A TIME OF PRAYER AS THERE IS WAR
O God,
Great Creator of Peace,
Great Reconciler of Peace,
Great Sustainer of Peace,
Holy Sovereign of the Peaceable Kin-Dom:
Your world is once again at war.
Like so many times before,
it seems like warfare is the norm
and that peoples will resort to violence
as a preferred way
of getting what they want.
It not only goes against your will and purpose,
but it demeans and destroys community within the human family.
It destroys our understanding of the respect and dignity
that we are to honor in each,
being your people, created in your likeness.
What are we to do?
We know that our prayers are not a way to change your mind
or your dealing with us.
We know that our prayers change only we ourselves,
and in turn those with whom we share our lives.
But, how do we change the world and those who live in far off places?
Russia and Ukraine are a world away,
in so many ways.
Yet in your Church, west meets east
and we are all one.
Will that unity somehow bring people together
for the establishment of peace with justice?
Will our common bond be the beginning of r
epentance
and reconciliation?
Will our trust in you bring us to a place where
we are more able to trust in each other,
to build the kind of relationships that make for community
and the common good?
Or, is it far too early in this current madness
to think beyond the ending of violence?
O God,
One of Wisdom,
One of Truth,
One of Perfect Holiness—
we are uncertain as to what to do.
We confess that there are times that we wish we could invoke your power
to simply zap those who turn to warfare and its devastation.
But, then, none are innocent.
None would survive.
Not a single one of us
is worthy to be above
such holy indignation and wrath.
Perhaps that is why war effects us to the core.
It is not only the empathy and compassion we feel
for those
who are the target
or such heinous acts.
It is also the internal awareness that we are capable
of like crimes
against our brothers and sisters.
We are quick to identify an enemy.
It is our scapegoating way of maneuvering the terrain of our mortality.
Yet, even when an aggressor and a true enemy is known,
we take sides and cheer on the one of our choosing,
while wishing harm or consequence upon the offender.
Free us, O God, from all that keeps us from being a peaceable people.
Help us to move beyond a life that learns war and violence.
Give us the strength and courage to transform the weapons of war into the instruments for the making of justice and the healing of the nations.
This we ask in the name of your Beloved One, the Sovereign on Peace. Amen.
Free us, O God, from all that keeps us from being a peaceable people.
Help us to move beyond a life that learns war and violence.
Give us the strength and courage to transform the weapons of war into the instruments for the making of justice and the healing of the nations.
This we ask in the name of your Beloved One, the Sovereign on Peace. Amen.