|
An Interfaith Prayer for Peace
O God, you are the source of life and
peace.
Praised be your name forever.
We know it is you who turn our minds to
thoughts of peace.
Hear our prayer in this time of crisis.
Your power changes hearts
Muslims, Christians and Jews remember,
and profoundly affirm,
That they are followers of the one God,
Children of Abraham, brothers and
sisters;
Enemies begin to speak to one another;
those who were estranged join hands in
friendship;
nations seek the way of peace together.
Strengthen our resolve to give witness to
these
truths by the
way we live.
Give to us:
Understanding that puts an end to strife;
Mercy that quenches hatred, and
Forgiveness that overcomes vengeance.
Empower all people
to live in your law of love.
Amen.
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.
Universal Prayer of Peace
Lead us from Death to Life
From Falsehood to Truth
From Fear to Trust.
Lead us from hate to love
Lead us from War to Peace
Let Peace fill our hearts, our world, our
universe.
Peace,
Peace, Peace.
Prayer for Peace and Forgiveness
We confess that in our lives we do not
Always choose the way of peace.
We spread gossip which fans the flame of hatred.
We are ready to make any sacrifices when Caesar demands -
but few when God invites.
We worship the false god of security and nationalism
We hold out our hand in friendship -
But keep a weapon in the other behind our back
We have divided your body of people
Into those we trust and those we do not.
Huge problems challenge us in the world -
But our greed, fear and selfishness prevent
us from uniting to solve them
Lord, we
pray for your help,
Your forgiveness and your
Reconciling power in our lives.
Come let us
go up to the mountain of the Lord, that we may walk the paths of the Most
High.
And we shall beat our swords into ploughshares and our spears into pruning
hooks.
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation - neither shall they learn war
any more.
And none shall be afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts has spoken.
Isaiah
O God of many
names
Lover of all nations
We pray for peace
in our hearts
in our homes
in our nations
in our world
The peace of your will
The peace of our need.
George
Appleton, The Oxford
Book of Prayer (Oxford University Press, 1985)
O Lord, our
hearts are heavy with the sufferings
of the ages, with the crusades and the holocausts
of a thousand thousand years.
The blood of the victims is still warm,
The cries of anguish still fill the night.
To you we uplift our outspread hands.
We thirst for you in a thirsty land.
O Lord, who loves us as a father, who cares for us
as a mother, who came to share our life as a brother,
we confess before you our failure to live
as your children,
brothers and sisters bound together in love.
To you we lift our outspread hands.
We thirst for you in a thirsty land.
We have squandered the gift of life,
The good life of some is built on the pain of many;
the pleasure of a few on the agony of millions.
To you we lift our outstretched hands.
We thirst for you in a thirsty land.
We worship death in our quest to possess
ever more things; we worship death
in our hankering after our own security,
our own survival, our own peace,
as if life were divisible, as if life were divisible,
as if Christ had not died for all of us.
<
To you we lift our outstretched hands.
We thirst for you in a thirsty land.
O Lord, forgive our life-denying pursuit of life,
and teach us anew what it means to be your children.
To you we lift our outstretched hands.
We are thirsty in a thirsty land.
World
Council of Churches in The Complete Book of
Christian Prayer
The following
prayer authored by Christian, Jewish and Muslim clergy was used in many
places in inter-religious worships around the time of the Gulf War in 1991:
Eternal God,
Creator of the universe, there is no God but You.
Great and wonderful are Your works, wondrous are your ways.
Thank You for the many splendoured variety of Your creation.
Thank You for the many ways we affirm Your presence and purpose,
and the freedom to do so.
Forgive our violation of Your creation.
Forgive our violence toward each other.
We stand in awe and gratitude for Your persistent love
for each and all of Your children:
Christian, Jew, Muslim,
as well as those with other faiths.
Grant to all and our leaders attributes of the strong;
mutual respect in words and deed,
restraint in the exercise of power, and
the will for peace with justice, for all.
Eternal God, Creator of the universe, there is no God but You. Amen.
(Excerpted
from Current Dialogue 24/93, p.36)
Celtic Benediction
Deep peace of the
Running wave to you,
Deep peace of the
Flowing air to you,
Deep peace of the
Quiet earth to you,
Deep peace of the
Shining stars to you,
Deep peace of the
Son of peace to you.
Useful links
World Peace Prayer Society: http://www.worldpeace.org/
Peace
Prayer: http://www.peaceprayer.org/index.html
WCC
Prayers for Peace in Iraq:
http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/international/iraqprayers-e.html
Peace
Seed Prayers: http://peaceseeds.elysiumgates.com/peaceseed.html
Emissary
of Light: http://www.emissaryoflight.com/_.aspx?content=peaceprayers&t_t=6
Pax
Christi UK:
http://www.paxchristi.org.uk/litgy.HTML
|
