This litany of remembrance and confession arises from an Armenian Genocide Remembrance Service in Dublin, Ireland. Each year, sadly, current cases of ethnic or racial cleansing and other atrocities are added. In our Modern Time…is it forgotten? Will the horrors of human devastation ever lead to peace? We persist in remembering, lest we forget. We […]
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Vigil Against Gun Violence, Good Friday
Prepared by Washington Park United Church of Christ, Denver, Colorado Background “The Good Friday Vigil Against Gun Violence emerged out of what Denver experienced as the Summer of Violence in 1993, when there was a high incidence of gun deaths in the metro region. The staff of Washington Park United Church of Christ thought it […]
Read full textConfession of destruction — United Methodist Church, USA
God, keeper of the atoms and stars, you made us collaborators in creation, but we have pilfered the secrets of ordered existence and justified their immoral use in the name of ‘security’ and ‘peace.’ We could say then that we didn’t know the consequences. Now we do know, but we are complacent and silent. Have […]
Read full textPrayer for our fragmented world — Jill Teer, USA
Holy God We come to you as people who love and trust you. We come knowing that your love for the world includes all of us, regardless of our views and opinions. We thank you that we are loved as we are, and we are grateful that you love us too much to leave us […]
Read full textOur violent world, Confession, Advent 2 — Allison Goerke, USA
In the second week of Advent, churches traditionally light the Candle of Peace. This prayer of confession might be used in worship on Sunday with this explanation: Several denominations are ‘calling on congregations NOT to light their second Advent candle — in solidarity with all those who are suffering in the war between Israel […]
Read full textPrayer for victims of atrocities — Armenian Genocide Recognition Committee, Ireland
We shall remember them. We shall not lose heart. Minute of Silence… for the victims of all the recent atrocities in _______ We pray for our suffering world, for the end of enmity and strife between nations, for the end of inequality and poverty affecting people of various backgrounds. We remember the victims of violence, […]
Read full textPrayer responding to disaster — Global Ministries, USA
Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. (Isaiah 40:1) Holy God, ever present, our hearts are once again heavy as we watch this disaster unfold. We pray comfort for those who have lost loved ones and remember those who have lost their lives, commending their souls to your care. In the midst of this […]
Read full textPrayer response to violence, 1 John 4:20
Adapted from a prayer written by Terri Hord Owens God of Love, our hearts break at the violence in our world, the loss of life, the dishonouring of children of God, the vile insults hurled and the wounds of history reopened. We pray for the families of those who have died and all the wounded. […]
Read full textPrayer for peace in a world starved for love, James Evans McReynolds, USA
Originally written in response to police shootings and deaths in the USA… God, You who are ultimately in control, the fury and pain and death of this world are before us this day. We weep over the hunger, war, conflict, and hate cursing the landscape of the earth, wasting lives that barely had a chance, […]
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