Liturgy

O God of peace and love,
Companion in solitude,
Protector in exile,
You inhabit the shadows of our communities.

Show us the way to stand against injustice,
to protect and nurture life,
to live nonviolently.

Help us to embrace simplicity,
to be mindful of the value of all things,
to care tenderly for others.

Teach us to conserve
and protect the natural gifts of this world.
Help us to take time and to be present
to one another.

Increase among us the spirit of mercy and good will.
Bring us to the quiet, still place of healing,
and transfer our souls into a reflection
of your love and compassion,

In the name of the Father,
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
we pray. Amen.

Congregational Prayer

In prayer, let us confess to God as a community.

Christ is our peace.
He came proclaiming peace to those who are far off
and those who are near.

This proclamation has reached our ears,
but we confess it has not settled into our hearts.

Anxiety and fear haunt our frenzied days and our restless nights.
We numb ourselves with mindless activities and shallow pleasures.
Forgive us, and show us your mercy, O Lord.

Christ is our peace.
In his flesh, through his blood,
he has taken those divided by hostility and made them one.

Forgive us for not seeking peace in Christ but in our divisions.
Divisions in our nation and within your own people.
Divisions at work, with our neighbors and at home.

We draw dividing lines between “us” and “them”
and believe our salvation lies here, on this side of those lines.
Forgive us, and show us your mercy, O Lord.

Christ is our peace.
By your Spirit, open our hearts and fill us with this peace,
God in Community, Holy in One, Amen.

Reflection

Do you have tendencies of fight or flight when it comes to conflict?
What does making peace look like for you?

Benediction

Lord, make us an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let us sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

We ask all this in the name of the Father,
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

Go in peace and live the church.
See you throughout the week.

[Photo by Gideon Tsang @ Flickr]