Daily Prayer for Peace
1:00 p.m.
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Malawi
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more about Malawi?
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Lonely
Planet. |
Gathering in Silence
Call to Prayer
Lighting of CandleInvitation |
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Welcome, and we greet you in the name of
the Prince of Peace to this sacred place. 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 remember 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. National multiparty elections were held again in 1999.
Increasing corruption, population growth, increasing pressure on
agricultural lands, and HIV/AIDS pose major problems for the country.
We have come from our daily lives to pray that the light of peace will
heal the dark places of the earth. Let us worship as one and thereby be
the light we are called to be. |
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| Scripture Reading: Matthew 5:38-48 INT |
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You’ve heard the commandment, ‘An eye for
an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you,
don’t resist an evil person. When someone strikes you on the right
cheek, turn and offer the other. If anyone wants to sue you for your
shirt, hand over your coat as well. Should anyone press you into service
for one mile, go two miles. Give to those who beg from you. And don’t
turn your back on those who want to borrow from you.
You have heard it said, ‘Love your neighbor—but hate your enemy.’ But I
tell you, love your
enemies and pray for your persecutors. This will prove that you are
children of God. For God makes the sun rise on bad and good alike; God’s
rain falls on the just and the unjust. If you love those who love you,
what merit is there in that? Don’t tax collectors do as much? And if you
greet only your sisters and brothers, what is so praiseworthy about
that? Don’t Gentiles do as much? Therefore be perfect, as Abba God in
heaven is perfect. |
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Prayer for Peace by Hilda F. Deem,
Oakdale, Connecticut |
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Dear Lord, we praise you. We praise you that you are,
and that you always have been and always will be. Please open our eyes
to see the world around us and help us to visualize the world as you
intended it to be.
Where there is hate may we exemplify love, where there is need may we be
charitable, where there is loneliness may we give comfort, where there
is misunderstanding may we seek for reconciliation. Where there is
sorrow may we show compassion, for it is only in giving of ourselves
that we can become instruments of peace in the world. Amen. |
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Hymn - Forgive Us, Lord - Hymns of
the Saints #103 |
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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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O, God, let us join in a common confession of our sins.
Forgive us for the arrogance of our pride of race, of nation, and of
class, by which we put down others and thus break the community of the
human family, in defiance of your will. |
| The People Pray in Silence |
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Forgive us for the sin of our self-concern, where we seek first our own
private good, in getting and gaining, to the neglect of our neighbor's
needs near and far. |
| The People Pray in Silence |
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Forgive us for our casual and careless disdain for the good earth, in
all its majesty and beauty, which we plunder and despoil for present
gain, counting not the dire cost the future must pay. |
| The People Pray in Silence |
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O God, we ask your watchcare and blessing for the people of Malawi. Help
them, and us, to learn peaceful ways to settle our differences. |
| The People Pray in Silence |
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We ask divine blessing upon the needs and concerns of those gathered
here this day. Hear our petitions we humbly ask. |
| 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 be at peace and may we be engaged in peacemaking is our earnest
prayer. Amen. |
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| Sending Forth |
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We will 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, in peace, in love and in understanding of what it means to live
in peace. Amen |
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| Ministry of Music |
