Worship Service for Peace

NOTE: Replace the news items with more current ones to update the litany.

Call to Worship (Voice 1):	We gather together here today to pray for peace. As we gather to pray for peace, we reflect on what we are being called to do in order to be peacemakers in our world. Prayer is not a substitute for action, but challenges and prepares us for action. In the book, Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life, Donald McNeill, Douglas Morrison and Henri Nouwen share the following reflection: "If the emphasis on prayer were an escape from direct engagement with the many needs and pains of our world, then it would not be a real discipline of the compassionate life. Prayer challenges us to be fully aware of the world in which we live, and to present it with all its needs and pains to God. It is this compassionate prayer that calls for compassionate action. The disciple is called to follow the Lord not only into the desert and onto the mountain to pray but also into the valley of tears, where help is needed, and onto the cross, where humanity is in agony. Prayer and action, therefore, can never be seen as contradictory or mutually exclusive. Prayer without action grows into powerless pietism, and action without prayer degenerates into questionable manipulation….In prayer we meet Christ, and in him all human suffering. In service, we meet people, and in them, the suffering Christ."
(1 minute silence)
Voice 2:	Let us pray: O God, for too long the world has called us to war, and our dead lie sprawled across the bleeding centuries. But you break the bow and shatter the spear, calling us to sow the seeds of peace in the midst of despair. In tenderness, may we take the tiniest sprouts and plant them where they can safely grow into blossoms of hope. AMEN (from Hymnal: A Worship Book)
(2 minute silence)
Voice 1:	We pray for a peaceful resolution to the escalating conflict in Kosova.
(1 minute silence)
Voice 2:	We pray for real peace for all peoples in Israel.
(1 minute silence)
Voice 3:	We pray for an end to the suffering in Iraq.
(1 minute silence)
Voice 1:	Yesterday, in Indonesia, six students were killed and others injured by police bullets. We grieve with the people of Indonesia and pray for a peaceful solution to the social conflict there.
(1 minute silence)
Voice 2:	We pray that the killing of the bishop in Guatemala will not undermine the fragile peace there.
(1 minute silence)
Voice 3:	Let us pray together:
All:	Listening God, you hear our prayers before we speak, yet welcome our praying; therefore we come with confidence to lay our requests before you.
Leader (Voice 3):	We pray for the whole people of God, for faithfulness and strength to persevere in righteousness.
People:	Lord, hear our prayer.
Leader:	We pray for the nations of the world, for all leaders and for those who make policy decisions. We pray for the commonwealth of our global community.
People:	Lord, hear our prayer
Leader:	We pray for those who are overcome by violence, for victims of injustice or oppression, and for those in poverty or pain. We pray for all who need healing and peace.
People:	Lord, hear our prayer.
Leader:	We pray for those who endure trials, for those who are dying, and for those who mourn. We pray for all who need comfort and hope.
People:	Lord hear our prayer.
Leader:	You have heard the prayers of your people, O God. We rest in the comfort of your care, as we pray in Jesus’ name.
All:	Amen
Leader (Voice 1):	Jesus taught us to speak of hope as the coming of God’s kingdom
All:	We believe that God is at work in our world turning hopeless and evil situations into good. We believe that goodness and justice and love will triumph in the end and that tyranny and oppression cannot last forever. One day all tears will be wiped away; the lamb will lie down with the lion, and justice will roll down like a mighty stream. This is our faith. This is our hope. This is our call. (The above litanies were modified from Hymnal: A Worship Book) We will be listening to a spoken hymn. The hymn is entitled "O God of Every Nation" and was written by William W. Reid:
Voice 1:	O God of every nation, Of every race and land, Redeem your whole creation With your almighty hand; Where hate and fear divide us, And bitter threats are hurled, In love and mercy guide us, And heal our strife-torn world
Voice 2:	From search for wealth and power And scorn of truth and right, From trust in bombs that shower Destruction through the night, From pride of race and station And blindness to your way, Deliver every nation, Eternal God, we pray.
Voice 3:	Lord, strengthen all who labor That all may find release From fear of rattling saber, From dread of war’s increase; When hope and courage falter, Lord, let your voice be heard; With faith that none can alter, Your servants under gird.
All:	Keep bright in us the vision Of days when war shall cease, When hatred and division Give way to love and peace, Till dawns the morning glorious When truth and justice reign, And Christ shall rule victorious O’er all the world’s domain.