Daily (Ojibwe culture) Digital Life Litany for Protection, Direction and Stewardship

 Caveat emptier: This post was drafted with help from an AI assistant (Perplexity)— but ideated and edited extensively by the human, Bill Acton. It is one of about a dozen that will be appearing on the blog, including Evangelical, Anglican,Unitarian, Orthodox, Shinto,Aboriginal, Hip hop, Gregorian, Dawkins meets Ojibwe wisdom, Hindu, and Klingon! These were all created to be experienced as read aloud, not to be simply read silently. The twin purposes for the project are to (a) provide at least a framework for a daily time of preparation, in the form of prayer or a meditation, and (b) more interestingly, to observe how AI navigates the the intersection of faith, prayer and AI!

This“Digital Life Litany” is shaped by themes from Ojibwe culture—relationship, humility, gratitude, and balance with Creation . . . 

Leader: Creator, you gave us this earth, these waters, and the breath in our bodies, long before screens and signals.  

All: Teach us to walk gently in both the forest and the fiber‑optics.

Leader: We remember that every being—two‑legged, four‑legged, winged, finned, rooted—is our relative.  

All: Let our digital words honor our relatives as if we spoke around the fire.

Leader: Many of us wake to a glowing screen before we greet the dawn sky.  

All: Turn our first attention to you, to the wind, to the **water**, before the endless scrolling.

Leader: Our devices promise connection yet often deepen our loneliness and anger.  

All: Help us seek real kinship, not just followers, real listening, not just noise.

Leader: We confess the times we have used phones and computers to gossip, to shame, or to boast.  

All: Cleanse our hearts and our keyboards, that our posts may carry kindness and truth.

Leader: We are tempted to forget our own stories, languages, and ceremonies in the flood of digital images.  

All: Help us remember our elders’ teachings and carry them into this new world with respect.

Leader: Some use technology to steal, to lie, to watch over others, and to profit from our fear.  

All: Give us clear eyes, wise minds, and courage to protect the vulnerable.

Leader: We thank you for the good uses of technology: learning languages, preserving songs, sharing teachings, and calling for justice.  

All: May our screens become windows to wisdom, not mirrors for vanity.

Leader: When we sit together—at the table, in the lodge, in circle—yet hide behind our phones, we grow distant from each other.  

All: Teach us when to put devices away, to look into each other’s eyes, and to listen with our whole bodies.

Leader: The earth groans under the weight of extraction, factories, and discarded electronics.  

All: Remind us that every device has a cost, and guide us to live more simply, with gratitude instead of greed.

Leader: Creator, you move through wind, fire, water, and the quiet of our hearts.  

All: Help us notice your presence even in the digital storm—between the buzz of notifications and the silence of prayer.

Leader: Let our passwords guard what is sacred, but never lock out compassion.  

All: Let our data be used for healing, not harm; for truth‑telling, not deceit.

Leader: In this time of fast messages and short attention, give us patience for deep learning and careful speech.  

All: May our online footprints show mercy, humility, and respect.

Leader: Creator, make our phones and computers tools of mino‑bimaadiziwin, the good life, not masters of our time and spirit.  

All: Guide our hands, eyes, and minds, that every click and every word move us closer to balance with you, with each other, and with all our relations.

All: Gichi‑miigwech, Creator. Help us live well in this wired world, as true relatives to land, water, and one another.