm our lives in the presence of each other, to fill our mouths and ears with words of conversation.

To fill our hearts with joy and give thanks for the gift of a library which encourages all to fill their lives with knowledge and a sense of community.

We gather mindful of the past, excited in the present and anticipating a future which promises the passing on of knowledge and understanding to those who follow after us.

Yet especially on this cold night we are mindful of those who are cold, hungry and alone and suffering an emptiness of knowledge and spirit. May we, who are lovers of libraries and people, give welcome and hope and meaning to all who enter the library to open a book, a newspaper or a computer screen ... so that they may reach the heights of their potential.

Bless our time together, our food and our lives as we continue to serve humankind.

Amen.

A grace for libraries

Our supporters and friends are surely a grace to us. Here's the dinner grace from our Library Foundation's "Love My Library" dinner, written and delivered by library board member Rev. Willis Bloedow:

O God of imagination and story,
Of memory and retention

Of community and conversation
Of authors and readers

We give you thanks.

We thank you for libraries
And for those who care for what resides therein.

For hospitality and help for those who visit them.

As we give thanks on this night,
We ask that you bless our community and our conversation
Our food and our fun

Bless our love for libraries,
The gift of knowledge and our love and care for each other.

Amen.