A Prayer Invoking Peace

Song
"Give Us Your Peace," by Michael Mahler, Give Your Gifts: The New Songs (Chicago: GIA Publications, 2001).

Leader: As we begin this meeting, let us begin with peace. Please take a minute to be at peace, quiet, with God. (Pause.) We who work with youth are gathered here today to see how we can walk together with those we minister to and those we minister along side of. Sometimes in our work with youth, we are loud and boisterous and still have peace, but other times the noise gets in the way. The world is not at peace, and that too gets in the way of our work with youth. Before we begin the work at hand, let us pray together, asking God to walk with us on the journey, to fill us with peace, and to let us bring peace to others.

We remember the words of Jesus.

I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

Leader: Let us hear the names of those who need the peace of God. By saying these names out loud, we ask God to bless them, to hold them, and to grant them peace.

(Pause to allow names to be called aloud.)

The psalmist knew people like the ones we named. The Psalms are filled with pleas for those in need of peace. Let us, antiphonally, use these same words for those we’ve named, and for all, so that we may live in a world made peaceful by man, through God.

Left: O give thanks to the Lord, for God is good;
for God's steadfast love endures forever.
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
those God redeemed from trouble
and gathered in from the lands, . . .

Right: From the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south,
some wandered in desert wastes . . .
hungry and thirsty,
their soul fainted within them.

All: Let us thank the Lord . . .
For he satisfies the thirsty,
and the hungry God fills with good things.

Left: Some sat in darkness and gloom,
Some were sick and cried to the Lord.

Right: Some went down to the depths,
their courage melted away in their calamity.
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble.

All: Let us thank the Lord . . .
The upright see and are glad;
and all wickedness stops its mouth.
Let those who are wise give heed to these things,
and consider the steadfast love of the Lord.

(Psalm 107, adapted to be read antiphonally.)

Leader: Peace be with you.

All: And also with you.

Leader: Please give one another a sign of peace. (Pause.) Now, filled with the spirit of peace, we are almost ready to begin our meeting, but first, we pray.

All: God of peace and protection, we pray that you continue to fill our lives with the joys and challenges, the hopes and dreams and love that come with this work. We ask your peace upon this gathering so that we may, upon its conclusion, "Rise, let us be on our way" in the same way Jesus commanded his disciples. Amen.