WCC NEWS: Day of Prayer for Peace: Prayers name conflicts, courage and robot airplanes

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World Council of Churches - News

PRAYERS NAME CONFLICTS, COURAGE AND ROBOT AIRPLANES FOR DAY OF PRAYER FOR
PEACE

For immediate release: 19 September 2011

From Fiji to Rwanda, prayers and signs of commitment are being offered
for the annual International Day of Prayer for Peace on 21 September. This
year’s observances are taking place in parishes and on Facebook
(Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=cc53e4ba96d621b45339
), led by people who attended a World Council of Churches peace
convocation in Jamaica this May.

“Use me, Lord, to build bridges of hope,” is the Rev. Edelberto Valdés
Fleites’s prayer in Cuba.

"Make us artisans of peace in the example of Christ, women and men of
courage and discernment. Rather than fleeing from conflict, make us
willing to identify, to denounce and to dare to become mediators for peace
and justice,” asks Father Bernard Ugeux, a missionary in Rwanda.

Katrin Rux of Germany remembers a mural in Jamaica with the words “Peace
Wi Seh” [photo]. “Peace we say,” she writes, “so that the faces
burned by violence will change into laughter and happiness.”

Noting the military drones appearing in local skies, a prayer from Wales
begins: “Mewn byd lle mae mwy a mwy o sylw'n cael ei roi i ryfe” which
translates, “In a world where increased attention is being given to war,
in a country where there is an increase in military activity…it’s
essential that the people of Wales continue to work for peace and
reconciliation”.

The Fellowship of Reconciliation there will open a large, handcrafted book
for signatures on the International Day of Peace to testify that many wish
to see a world of peace rather than war.

21 September is also the United Nations International Day of Peace.

Elsewhere in the UK, Stefan Gillies’ peace day prayer is for a man in
prison, naval medic Michael Lyons. Lyons is a conscientious objector
(Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=d3b7fbfe5ecfe2fbddc4
) in detention for refusing to deploy to Afghanistan. Churches Together in
Britain and Ireland are publicizing his case.

“Father God, we ask your peace to prevail amongst countries where there
is no peace,” Shina Chileshe writes from Zambia.


Peace convocation provides inspiration

“The [Jamaica] convocation has helped me to see how I can contribute to
peace in the community,” Wessley Manasa of Fiji says. He has organized
two new youth groups since returning home.

“The Palestinian Coalition of Christian Organizations, with Palestinian
Moslem brothers and internationals, is celebrating this day at the YMCA
Shepherds' Field in Beit Sahour with much commitment and dedication to
work for peace and human dignity,“ writes Nidal Abuzuluf, in Palestine.

Ten theological schools in Boston that sent students to the Jamaica meeting
are promoting the peace prayer day in the USA. The National Council of
Churches in India is staging a public event with local peace activists and
movements, using the statement from the International Ecumenical Peace
Convocation in May.

“Often the victims of violence are ... the poor and the disenfranchised,
the marginalized of society, women and children, even the unborn. ... We
pray for empowerment for a peace that is just and right, that we may thus
exalt and honour our Saviour and Lord, Jesus Christ, the Prince of
Peace,” says a prayer by the Rev. Dr Tony Richie, bishop in the Church
of God (Cleveland, Tennessee, USA).

Dr Reena George, in India, offers a song titled “Make Us Channels of Your
Peace”.  It begins, “May peace flow gently through our hands,
strengthened by what Your love commands.”

“You, God, bring peace; we know that security does not bring peace,”
the Rev. Esther Suter writes from Switzerland.

“We ask that humans will encourage each other for making a peaceful world
and help those who suffered from war and violence,” is a prayer from
Marlin Junita Paranggai in Indonesia. “May there be just peace in the
world.”

More information on the International Day of Prayer for Peace:
www.overcomingviolence.org/IDPP (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=528c2b08dc52e1cdec83 )

Peace prayer wall on Facebook (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=964fd55e6b7d335b6f0d )

More on the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation:
www.overcomingviolence.org (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=70b974b18aa837c701dc )


The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness 
and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of 
churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant, 
Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million 
Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman 
Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, 
from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.



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