“O God:
You bring hope out of emptiness, energy out of fear, new life out of grief and loss.
As Mary returned to mourn yet found unspeakable joy, so comfort all who have lost their homes
through persecution, war, exile, or deliberate destruction.
Give them security, a place to live, and neighbors they trust to be, with them,
a new sign of peace to the world.
Amen.”
Found at ucc.org
“For all those who have fallen victim to hatred and inhumanity,
for those loved ones who are left behind to mourn,
for the souls of those whose hearts are cold,
Lord, hear our prayer.
For the children who are being born into this world of conflict and violence,
for women and mothers who suffer needlessly,
Lord, hear our prayer.
For all those who have been forced into unemployment,
who long to return to work,
for all those who struggle to support their families,
Lord, hear our prayer.
For the soldiers who are misguided in thinking that their bullets will bring about peace,
for those who feel called to conscientiously object to military orders,
Lord, hear our prayer.
For the children who cry in their beds at night and wonder “what have I done?”
For the mothers and fathers who must try to explain the unexplainable,
Lord, hear our prayer.
For all the children who have died before their time,
for the soldiers who allow their uniform to strip them of their humanity,
for the healers who are denied the opportunity to use their gifts,
Lord, hear our prayer.
For the redemption of souls of both victim and perpetrator,
for those who commit themselves to the forgiveness of sins,
Lord, hear our prayer.”
Simply attributed to “United Church of Christ” and found at: https://socialjusticeresourcecenter.org/prayers/justice/
“Creator, Spirit, Comforter, Advocate,
We greet you this day with thanks for the blessings of our lives and for the blessing of the people of our community. We pray especially this morning for the original peoples of this land. We think with gratitude about the welcome Indigenous peoples gave to the first visitors who arrived here from afar, from other parts of the world, and settled in this place. We imagine that there must have been misunderstandings and hardship in these early relationships, but we also know from the stories we have been told that working relationships, bonds of friendship and even bonds of kinship and love, grew out of these early encounters.
Our ancestors in this place agreed to share these sacred lands in a covenantal relationship and to live side by side in peace as neighbours, respecting each other as communities of peoples with different customs and traditions, and unique understandings of their relationship with you, but created, as we have been taught, each and every one, in your own image. We see you in each other and learn about you as we encounter each other.
You, Creator God, know the needs of the Indigenous peoples of this place far better than we do. We are aware of the ongoing injustices and adversity, including racism, which our Indigenous brothers, sisters, and cousins experience. The violence faced by some in our own community angers us, saddens us, frustrates us, and leaves us searching for answers.
Lord God, you know that we have a deep love for this place. As your faithful disciples, we long to know what we can do to best show that we love our neighbours as ourselves.
Help us to use our gifts, our knowledge, our skills, our positions in society, and our strength in Christ, as a community of faith, to support our neighbours. Give us humility and the wisdom to know when and how to follow their lead in seeking solutions, and in making positive changes. Open our hearts, our minds, and our spirits to new possibilities when the steps our Indigenous leaders and neighbours wish to take may be uncomfortable or unfamiliar.
Holy Spirit, fill us with the power and the courage to trust in you and to trust in others. Help us to trust in the deep wisdom and traditional knowledges that you have gifted to our Indigenous neighbours. Help us to accept the gift of learning from our neighbours that we may broaden and deepen our understanding of how to live together, to share resources, to put our complementary skills to work together, and most of all to build on our common desire to live in wholeness together as all of your peoples. We thank you for the blessing you have given us to know you better by getting to know our neighbours better in all of their diverse God-given beauty.
We pray for our Indigenous neighbours. We ask that you will help us to let our Indigenous neighbours know that we honour them, we want to live together with them in harmony, and we share their hope for a blessed future together, for growth in mutual understanding and respect, for healing, for justice, and for reconciliation. We pray for all of our relations.
Amen.”
“It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.”
Attributed to Bishop Ken Untener of Saginaw and found at: https://socialjusticeresourcecenter.org/prayers/justice/
“Lord Jesus, Carpenter and King, supreme Sovereign of all men, look with tender mercy upon the multitudes of our day who bear the indignities of injustice everywhere. Raise up leaders in every land dedicated to Your standards of order, equity, and justice. Grant unto us, Lord Jesus, the grace to be worthy members of Your Mystical Body, laboring unceasingly to fulfill our vocation in the social apostolate of Your Church. Sharpen our intellects to pierce the pettiness of prejudice; to perceive the beauty of true human brotherhood. Guide our minds to a meaningful understanding of the problems of the poor, of the oppressed, of the unemployed, of all in need of assistance anywhere. Guide our hearts against the subtle lure of earthly things and undue regard for those who possess them. May we hunger and thirst after justice always.
Amen.”
Attributed to Catholic Online // Found at Social Justice Resource Center
“Merciful God, the Creator God who masterfully designed the human frame, hear our lament. How long will Black girls be denied their humanity?
Treated as if they have no pain or as tho they cannot feel pain? How long will Black pain be punished? Our creativity cursed, success blocked, or drive pathologized by being given standards to meet unattainable to others?
How long will Black women’s grief and anxiety be ignored as they are labeled irresponsible or haughty? God of Hagar, see, restore and avenge your daughters. Grant healing and protection. God of the tired and misused Black women, hear our prayer”
“Heavenly Father, we remember before you those who suffer
want and anxiety from lack of work. Guide the people of this
land so to use our public and private wealth that all may find
suitable and fulfilling employment, and receive just payment
for their labor; through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Amen.
Found at the Online Book of Common Prayer
Lord of the nations,
God in whom we trust,
you alone are holy,
good, wise,
and the source of every blessing.
In trouble and turmoil,
be our peace.
In our hearts and minds
give us the peace that surpasses understanding.
In our mouths
put words of peace,
and make us peacemakers
that we may be called your children.
Let the truth of your Word
govern and guide us
when we are inclined
to be like Pontius Pilate
and say, “What is truth?”
When we are unsure of all things,
draw us to you,
our faithful God,
steadfast in love,
our rock, refuge and fortress.
Source: Paul C. Stratman, January 6, 2021.
Do not put your trust in princes,
in human beings, who cannot save. Psalm 146:3
Found at A Collection of Prayers
“Those who are worn out and crushed by this mourning, let your hearts consider this:
this is the path that has existed from the time of creation and will exist forever.
Many have drunk from it and many will yet drink.
As was the first meal, so shall be the last.
May the master of comfort comfort you.
Blessed are those who comforts the mourners.”
Found at Jesuit Resources
“Bless those who mourn, eternal God, with the comfort of your love that they may face each new day with hope and the certainty that nothing can destroy the good that has been given. May their memories become joyful, their days enriched with friendship, and their lives encircled by your love.”
(Vienna Cobb Anderson)
Found at Jesuit Resources
“Bless those who mourn, eternal God,
with the comfort of your love
that they may face each new day with hope
and the certainty that nothing can destroy
the good that has been given.
May their memories become joyful,
their days enriched with friendship,
and their lives encircled by your love.”
Found at Jesuit Resources
“We pray that in this time of loss,
You'll feel God's love much more
And that you'll find your comfort
In the presence of the Lord
We pray God pours upon you,
His sweet amazing grace
And overflow your heart with peace
As you live in His embrace.”
(M.S. Lowndes)
Found at Jesuit Resources
“A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. We are called to play the Good Samaritan on life's road side, but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life's highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. Compassion sees that an edifice that produces beggars needs restructuring. A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth.
Let us pray:
“Ever present God, you called us to be in relationship with one another and promised to dwell wherever two or three are gathered. In our community, we are many different people; we come from many different places, have many different cultures. Open our hearts that we may be bold in finding the riches of inclusion and the treasures of diversity among us. We pray in faith.
Amen.”
“May the sweet light of change shine in the darkness,
May the first breath of each morning begin life again,
May the memories unfold as prayers for life,
May the love continue to fill the silence.
(Attributed to Zenju)
Found at Jesuit Resource.org
“May you see God's light on the path ahead
When the road you walk is dark.
May you always hear,
Even in your hour of sorrow,
The gentle singing of the lark.
When times are hard may hardness
Never turn your heart to stone,
May you always remember
when the shadows fall,
You do not walk alone.”
(Author Unknown)
Found at Jesuit Resource.org
“Almighty and Everlasting God,
comfort of the sad
and strength to those who suffer:
Let the prayers of your children
who are in any trouble rise to you.
To everyone in distress grant mercy,
grant relief,
grant refreshment;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Amen.
Taken from The 1978 Lutheran Book of Worship
“Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks with
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”
:: St. Teresa of Avila ::
“Keep us, Oh God, from pettiness.
Let us be large in thought, in word, and in deed.
Let us be through with faultfinding and leave off self-seeking.
May we put away all pretense and meet each other face-to-face,
without self-pity or without prejudice.
May we always be patient,
never hasty in our judgment,
and always tolerant.
Teach us to put into action or better impulses,
straightforward and unafraid.
Let us take time for all things;
make us calm, serene, and gentle.
Grant that we may realize
that it is the little things that make the differences,
that in the big things we are as one.
And may we strive to touch and to know
the great and common heart of us all.
And, Oh, God,
let us not forget to be kind.”
(Originally from the AA Prayer Pamphet, but taken from the Interfaith Ministry Handbook)
“May we who are merely inconvenienced
Remember those whose lives are at stake.
May we who have no risk factors
Remember the most vulnerable.
May we who have the luxury of working from home
Remember those who must choose between
preserving their health or making rent.
May we who have the flexibility to care
for our children when their school closes
Remember those who have no options.
May we who have to cancel our trips
Remember those with nowhere safe to go.
May we who are losing our “margin money”
in the tumult of the economic market
Remember those with no margin to spare.
May we who settle into Quarantine in comfortable homes
Remember those who have no home.
As fear grips our country,
Let us choose Love.
During this time when we cannot physically
wrap our arms around each other,
Let us find ways to be the loving embrace of God to our neighbors.
Amen.
(author unknown)
“Grant us, Lord God, a vision of your world as your love would have it:
a world where the weak are protected, and none go hungry or poor;
a world where the riches of creation are shared, and everyone can enjoy them;
a world where different races and cultures live in harmony and mutual respect;
a world where peace is built with justice, and justice is guided by love.
Give us the inspiration and courage to build it, through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
- Author Unknown
Found at Jesuit Resources