In
the name of Jesus, we will remember
We will remember
Great
God of everlasting peace and eternal justice, we live in a world where memories
are short, and history is rewritten. As one generation gives way to the next,
the lessons of the past are forgotten, and the spirals of violence are allowed
to begin once again.
We
look around us at the world we live in, and we see posturing and protectionism,
we see poverty and prosperity, we see power and propaganda, but we do not see
peace. All too easily our world turns to war as the solution to problems, and
we forget that armed conflict is never a final solution, and that war is always
counter-productive to the cause of peace.
So
in our world of hatred and division we turn to you, the great eternal force of
love that transcends generations, and we ask that you will help us to remember.
Help us to speak truths of peace and justice in our time, as we tell your story
of forgiveness - to those who have never heard it, and to those who have
wilfully forgotten it.
In
the name of Jesus, we will remember
We will remember
On
this day of remembering, we turn to the cross: the great symbol of violence,
oppression, and execution which lies at the heart of our commitment to peace.
May we rediscover what it means to live lives in the light of the cross as the
end of violence. May we rediscover in your story the eternal truth that all
conflict ultimately ends in the victimisation and death of the innocent.
Forgive
us when we are tempted to believe that ‘fighting for peace’ is anything other
than a deception to justify violence. Help us to find courage to speak into
being your alternative story, that the only true path to peace lies through
forgiveness and reconciliation.
And
in a world where death so often seems to get the final word, we ask that you
will awaken us to the hope of resurrection, where death is itself defeated, and
peace and justice are fulfilled. May we never forget the hope that lies at the
heart of your story.
In
the name of Jesus, we will remember
We will remember
So
with hope set before us, and your eternal perspective behind us, we come now to
pray for the transformation of our world. In a world of violence, we dare to
speak our conviction that it does not have to be this way. And as we speak into
being your alternative world of peace and justice, we commit ourselves to
living out the truth of that conviction, until it is true in our world.
So
we pray for all those who, this day, are fighting:
·
We
pray for all those who will kill another human being in war because they
believe that it is the right thing to do.
·
We
pray for those who will kill another in war because they believe that they have
no choice.
·
We
pray for those who will kill another because it is the only way they know they
are alive.
For
all those who will kill, we pray forgiveness and mercy. May they discover in
their lives the truth spoken from the cross, that forgiveness is offered even
to those who kill the innocent.
‘Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do.’
In
the name of Jesus, we will remember
We will remember
We pray for all those who are victims of war:
·
We pray for civilians
who are killed as they try to live their lives in peace.
·
We pray for refugees driven
from their homes to seek a new life elsewhere.
·
We pray for wounded
soldiers, discharged by the country they fought for and now reliant on charity
to build a new life.
For all those who have been victimized by war, may
they discover in their lives the solidarity of the cross, and may they come to
know the path to resurrection that lies through death.
‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be
comforted.’
In
the name of Jesus, we will remember
We will remember
We pray for politicians and power-brokers, for
peace-makers and peace-keepers. We pray for prime ministers and presidents; may
they remember all those who they have been elected to represent. May they
remember the lessons of the past, and the price paid by so many in the service
of ideologies of violence. May they come to the conviction that it doesn’t have
to be this way.
And finally we pray for ourselves. May we learn what
it means to live in peace. May we model in our own lives your way of
forgiveness and reconciliation. From the way we are with our loved ones, to the
way are at work, to the way we vote; may we always live in peace. Not for our
sake, or for the sake of others, but for your sake, as we remember the cross,
and live its truth into being in our world.
In
the name of Jesus, we will remember
We will remember
Amen.
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