Prayers For Peace
Prayer
Lectionary Worship Aids
Series VII, Cycle C
Object:
One: Lord, we come before you humbly, without all the answers, but trusting in your goodness and sure of your wisdom.
All: Lord, we pray for your peace. Not peace as the world knows, but the peace that passes all understanding, that binds our hearts together as one people in love.
* * *
One: Lord we pray for the troops who represent us in troubled spots around the world.
All: Lord, these are the people who speak our language, share this continent, understand our hopes and dreams. These are the people who have left behind loved ones, who now wait and worry over every report of casualties. These are the people we know. Guide their hearts, grant them wisdom, protect them, and bring them home to their waiting families and friends. Shield them from the hatred that can grow in the heart. Grant them peace.
* * *
One: Lord, we pray for the innocent people who dwell in zones of war.
All: For the children, we pray that they will be shielded from the hate preached by others, that they might grow to work for a better and brighter world. For their parents, we pray that work and purpose might be theirs. For all who are innocently caught in the crossfire of bullets, we pray for your presence, your mercy, your peace.
* * *
One: Lord, we pray for those misguided souls who honestly believe they are serving you through violence.
All: We lift up those who believe their own death and the deaths of those they have been taught to think of as enemies is somehow your will. Lord, if their healing is beyond us, it rests in your wisdom, judgment, and mercy. We pray that your Spirit will enter into the hearts of those who may be considering destruction, their own and others' -- grant them peace.
* * *
One: Lord, we pray for those who cynically preach hatred, who mislead the young into giving up their lives.
All: God of all, it is your will that none should perish, but that all should have eternal life, yet there is evil in the world, and much of that evil wears a human face. We ask that you perform a mighty work, turning around the hearts and minds of those who hate on a scale that we cannot understand. Let your love reign. Let your mercy put out the fires of hatred that rage the world over, far away and close to home. Grant us peace.
* * *
One: Lord, we pray for ourselves.
All: We confess to you our own hatred, our own fears, our own ignorance. If we have been the cause of anyone's stumbling, deliberately or unwittingly, we confess these things now. Heal us, call us together as your family here in this church, that we might continue to witness to the power and the promise of peace, not peace as the world knows it, but the peace you have brokered through the cross and the resurrection. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
All: Lord, we pray for your peace. Not peace as the world knows, but the peace that passes all understanding, that binds our hearts together as one people in love.
* * *
One: Lord we pray for the troops who represent us in troubled spots around the world.
All: Lord, these are the people who speak our language, share this continent, understand our hopes and dreams. These are the people who have left behind loved ones, who now wait and worry over every report of casualties. These are the people we know. Guide their hearts, grant them wisdom, protect them, and bring them home to their waiting families and friends. Shield them from the hatred that can grow in the heart. Grant them peace.
* * *
One: Lord, we pray for the innocent people who dwell in zones of war.
All: For the children, we pray that they will be shielded from the hate preached by others, that they might grow to work for a better and brighter world. For their parents, we pray that work and purpose might be theirs. For all who are innocently caught in the crossfire of bullets, we pray for your presence, your mercy, your peace.
* * *
One: Lord, we pray for those misguided souls who honestly believe they are serving you through violence.
All: We lift up those who believe their own death and the deaths of those they have been taught to think of as enemies is somehow your will. Lord, if their healing is beyond us, it rests in your wisdom, judgment, and mercy. We pray that your Spirit will enter into the hearts of those who may be considering destruction, their own and others' -- grant them peace.
* * *
One: Lord, we pray for those who cynically preach hatred, who mislead the young into giving up their lives.
All: God of all, it is your will that none should perish, but that all should have eternal life, yet there is evil in the world, and much of that evil wears a human face. We ask that you perform a mighty work, turning around the hearts and minds of those who hate on a scale that we cannot understand. Let your love reign. Let your mercy put out the fires of hatred that rage the world over, far away and close to home. Grant us peace.
* * *
One: Lord, we pray for ourselves.
All: We confess to you our own hatred, our own fears, our own ignorance. If we have been the cause of anyone's stumbling, deliberately or unwittingly, we confess these things now. Heal us, call us together as your family here in this church, that we might continue to witness to the power and the promise of peace, not peace as the world knows it, but the peace you have brokered through the cross and the resurrection. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
