Prayers for peace

9th August 2025

Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.

You Lord, are the source of all good things: 

We praise you.

You bless us with a world that is good 

and look to us to be peace makers and peace keepers:

May we strive to do your will.

You have made us as brothers and sisters: 

May we live together in peace.

Reading Micah 4: 2- 5

  And many nations shall come and say:
‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
    to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
    and that we may walk in his paths.’
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
    and the word of the Lord from his dwelling place.

He shall judge between many peoples,
    and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away;
they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
    and their spears into pruning-hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
    neither shall they learn war any more;

but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees,
    and no one shall make them afraid;
    for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.

For all the peoples walk,
    each in the name of its god,
but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God
    for ever and ever.

We cannot read words today and not weep with distress and anger at what we have seen and heard this week in Gaza and Israel.*

Lord  of mercy and healing, 

be a source of comfort to all who are suffering, 

all who are in pain, all who terrified and fearful, 

all who feel lost and without hope.

Lord in your loving mercy, restore peace on earth.

How can humans allow relationships to sink to this level of violence, hate  and revenge?

Open our hearts and minds to perceive all that eats away at peace.

Pause our snap judgments that cannot see the bigger picture.

Remove our blinkers of prejudice and hate.

Lord in your loving mercy, restore peace on earth.

How can humans created in the image of God, cause such pain and suffering on those equally created in the image of God?

Open our hearts and minds to empathise with those who suffer

Pause our urge to look away and forget

Remove our hardness of heart.

Lord in your loving mercy, restore peace on earth.

How can communities and tribes believe that they can create a better future through warfare and violence?

Open our hearts and minds – and our purses – to rebuild peace: 

To build a world where all have food and homes, 

Where all can work and all can rest,

Where all are loved and all are valued.

Lord in your loving mercy, restore peace on earth.

Devastated by our ignorance and impotence, we realise that we are not the wise and clever people we though we were. 

Transform our urge to disparage and find fault,

Transform our urge to put focus on our interests,

Transform our lack of will.

Lord in your loving mercy, restore peace on earth.

Peace is not just the absence the war. 

Peace provides clean water and sanitation.

Peace provides an ample sufficiency of healthy food.

Peace provides a loving home.

Peace provides protection from the elements.

Peace provides security from danger and freedom from fear.

Peace provides energy and resources to sustain daily occupations.

Peace provides health care.

Peace provides education.

Peace provides the freedom to worship.

Peace provides the means to listen to others and to tell your own story.

Peace encourages respect.

Peace provides the means to discuss and plan shared futures.

Peace enables fresh food to be grown and harvested.

Peace shares resources equitably.

Peace provides space to rest and time to enjoy friendship.

Peace it is a way of living that provides for the wellbeing of everyone.

Amen.

• first written in October 2023