Grant Us Peace
Grant us peace that will
BREAK our silence in the midst of violence
then prophetic voices shall resonate
Grant us peace that will
PULL US DOWN from the steeple of our pride
then we'll learn to wash each other's feet
Grant us peace that will
EMPTY us of hate and intolerance
then we'll turn guns into guitars and sing
Grant us peace that will
SHUT our mouths up when we speak too much
then we'll learn to listen and understand what others are saying
Grant us peace that will
DISTURB us in our apathy
then we'll dance together under the sun
Grant us peace that will
BURN our lethargic hearts
then we'll endure burning and let love and justice glow
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Lord Jesus ChristLord Jesus Christ,
You told the women of Jerusalem not to weep for you
but to weep for themselves.
Be with women who suffer violence in their homes,
As they weep for their sons caught up in the violence.
Be with the women who live in domestic violence,
Who have learnt not to weep for their own pains,
Who have suffered so long they are numb.
Strengthen your Church in its care and support
Of all who are in pain.
Help us to be sensitive and caring
For you are the Lord who suffers and serves. |
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Prayer of IntercessionMilitarization Leader: O God, listen to the cry of your suffering people who know no peace and cringe in terror, who are caught up in the midst of meaningless armed struggle of the greedy. Relieve them of their fears and fill their hearts with joy and thanksgiving.
People: Ya Tuhanku kasihanilah daku Ya Tuhanku kasinhanilah daku
("O Lord our God, have mercy on us; O Lord our God, have mercy on us.")
Poverty and Hunger Leader: O God, hear the cries of the poor and the hungry. Help us to recognize your Son Jesus Christ in the midst of the least of our brothers and sisters, that we may recognize their needs and fill the empty palms they extend to us.
People: "Ya Tuhanku"
Unemployment and Migration Leader: O God, whose will it is that we should live by the sweat of our brows in honest toil and labor, open the hearts of those who have the power to employ, so that those who labor receive just wages and a humane working environment. Strengthen us, O Lord, so that we may continue in solidarity with the victims of unjust labor and forced migration.
People: "Ya Tahanku"
Exploitation of Women Leader: O God, before whom we stand broken, we have failed to recognize your image and likeness among our sisters and mothers. Show us the way to respect and honor the dignity of every woman, that we, with them, may find common ways of enriching our lives as you intend us to do.
People: "Ya Thanku"
Child Abuse Leader: O God, through your Son Jesus Christ you showed mercy upon the children and blessed them with promise of inheritance of your Kindom. Move us to work for the annihilation of forces that continually deprive children of their sacred rights, that we may uphold the cause for which your Son himself died on the cross.
People: "Ya Tahanku"
Environmental Abuse Leader: O God, who created the heaven and the earth and all that is in them, you have entrusted your creation to our safekeeping and protection. Give us a sense of reverence for your creation and our connectedness to the web of life, that we may preserve for posterity that which provides us means to live and enjoy life.
People: "Ya Tahanku" Displacement
Leader: Hearken to the pleas of all people threathened with dispossesion and the loss of ancestral lands, all indigenous people faced with the loss of cultural identity, and move us to destroy the forces that seek to dehumanize them.
People: "Ya Tahanku"
Imperial Power and Globalization Leader: Regard with mercy, O God, nations whose national security and peace are threathened by foreign domination, who know no sovereignty but only subjugation, control and slavery.
Hear the cry of peasants and workers of the third world whose lives are becoming more miserable because of the unjust trade and exploitation perpetuated by WTO. Renew and guide us in our journey towards a better world where life in abundance is enjoyed by many.
People: "Ya Tahanku" |
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Thanksgiving
salamat, salamat O Dakilang Manlilikha (our deep gratitude, O Great Creator)
sa buhay, pag-ibig, kapayapaan (for life, for love, for peace)
apoy na nagbibigay ng buhay (life-giving fire)
turuan kaming umibig (teach us to love)
hininga, hangin (breath, breeze)
turuan kami ng kapayapaan (teach us peace)
ilog, tubig, dagat (river, water, sea)
turuan kami ng katarungan (teach us justice)
lupang nagluluwal ng buhay (life-creating earth)
salamat sa iyong biyaya (our gratitude for your blessings)
salamat O Dakilang Manlilikha (our deep gratitude, O Great Creator)
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Peace in AsiaFor homeless children begging in the streets of Colombo,
close to a million internally displaced Burmese,
prostituted women waiting under Bangkok night lights,
church people and peace advocates killed in the Philippines:
We pray for peace.
For the victims of war torn East Timor,
Tuvalu and Kiribati threatened by the rising sea level because of global warming,
the alarming rate of suicide incidents in Tokyo,
sexually abused migrant workers in Singapore:
We pray for peace.
For factory workers receiving low wages in Beijing,
the long standing rift in the Korean Peninsula,
oppressed and persecuted Dalits in India,
refugees starving to death in Afghanistan:
We pray for peace.
For tsunami victims in South Asia,
troubled relationships between Taiwan and China,
babies born without eyes in Saigon caused by Agent Orange,
brothels filled with thousands of child sex slaves in Cambodia:
We pray for peace.
We pray for peace so that
carpenters building rich peoples' houses will have roofs over their heads,
the life-giving earth will bless us with its fruits,
farmers, whose tears and blood have watered the fields, will have food on their tables,
textile workers will clothe their weary bodies,
and those who struggle for peace will find justice,
because Christ is our peace. |
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Prayer of Intercession for Asia1. For Christians and other minority communities in many parts of Asia and around the world who are experiencing violence and marginalisation due to the upsurge of religious fundamentalism. May we learn to live in the pluralistic cultural context of Asia with a sense of respect for each other's diversities.
2. For the initiatives of churches in different parts of Asia promoting peace and reconciliation. Let us pray that their governments will listen to the longing of the people for peace rather than war.
3. For the efforts of the churches and people in the Philippines in their peace-building ministry in solidarity with Muslim brothers and sisters in Mindanao. And for the human rights activists, peacemakers and church people who are killed by the military. Let us join with them in their struggle for justice and human rights.
4. For the peace process in Sri Lanka and for the immediate ceasing of hostilities between the ethnic groups of Sinhalese and the Tamils.
5. For peace and reconciliation in Indonesia, particularly in the Molucca Islands, Aceh and Irian Jaya, and for the many internally displaced people caused by communal conflicts and the tsunami. Let us pray that order and rehabilitation may be restored by the government in this land.
6. For the restoration of peace in East Timor, Myanmar and Cambodia.
7. For the peaceful reunification of North and South Korea.
8. For the peaceful resolution of tension between China and Taiwan and the efforts of the churches to continue to work for peace and reconciliation.
9. For love, peace and reconciliation in the life of families, especially those who face difficulties and the threat of brokenness.
10. For the Christian Conference of Asia, its member churches and councils all over Asia and for our witness to foster unity in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. |
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From A Procession of Prayers
God of the dispossessed,
defender of the helpless,
you grieve with all the women who weep,
because their children are no more;
may we also refuse to be comforted
until the violence of the strong has been confounded,
and the broken victims have been set free
in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
(United Kingdom: Janet Morley)
O Lord, you have said to us Peace I leave with you.'
This peace that you give is not that of this world:
it is not the peace of order, when order oppresses;
it is not the peace of silence, when silence is born of suppression;
it is not the peace of resignation, when such resignation is unworthy.
Your peace is love for all people,
is justice for all people,
is truth for all people,
the truth that liberates and stimulates growth.
Lord, it is this peace we believe in because of your promise.
Grant us peace, and we will give this peace to others. (Italy: the Waldensian Community)
Lord, in penitence
I offer you my own mixed up anger,
that it, with theirs, may be taken up into you redemptive will
in which the clash between anger and fear,
oppressed and oppressor,
can give way,
to the incomprehensible action of love
bringing about reconciliation and healing
the embrace of the other
the alien
the enemy
creating the festival of shalom
in which the wolf shall lie down with the lamb
and the whole of life on earth shall rejoice
in the splendor of your glory. (South Africa)
To you, Creator of nature and humanity,
in truth and beauty I pray:
Hear my voice, for it is the voice of victims of all wars and
violence among individuals and nations.
Hear my voice, for it is the voice of all children who suffer and
will suffer when people put their faith in weapons and war.
Hear my voice when I beg you to instill into the hearts of all
human beings the wisdom of peace, the strength of justice
and the joy of fellowship.
Hear my voice, for I speak for the multitudes in every
country and every period of history who do not want war
and are ready to walk the road of peace.
Hear my voice, and grant insight and strength so that we
may always respond to hatred with love, to injustice with
total dedication to justice, to need with the sharing of self,
to war with peace.
O God hear my voice, and grant unto the world your everlasting peace. (Prayer of Pope John Paul II at Hiroshima)
From the land of the Resurrection and the cradle of the
promise of salvation to all humankind through Jesus Christ
our Lord, and with a candle of hope, we pray to you, God
our Father, that the action of peace seekers and peace
makers may bear fruit, so that
Hope will take the place of despair,
Justice will prevail over oppression,
Peace will turn strife into love. (Jerusalem: prayer of a Palestinian Woman)
God, you are the God of life.
Transform us in the depths of our hearts
into people, through whom your peace
is carried out into your world.
Send your Spirit into the hearts of those
who are captured in the net of violence
be it as perpetrators or as victims
and let us never give up the search
for the chance to talk to them. (Croatia)
O Lord Jesus Christ, whose perfect life met death by
violence and was not extinguished; so enter the hearts and
minds of those affected by violence, that frailty may give
way to your strength, loss to your pain, bitterness to your
total and victorious love; for your name's sake. Amen. (United Kingdom: a prayer used at the place
where a young woman was murdered) |
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Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2004Day 3
O Lord our God, in Jesus Christ
your only Word
you have put hatred to death.
Through his death, in the silence of the cross
you have reconciled human beings to one other and to yourself.
transform our words of violence into words of peace
and give us the grace not to refuse the cost of this universal reconciliation. Amen.
Day 8
Triune God, you have revealed to us that the works of darkness and injustice have to be conquered by the dying and rising of Jesus. Jesus' offer of peace encourages us to imitate him in breaking the bonds of inhumanity, of injustice, of hatred, of disunity. Strengthen us with your Spirit of peace that we may always hate evil, love good and establish justice. Do not allow us to cry "Peace" when we are comfortable but declare war against those who go hungry and live in precarious situations. Enable us to find your peace in humble and courageous service of the least of these who are members of your family. Amen. |
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Prayer of St. Francis
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
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A Christian response to war
Eternal God
Save us from weak resignation to violence
Teach us that restraint is the highest expression of power
That thoughtfulness and tenderness are marks of the strong.
Help us to love our enemies
Not by countenancing their sins,
But by remembering our own
And may we never for a moment forget
That they are fed by the same food,
Hurt by the same weapons,
Have children for whom they have the same high hopes as we do.
Grant us the ability
To find joy and strength not in the strident call to arms
To grasp our fellow creatures
In the striving for justice and truth.
1991 NCC Australia & Australia Catholic relief.
Prepared by a Christian, a Jew and a Muslim (Aug. 1990)
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Chaldean ChurchMay my peace be in you. Glory to God. Peace and safety on earth; joy and hope to all humanity,
without distinction. Such is the good news of the birth and mission of Christ, yesterday, today
and forever.
How beautiful are the steps of the messengers of the good news of peace! Christ has called us to
live in love, far from dispute: neither to oppress, to be jealous, to humiliate, nor to judge. He has
called us to act with goodwill to wipe away all discord. And the Lord will reward our efforts.
Happy are the peacemakers! That is the teaching of Jesus Christ. Peace cannot reign without
friendship, sincere dialogue. Love, justice, truth and equality are the guarantees of lasting peace.
"My peace I leave you, my peace I give to you" . O Lord of peace, may we live in respect of
each other, in a spirit of truth and affirmation, rejecting all jealousy, overcoming evil with
patience, wiping it away with pardon and bringing in the reign of peace through goodness.
(From the Oriental Chaldean Rite : Offertory Song from Mass of the Lord's Circumcision)
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THE PRAYERS based on a Palestinian litany
written by Bishop Munib A. Younan
Let us pray for the whole people of God in Christ Jesus, and for all people according to their needs.
Merciful God, in the birth of your Son Jesus Christ in Bethlehem you became one of us; you shared our joy, suffering and pain. We thank you for taking refuge in Egypt and for identifying yourself with refugees and victims of political power. We thank you for your suffering on the cross and for identifying yourself with those who suffer from injustice and live under occupation.
Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer.
Eternal God, you know the troubles and pains of the people of Israel-Palestine: We pray for the victims of injustice and violence but also for those who have caused suffering. We pray for those who cannot enter their places of work. We pray for young people who are losing their hope for the future and for mothers who are tired of bloodshed and killing. We pray for the bereaved families, who have lost their beloved ones.
Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer.
We pray for the recovery of the injured. We pray for those who have to live with permanent disability. We pray for politicians; grant them wisdom and courage to search for reconciliation and peace.
Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer.
We are all created in your image. Grant us courage to recognize every person's human, religious, civil and political rights. Help us to build a culture of peace, justice and reconciliation. Free us from all hatred and bitterness.
Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer.
Our Lord Jesus Christ said to his disciples, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you." (John 14:27) Give peace to your church, peace among nations, peace in our homes, and peace in our hearts. Merciful God, accept our prayers and yearnings. You are our only strength, refuge and hope. In the name of Jesus - our liberator and redeemer.
Amen.
© Bishop Munib A. Younan, ELCJ, Palestine
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