Daily Prayer for Peace
1:00 p.m.
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Mauritania
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more about Mauritania?
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Lonely
Planet.
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Gathering in Silence
Call to Prayer
Lighting of CandleInvitation |
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Welcome today 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 hold up the people of Mauritania in our prayers. Part of
French West Africa until independence in 1960, Mauritania has been
influenced by Arab as well as African cultures. Crop growing is largely
confined to the floodplain of the Sénégal River. Some of the world's
richest fishing grounds lie off the coast. The population still largely
depends on agriculture and livestock for their livelihood, even though
recurring droughts in the 1970s and 1980s forced most nomads and many
subsistence farmers into the cities. Opposition parties were legalized
and a new constitution approved in 1991. For now, Mauritania remains an
autocratic state, and the country continues to experience ethnic
tensions.
We greet you in the name of God, our Creator and Guide, who calls us to
worship. |
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| Scripture Reading: Doctrine and Covenants 158:11 |
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To you who hear my voice and know my
promises I will reveal myself and give my peace, even in the midst of
your uncertainties. |
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Prayer for Peace by Kenneth L. Simpson, Lee's
Summit, Missouri |
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Holy God of Peace and Blessing,
In the midst of lives made rich by your gentle love and constant
blessing, we pause this day to again acknowledge our dependence upon
you, and to be reminded once more of the grace that calls us to service
in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ. We praise you for your holiness
and thank you for the privilege of receiving your love.
Our limited understanding becomes so obvious as we seek your presence
when you are ever beside and within us. We quest for your love when we
are loved beyond our ability to acknowledge and respond. We rejoice that
we have been summoned to the pursuit of peace in your world, yet war
rages within our very being. Petty differences deny us true fellowship
in our homes, our families, our communities.
Your patient grace blesses our gatherings. Your loving acceptance of our
feeble responses challenges us to renewed commitment to peace in our
world. In our better moments we would exhaust our abilities and our
treasuries seeking peace for all persons in all nations. In other
moments we see the hunger and emptiness in our community.
Strengthen us for the ministries to which you call us. Sustain us in our
desires to bring peace and blessing to those who are within our ability
to serve. Guide us in the quest to make peace a reality in the lives of
all. Through Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. Amen. |
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Hymn - Soften My Heart (sing 2 times) -
Sing a New Song #47 |
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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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God of all the earth and those who dwell thereon, we
pray that the light of peace will heal the evil places of the earth. We
pray for those who suffer the destruction and desolation of war and
human selfishness. We hold to the light of God's love and healing the
children, youth, and adults of the Mauritania. |
| The People Pray in Silence |
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We pray for courage to be your presence in actions of justice,
compassion, tenderness, and love. We ask for divine forgiveness when we
have not been compassionate or loving or just. |
| The People Pray in Silence |
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Hear us, O God, as we pray for others who are victims of abuse, neglect,
hatred, and illness. May your light fill all the world. Help us to use
the discoveries of science to foster peace, not war. |
| The People Pray in Silence |
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Let us thank God that in the midst of incredible difficulties, courage
and determination sustain those who suffer. May we be able to say, "This
is enough, war is not the way to settle our differences. We will be a
people of mediation." |
| 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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We lift our hearts and minds and voices in
honor, praise, and glory to you, Great God of Peace. Help us to keep our
resolves to be a people of peace, to become peacemakers in our world,
and to teach peace to our children. |
| The People Pray in Silence |
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In the name of the Prince of Peace we pray. Amen. |
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| Sending Forth |
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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.
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon
you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you,
and give you peace.
Let us go from this house and be the peacemakers and peacekeepers we are
called to be. |
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| Ministry of Music |
