Daily Prayer for Peace
Daily Prayer for Peace
1:00 p.m.

Map of Venezuela

Flag of Venezuela
Venezuela

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Gathering in Silence
Call to Prayer
Lighting of Candle

Invitation
  We greet you in the name of the God who has called us to peace. 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 Venezuela in our prayers. Located in South America, Venezuela was ruled chiefly by dictators until 1958. Peaceful elections have since distinguished the country as one of the most stable democracies in South America. Current concerns include: drug-related conflicts along the Colombian border, increasing internal drug consumption, overdependence on the petroleum industry with its price fluctuations, and mining operations that are endangering the rain forest and indigenous peoples.

Let us worship together and lift up an ensign of peace, and make a proclamation for peace unto the ends of the earth.
 
Reading: Psalm 34:15, 17-18 IP
  The eyes of Our God are on those who do justice,
and God’s ears are open to their cry.
The just cry out, and Our God hears,
and saves them from all their troubles.
Our God is close to the brokenhearted
and rescues those whose spirits are crushed.
 

Prayer for Peace by Bruce Lindgren, Independence, Missouri
  We pause at this time in our day, O God, to offer a prayer for peace in our world. We are aware that peace is often missing from our lives, and for this we must repent. Despite our best intentions, we often find ourselves engaged in activities that work against the peace we desire and the peace you have called us to.

O Lord, we stand in need of your forgiveness and redemption. Turn our foolishness into your victory, and transform our mistakes into moments of grace. We are aware that there is no true and lasting peace without justice, and we are aware of places where justice is still in fragile infancy. May peace and justice grow in harmony in all places where they are fragile and new.

You have called us to be peacemakers, O God, and yet we realize that we can do so only when we carry your peace with us. Help us to be makers of your peace. Work through us, that your peace and your justice and your mercy will dwell in our world. We ask for your blessings, O God, but may they be blessings that bring about your peaceful reign. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
 

Hymn -   O Jesus, I Have Promised - Hymns of the Saints #463
 
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.
  O God, come into the brokenness of our lives and our land with your healing love. Help us to be willing to bow before you in true repentance, and to bow to one another in real forgiveness.
The People Pray in Silence
  By the fire of your Holy Spirit melt our hard hearts, and consume the pride and prejudice which separate us. Fill us, O Lord, with your perfect love which casts out fear, and bind us together in Divine unity.
The People Pray in Silence
  We pray for all ecumenical initiatives, and all occasions which bring together people of different traditions and customs. Help us to see the good in all people especially as we remember the people of the Venezuela. May we all learn of peace.
The People Pray in Silence
  We thank you and praise you for love that sustains us, for wisdom that directs us, and for desire that beckons us toward peace in our world.
The People Pray in Silence
  At this time we remember our private concerns. Hear our petitions we humbly ask.
The People Pray in Silence
  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.
The People Pray in Silence
  We pray these things in the Spirit of Peace. Amen.
 
Sending Forth
  We conclude our service today with Ministry of Music. You are invited to remain to pray or meditate in the quiet of this place for as long as you may wish.

Go now and be a peacemaker.
 
Ministry of Music