A Concord Pastor Comments: NIGHT PRAYER: Monday 3/2

You might remember tonight's prayer which I usually post on one of the Sundays of Advent as we light the candles on the Advent wreath. You might retrieve a window candle from your Christmas decorations and put it in a window or on your kitchen table where to remind you to pray for peace in the midst of all the violence we're witnessing in so many places in the world today...

Let us pray for peace...

Let us pray for an end to terrorism and war,
an end to violence and bloodshed...

Let us pray for peace in the United States,

  in Iran, Ukraine, Russia, Palestine, Israel,
   Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, Syria,
   Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, the Sahel,

Haiti, the Central African Republic, Somalia,

Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
and every place where the poor are the victims

of power and greed...

Let us pray for the wisdom

   to make peace our greatest and ultimate goal,
   to negotiate rather than attack,
   to speak rather than to raise a fist,
   to reconcile differences in favor of the common good,
   to value human life above any other cause or concern,
   to forgive one another as we would want to be forgiven...

Let us pray for the safe return of those in harm's way,
who are far from home, family and friends...

Let us pray for peace at our nation's borders
and at the borders of nations around the world...

Let us pray for legislation

to end to the violence of mass shootings...

Let us pray for racial peace and harmony
   all around the world...

Let us pray for a bipartisan political peace in America...

Let us pray for peace of mind
   for those who grieve loved ones lost in war...

Let us pray for our enemies...

Let us pray for the unity of all who believe in Christ...

Let us pray for peace and understanding
   between the people of different beliefs and faiths...

Let us pray for an end to the wars we wage
in our own families, at our kitchen tables,

in our communities and neighborhoods,

at work and at school...

Let us pray for the peace and safety
of all who live with domestic violence...

Let us pray for those we make our personal enemies...
and for those who make enemies of us...

Let us pray for an end to the wars we fight
with ourselves

and within ourselves...

Let us pray for healing peace

in the minds and hearts
of all who live with anxiety,

fear and depression...

Let us pray for peace

in our hearts' secret places

where only God knows how great is our need

for serenity, stillness and calm...

Let us pray for that peace the world cannot give,

the peace we hunger and thirst for,

the peace that comes from God alone,

the peace that will set us free...

Protect us, Lord, while we're awake
and watch over us while we sleep
that awake, we might keep watch with you
and asleep, rest in your peace...

Amen.

Two songs tonight: the first is the plaintive chant of those who long for peace, the second, a more upbeat call to embrace the hope of a world at peace...

If two widgets don't appear below, click here!

Peace by Dan Loewen