Praying for Peace and Justice on October 18, 2026
Holy One,
I’m offering this prayer on behalf of a church, the idea of which is two years older than I am, which makes me feel old and young simultaneously, and very humbled and grateful.
I never knew the visionary group who looked at a sod farm in Gernmantown & saw a church retreat with nature restored, nor the folks who fought to close an abusive, overcrowded child detention center called Junior Village; I met Gordon and Mary Cosby, who not only seeded the vision for Church of the Savior, but a second vision of smaller churches embedded in neighborhoods, only once before they passed away. But their witness, and that of many others, lives on in what they helped create. Calls began and ended, ministries outgrew churches, and always You were there.
And You are still speaking to us today through the Word, through the example of our siblings in Christ working to bring greater justice and peace, whether partnering with folks on the other side of the world or pushing our growing edge here in our streets and neighborhoods.
And yet, we falter at times, feeling lost in a dark wood, uncertain of the path ahead. We fight poorly, too wedded to our own ways to really hear each other–and we hurt each other at times. We cause harm of which we are not yet fully aware. Forgive us, Holy One.
Grant us light, to see the next step if not the whole path, and help us step forward with courage, because peace has to be _made_ and lived, and You call us to press our small weights to the moral arc of the universe, that it may bend toward justice, as Dr. King reminded us. Help us, Loving and Beloved One.