9th November 2024
In the UK today is know as Armistice Day, recalling the armistice signed in 1918 bringing an end to the fighting in the First World War.
The end of that war and the threat of future war, did not and has not avoided further armed conflicts not the death and destruction that warfare creates.
Surely God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid, for the Lord God is my strength and my might; Isaiah 12:2
You Lord, are the source of all good things:
We praise you.
You call us to tend and care for your creation:
May we strive to do your will.
You have made us as brothers and sisters with all that lives:
A reading from Psalm verses 1 and 2, from The Message and from the RRSVA
If God doesn’t build the house,
the builders only build shacks.
If God doesn’t guard the city,
the night watchman might as well nap.
It’s useless to rise early and go to bed late,
and work your worried fingers to the bone.
Don’t you know he enjoys
giving rest to those he loves?
Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labour in vain.
Unless the Lord guards the city,
the guard keeps watch in vain.
It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives sleep to his beloved.
Response
Forgive us when we trust in our strength,
and not yours.
Forgive us when we trust in our own wisdom,
and do not seek yours.
Forgive us when we turn to threats and ultimatums,
and do not seek dialogue.
Forgive us when we make up our own minds,
and do not spend time listening to the other.
Forgive us when ignore the past,
and focus only on our own suffering.
Forgive us when fail to seek justice,
but rather seek to oppress.
Forgive us when we fail to understand,
but rather shout out our views all the more loudly.
Forgive us when we steam roller the opposition,
and do not seek a compromise.
Forgive us when we fire weapons,
and do not seek peace.
Loving God,
have mercy on us.
Have mercy
on all those we have injured through war.
Teach us to heal.
Have mercy
on all those we have trapped in a spiral of revenge.
Teach us to to forgive.
Have mercy
on all those we have trained in war fare.
Teach us to be peace makers.
Have mercy
on all those who have been sucked into the tradition of war.
Teach us the story of reconciliation.
Have mercy
on all those who work in the arms trade.
Teach us to make plough shares.
Have mercy
on all those whose homes and livelihoods have been destroyed.
Teach us to build communities of love.
Have mercy
on all those habitats and ecosystems we have uprooted.
Teach us to plant trees.
Have mercy
on the soils and bodies of water that we have polluted.
Teach us to till and restore the land.
Have mercy
on all those whose faith we have undermined.
Teach us to love one another with humility.
Amen
The Green Tau 