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 for the Grace and Strength to work for Peace
Praying for Peace and Justice on October 20, 2024 Let us pray. Holy One, As Jeremiah cried out, “Peace, peace, when there is no peace.” In Matthew’s Gospel, to be consoled, because peace is no more in our land. Holy One, we cry out: Peace, peace when there is no peace.“ Without justice, there can be no peace. Give us the grace and strength to work for peace in our world, in our relationships, in our streets, in our community, and in our country. In Your many names we pray: Amen
A Prayer to Turn the Hearts of Those Who Do Violence Out of Their Own Oppression
Praying for Peace and Justice on September 29, 2024 Lord, what can we pray that has not already been prayed? We join our hearts with the millions of people who, for centuries, have cried out for peace and justice in Israel and Palestine. This conflict is so complex, and so intertwined with the roots of antisemitism and colonialism and anti-muslim rhetoric and white supremacist ideology and we do not see the way out. But we believe that you are the God who turned Saul into Paul, that you can turn the hearts of those who would do violence out of…
A Prayer to Find Peace in our Hearts and to Help Bring Justice to those Closest to Us
Praying for Peace and Justice on September 15, 2024 Let us pray: Creator God, your peace and justice is needed in so many ways and in so many places around the world, from school shootings to deadly heat to threats to democracy. But our prayer this morning is simply for us to find Peace in our own hearts today, whatever comes, and to help bring Justice to those closest to us. Amen.
A Prayer to be Doers
Praying for Peace and Justice on September 1, 2024 Oh God, this week, we have been encouraged by your text in 1st James to be generous, as you are generous, but we often are stingy with our money and our time. When we give it, we are tempted to only help our friends, not the stranger, the foreigner, the person of another faith tradition, the person of a different political frame. Help us to model your generosity. Oh God, we have been encouraged to be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger, but we often do not…
A Prayer of Lament and Grief in the Face of Violence in the Middle East
Praying for Peace and Justice on August 18, 2024 Creator God, we grieve this morning for the volcanoes of rage and hatred erupting around your earth. Saddened God, we grieve this morning for the teenagers and youth slaughtered by armed militants at an outdoor music festival. Merciful God, we grieve this morning for the scared babies, mothers and grandmothers abducted into strange and terrifying places and awaiting an unknown future. Weeping God, we grieve this morning for the patients and families who sought healing and comfort in a hospital, only to find more death, maiming and terror. Searching God, we…