wfn.org | ACNS3247 Prayers for Peace at Epiphany

["Anglican Communion News Service" <acnslist@anglicancommunion.org>]

ACNS 3247     |     ENGLAND	|     3 JANUARY 2003

Prayers for Peace at Epiphany

Prayers for world peace, for use by parishes, congregations and individuals
around Epiphany, are available on the Church of England's website An
Invitation to Prayer. This website was originally created to stimulate
prayer following the tragic events of September 11. Epiphany, on January
6th, celebrates the arrival of the wise men bearing gifts for the infant
Jesus. Dr David Hope, the Archbishop of York, has written to parishes saying
"This is an appropriate season in which so to focus our prayer."

The website address is www.invitationtoprayer.org and it received 26,500
page requests on its first day. So far it has received more than 140,000
page requests.

This new initiative is set against the background of the breakdown of the
peace process in the Holy Land and violence between Jews and Palestinians as
well as the situation in Iraq. In recent debate, the House of Bishops "urged
the British Government and the International Community to continue to pursue
all available peaceful means towards resolving the crisis with Iraq." This
November, the General Synod heard specific calls for prayers for peace this
Epiphany and the eight prayers on the website are the result.

There are short prayers...

A better way

"God of peace, overturn our warring;
God of mercy, awaken our forgiveness;
God of healing, guide us to a better way."

[From Hasten the time: Prayers for mission. Pub. By USPG. Compiled by
Christopher P Burkett. Use with permission]

.....as well as longer ones. Prayers calling for help for "encouragers and
reconcilers," and prayers for the peoples of Iraq which recognise

"the scale of human suffering that war brings,"

More prayers will be added to the site during Epiphany.

A letter from the Archbishop of York [see ACNS3246] identifies the
opportunity for prayers at Epiphany:

"Advent, Christmas and Epiphany all provide us with poignant reminders of
God's profound and deep love for his creation. Each season is pregnant with
hope and the possibility of reconciliation, and the making of a new world,
one in which God's justice and peace come "on earth as it is in heaven."

The full text of Epiphanytide prayers is available as ACNS3248

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