Daily Prayer for Peace
1:00 p.m.
Mexico
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Call to Prayer
Lighting of Candle
Invitation
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 Mexico in our prayers. Located in North America, Mexico was the site of advanced Amerindian civilizations. The country came under Spanish rule for three centuries before achieving independence early in the 19th century. Ongoing economic and social concerns include low real wages, underemployment for a large segment of the population, inequitable income distribution, and few advancement opportunities for the largely Amerindian population in the impoverished southern states. With more than 18 million people, many living in barrio slums, Greater Mexico City is one of the world's largest metropolitan areas. Tough environmental restrictions have been enacted to cope with increasingly dangerous levels of air and water pollution. Tax reform, privatization of state-run industries, and more open trade policies have improved competitiveness and boosted exports.
In Christ, God made all one and broke down the dividing wall between them, to create out of us a new humanity, thereby making peace. So Christ came and proclaimed the good news; peace to you who were afar off, and peace to those nearby.
Prayer for Peace by Harry Fielding, Queensland, Australia
At this moment throughout the world there are millions of people who do not recognize your presence. May your spirit resonate within their beings and cause them to come to a recognition of your love and your desire for all humanity to be united in the bond of your spirit.
Our Creator and Sustainer, so often you are hidden from us, not because you have removed yourself, but because our spiritual eyes are closed. Grant us, we pray, the capacity to look within ourselves to find your presence.
May we be strengthened as we discover your presence in our neighbors and in the very fabric of the world you have created. In our selfishness we think of the world as "ours," but in our better moments we know that we are only visitors, living briefly on this planet which preceded us and which will continue after we have gone. Help us to treat with respect all aspects of your creation. In doing this we become united with each other, with you, and with your world.
We pray for individuals, families, communities, and nations separated from the presence of strength and peace. May each discover and release the essence of the living God and become whole. May they truly discover what it is to be holy and to view the entire universe as sacred.
May we respond in love to the stirrings of your empowering presence within us, that we may truly be ambassadors of your peace. Amen.
Hymn - Center of Peace - Sing for Peace #1
Please join us now, praying the Prayers of the People. During the moments of silence, you are invited to pray silently or meditate.
As we leave this house of worship, we go with God's love to comfort us, God's wisdom to guide us, and God's power to lead us in the paths of peace. Let us go and share Christ’s peace in this world.