Prayer for Peace

Peacemaking doesn't mean passivity. It is the act of interrupting injustice without mirroring injustice, the act of disarming evil without destroying the evildoer, the act of finding a third way that is neither fight nor flight but the careful arduous pursuit of reconciliation and justice. It is about a revolution of love that is big enough to set both the oppressed and the oppressors free.

—Shane Claiborne, Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals

A silence is kept.


O God of many Names, Lover of all people;
we pray for peace
in our hearts and homes,
in our nations and our world;
the peace of your will,
the peace of our need.

Dear Christ, our Friend and our Guide,
Pioneer through the shadows of death,
passing through darkness to make it light,
be our Companion that we may fear no evil,
and bring us to life and to glory.

For the hungry and the overfed:
May we have enough.
For the mourners and the mockers:
May we laugh together
For the victims and the oppressors:
May we share power wisely.
For the peacemakers and the warmongers:
May clear truth and stern love lead us to harmony.
For the silenced and the propagandists:
May we speak our own words in truth.
For the unemployed and the overworked:
May our imprint on the earth be kindly and creative.
For the troubled and the sleek:
May we live together as wounded healers.
For the homeless and the sheltered:
May our homes be simple, warm, and welcoming.
For the vibrant and the dying:
May we all die to live.
May God kindle in us the fire of love
to bring us alive and give warmth to the world.

Lead us, O God, from death to life,
from falsehood to truth;
lead us from despair to hope,
from fear to trust;
lead us from hate to love,
from war to peace.

And let peace fill our heart, our world, our universe. Amen.

—A New Zealand Prayer Book, alt.