Daily Prayer for Peace
1:00 p.m.
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Malawi
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Gathering in Silence
Call to Prayer
Lighting of CandleInvitation |
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Welcome, and it is good to greet you today
and share in prayer with you. Each day in this Temple dedicated to the
pursuit of peace, we pray to God for peace in our world. In addition,
each day we pray for a different country.
Today we will hold up the people of Malawi in our prayers. Located in
southern Africa, the British protectorate of Nyasaland became the
independent nation of Malawi in 1964. After three decades of one-party
rule, the country held multiparty elections in 1994 under a provisional
constitution, which took full effect the following year. National
multiparty elections were held again in 1999. Transportation costs for
exports skyrocketed as a result of civil war in next-door Mozambique,
which disrupted rail links to the sea and brought in more than 800,000
Mozambican refugees. Since the 1992 peace accord in Mozambique, rail
links have been reestablished, and Malawi is slowly recovering.
Increasing corruption, population growth, increasing pressure on
agricultural lands, and HIV/AIDS pose major problems for the country.
Together, let us worship the giver of light and peace. |
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| Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 37:26-27 NIV |
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I will make a covenant of peace with them;
it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase
their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever. My
dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be
my people. |
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Prayer for Peace by Clifford Carlson,
Independence, Missouri |
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O God,
We come now in our service of worship to pray for peace. We do this each
day at this hour. We trust that our prayers may be acceptable unto you.
We are grateful for the presence of your Spirit in our lives to this
point, and for the strong evidences of your love, as we have turned and
opened our minds and hearts to you.
And now at this time we pray for peace. Our Father, hear our prayer.
There is a great need for peace in our world today. But we feel so
helpless as we watch nations and peoples fight among themselves and not
seek for understanding.
We pray for peace.
Our hearts also go out to friends and neighbors who seek peace in their
lives and find it difficult to obtain. Help each person who seeks peace
to recognize it by the presence of your Spirit dwelling with them.
And so we pray for peace.
Finally, we sense the need for the presence of your peace to be in our
own personal lives. When we are not at one with you we miss the
indwelling of your Spirit that supports us and encourages us. When we
are at peace we can be examples to others that peace is possible when
your presence is with us. Help us to be an instrument of your peace.
We pray for peace in the name of Jesus, our Savior. Amen |
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Hymn - Gather Your Children - Sing for
Peace #3 |
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Prayers of the People
Please join us now, praying the Prayers of the People. During the
moments of silence, you are invited to pray silently or meditate. |
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We thank you, God, for all the blessings of this life.
We thank you for friends, family, and those who give particular meaning
to our lives. |
| The People Pray in Silence |
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We confess to you our shortcomings. In your compassion forgive our sins,
known and unknown, things done and left undone. Let us pray now for the
special concerns and needs of those gathered here this day. |
| The People Pray in Silence |
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We pray for the nations of the world, and in particular on this day for
Malawi. May they be able to put aside their differences and practice
peace. |
| The People Pray in Silence |
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We pray for all those who are powerless and oppressed by poverty,
disease, exploitation, prejudice, and for those who are in any other way
denied their full worth as your children. |
| The People Pray in Silence |
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We pray for the just and equitable use of the resources of your earth.
May all humanity exercise wise stewardship over everything in its care. |
| The People Pray in Silence |
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Please use this space to pray for any
current concern or event in our community, city, state, nation or world
that you feel needs to be held up to God for prayerful consideration.
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| The People Pray in Silence |
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May we seek peace with justice and joyfully celebrate the presence of
your spirit in our lives this day. Amen. |
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| Sending Forth |
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We conclude our service today with ministry of music. We
invite you to remain in the quiet of this place to pray or meditate for
as long as you may wish.
Let us go from this place and keep our resolves to bring peace in our
world. Let us not be the cause of disharmony, but musicians in the
concert of peace. Go forth assured that the God of peace will walk with
you. Amen. |
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| Ministry of Music |
