Each Sunday morning, bridging our informal gathering time, during which we share from our lives, and our formal worship time, a different person, usually from Seekers, offers a prayer for peace and justice. Each person chooses what to say, with no prompting or guidance from the coordinator other than to be brief, prayerful and focused on peace and justice. On this page, we offer the text of some of those prayers.
A Prayer to make Food, Clothing and Shelter basic Human Rights
Praying for Peace and Justice on October 4, 2026 Let us pray This week, I was listening to UK’s Prime MInister Burnham speak about the new policy to work so “no citizen ever has to sleep rough again.” He talked about the dignity of having a home, and the responsibility to surround people with services so that they can then thrive in their homes. I pray that the US adopts such a policy outlook–deciding that we will count housing, food and basic medical care as human rights, and changing our budget priorities to allow more equal access to all of these…
A Prayer to Shape a Way for Justice for those needing it
Praying for Peace and Justice on September 20, 2026 Here’s a very short prayer from Octavia Butler, one of the first African-American science fiction writers and one of the first women to break the science fiction gender barrier: We perceive and attend God. We learn from God. With forethought and work, We shape God. In the end, we yield to God. And I’ll continue the prayer on my own now: …therefore, may God be with those who are in need. If we are shaping God, let us shape a way for those who need justice to have it and work…
A Prayer for the End of the Death Penalty
Praying for Peace and Justice on September 27, 2026 I pray for Chirstina Pike, for my friend Obie, and all those who have been held for inordinate amounts of time, subject to abuse and deprived of their rights as human beings. May we all pray for an end to the death penalty, and for a national standard for the treatment of those held in our prisons that unilaterally offer the right to pursue an opportunity to apologize to the families of their victims, and the right to pursue rehabilitation and freedom. Amen Background From Solitary Watch: “Sentenced to death at…
A Prayer for God’s Help in Adopting Practices to Alleviate Suffering
Praying for Peace and Justice on September 13 2026 Let us pray. Holy One, As we sit with our memories of that gloriously beautiful and most awful day of 9/11/2001 and as we reflect on the deep caring and courage and also the ugly, visceral hatred that was evident that day and in its aftermath, even to this day, we ask your help in learning these ways of living our complex lives in your Creation, practiced by Buddhists all over the world. Aware of the suffering created by fanaticism and intolerance, we are determined not to be idolatrous about or…
A Prayer for Justice for Immigrants in the United States
Praying for Peace and Justice on September 6, 2026 Let us pray. God, we cry out for justice. What our government is doing is madness. It is evil. And we ask for your power to tear it all down.We pray for DC, his daughters, and his partner.We pray for the thousands of others like them all over this country.Lord, hear their cry. Amen Background Some of you know I volunteer as a Haitian Creole translator for the Amica Center, an immigrant rights organization headquartered here in DC. On Thursday I translated for a lawyer and a Haitian immigrant, I‘ll refer to him…