“O God, you have bound us together in a common life. Help us,
in the midst of our struggles for justice and truth, to confront
one another without hatred or bitterness, and to work
together with mutual forbearance and respect; through Jesus
Christ our Lord. “
Amen.
Found at the Online Book of Common Prayer
“O Lord,
help us always
to seek your kingdom and righteousness.
Give us all other things we need as well;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Found at A Collection of Prayers with the following attributions:
Source of this version: Freely modified from Ancient Collects, and Other Prayers, ed. William Bright, 1902, p. 89 #1
Also found here: Prayers Ancient and Modern by Mary Wilder Tileston, Boston, Little Brown, 1914, p. 114 #2
“Lord, give me grace to hold righteousness in all things
that I may lead a clean and blessed life and prudently flee evil
and that I may understand the treacherous and deceitful falseness of the devil.
Make me mild, peaceable, courteous, and temperate.
And make me steadfast and strong.
Also, Lord, give Thou to me that I be quiet in words
and that I speak what is appropriate.”
- John Wycliffe
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.”
“Loving God,
please grant me peace of mind
and calm my troubled heart.
My soul is like a turbulent sea.
I can't seem to find my balance
so I stumble and worry constantly.
Give me the strength and clarity of mind
to find my purpose and walk the path you've laid out for me.
I trust your Love God,
and know that you will heal this stress.
Just as the sun rises each day against the dark of night.
Please bring me clarity with the light of God.
In your name I pray,”
(Author Unknown)
“Lord, please put Your peace in my heart.
I'm worried and anxious.
My mind races and obsesses.
I can't help thinking about my problems.
And the more I think about them,
the more depressed I become.
I feel like I'm sinking down in quicksand
and can't get out.
Calm me, Lord.
Slow me down, put Your peace in my heart.
No matter what problem I have, Lord,
You are bigger,
You are more powerful than it is.
So I bring my problem to You.
I know what I want.
I know my will.
I do not know Yours.
I do not know how You will use this problem for my salvation.
I do not know what good You will workout from this evil.
But I trust You.
I trust Your goodness and Your wisdom.
So I place myself in Your hands.
Please fill my heart with peace.”
(Author Unknown)
“If we are peaceful
If we are happy
We can smile and blossom
Like a flower
And everyone
In our family
Our entire society
Will benefit from our peace.”
(Thich Nhat Hanh)
“May I be well, happy, and peaceful.
May my teachers be well, happy, and peaceful.
May my parents be well, happy, and peaceful.
May my relatives be well, happy, and peaceful.
May my friends be well, happy, and peaceful.
May the indifferent persons be well, happy, and peaceful.
May the unfriendly persons be well, happy, and peaceful.
May all meditators be well, happy, and peaceful.
May all beings be well, happy, and peaceful.”
“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
“Almighty God our heavenly Father,
guide the nations of the world
into the way of justice and truth,
and establish among them
that peace which is the fruit of righteousness,
that they may become
the Kingdom of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Amen.
(from the 1990 Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church According to the use of The Episcopal Church)
Creator God,
Three in One.
Creator
Savior
Spirt.
We admit that we don’t know how to pray for a country that is but an afterthought.
We remember that Israel’s “physical” king wasn’t necessarily a blessing.
Yes, you gave them what they asked for. But they lacked imagination and only asked for what they could see.
As do we.
Please forgive our blandness. Please forgive our indifference.
Please forgive us for trusting in fleeting Empire.
Please forgive us for fighting for our liberties rather than laying them down.
Please forgive us for protecting the rich instead of lifting the Lowly.
Creating, Sustaining, Forgiving, and Liberating God,
Please show our country grace. In spite of us and yet for us.
Even though we don’t deserve it.
Please forgive our arrogance. Please forgive “Manifest Destiny.” Please forgive our slaughter of the Innocents for the sake of land, money, and power, both on our own soil and others.
Please forgive the spirit of Systemic Racism which has infected our power structures. Please remind us of our neighbor.
Please fill us with Love.
Please let your face shine rather than ours.
“What is the great and first commandment?
Love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul
and with all your mind.
What is the second commandment like it?
Love your neighbor as yourself.
What does this mean?
Love is the fulfilling of the law.
To what does this call us?
To a life of faith working through love.
(Based on Matthew 22:37040)
Hear the teaching of Christ:
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another just as I have loved you.”
(from John 13:34, SRSV)
Found in The Worship Sourcebook published by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, 2004)
“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 ::
“Almighty God,
in Jesus Christ you taught us to pray,
and to offer our petitions to you in his name.
Guide us by your Holy Spirit,
that our prayers for others may serve your will
and show your steadfast love;
through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.
Let us pray for the world:
God our creator,
you made all things in your wisdom,
and in your love you save us.
We pray for the whole creation.
Overthrow evil powers, right what is wrong,
feed and satisfy those who thirst for justice,
so that all your children may freely enjoy the earth you have made,
and joyfully sing your praises;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.”
Taken from The Book of Common Worship of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (1993)
“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)
“For your mercies' sake, O Lord my God, tell me what you are to me. Say to my soul: "I am your salvation." So speak that I may hear, O Lord; my heart is listening; open it that it may hear you, and say to my soul: "I am your salvation." After hearing this word, may I come in haste to take hold of you. Hide not your face from me. Let me see your face even if I die, lest I die with longing to see it. The house of my soul is too small to receive you; let it be enlarged by you. It is all in ruins; do you repair it. There are thing in it - I confess and I know - that must offend your sight. But who shall cleanse it? Or to what others besides you shall I cry out? From my secret sins cleanse me, O Lord, and from those of others spare your servant. Amen.”
“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)
“Everliving God,
whose will it is that all should come to you
through your Son Jesus Christ:
Inspire our witness to him,
that all may know
the power of his forgiveness
and the hope of his resurrection;
who lives and reigns with you and the
Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Amen.”
Taken from the (Online) Book of Common Prayer
“Lord God,
No one is a stranger to you
And no one is ever far from your loving care.
In your kindness, watch over refugees and victims of war,
Those separated from their loved ones,
Young people who are lost,
And those who have left home or who have run away from home.
Bring them back safely to the place where they long to be,
And help us always to show your kindness
to strangers and to all in need.”
- Author Unknown
“Lord God,
Remember Christ, your Son, who is peace itself,
and who has washed away our hatred with his blood.
Because you love all men and women,
look with mercy on all who are engaged in battle.
Banish the violence and evil within all combatants
so that one day, we may all deserve to be
called your sons and your daughters.
Grant this through Christ our Lord.”
- Author Unknown
