PRAISE AND GLORY: PRAYERS OF PRAISE ENGAGING THE UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST
DAY 35 - MONDAY
God promises to all who trust in the gospel courage in
the struggle for justice and peace.
God of justice and peace, You
have shown your great compassion
in your desire for justice
for all people,
but particularly for the poor
among us.
We thank You that in the
midst of many circumstances
You have declared, “Be not
afraid!”
and have calmed our fears,
declared your peace to us,
given us a peace we did not
expect and cannot explain,
and called us to be makers of
peace.
Even now, You help us to “Be
not afraid,”
so that we may work for
justice
alongside all who are
oppressed and who cry out to You
for mercy and justice.
By the presence of your
energizing Spirit,
You have made us sources of
friendship and hope
for all who live in poverty,
for all who grieve without
someone to comfort them,
for those who are sick,
diseased, injured or disabled,
for those who are in prison,
for exiles who live as
strangers in strange lands,
and for many other people who
are treated
as though they are less than
fully human.
You encourage and energize us
for advocacy,
So that by speech and
communal action
we are able to work for
change
of the many structures that
increase poverty,
aggravate grief, prolong
incarceration,
intensify the impact of
physical ailments
and permanent disabilities, and
further silence those
who have already been
silenced and sent away.
O God, you enable us to dream
of a world
in which justice and peace
become reality.
And you give us endurance to
work on, in hope,
when the results of our
efforts seem invisible
and change seems impossible.
O God, bring glory to
yourself as You bring peace and justice
that overturns the great
inequities we see at every hand. Amen.
Scripture: Luke 1:5-13, 2:6-38, 2:8-12, 4:16-21; Isaiah
58:1-12; John 14:27; Philippians 4:4-7, Matthew 5:9
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