Stanley Green offers this prayer, calling us to conflict transformation and peace, while asking God for wisdom and courage to enact change in a world full of discord and despair.
This blog is part of the ongoing Learn, Pray, Join: Climate Justice: Conflict Transformation series.
Stanley W. Green is the executive conference minister of Pacific Southwest Mennonite Conference. Born and reared in South Africa, Stanley was part of the student movement that helped dismantle the legal apartheid system. He previously served as executive director of Mennonite Mission Network, prior to which he served as pastor, conference minister and mission executive in South Africa, Jamaica and the United States. _________________________________________________
Faithful God, we come in the name, and by the invitation of, our gracious Lord. We ask that you, Jesus, stand among us and prepare us, so that we may become welcoming vessels for your Spirit. We come, knowing that each of us are prized, precious and worthy. We celebrate your love and care for us. We are also mindful that your purpose is for all creation, including all people of every faith, geography, language and hue of color, to know your love and experience fulness of life. We confess that we too often have aided and abetted conflict, by turning a blind eye to the suffering and struggles of so many others. We even sometimes have been collaborators in inflicting suffering and pain upon those who are hurting and in distress. We have built walls of prejudice and discrimination, and we have failed to recognize the humanity of those we have “othered.” We have not listened well, nor have we heard or seen those whom we count as our adversaries
Here, in your presence, we recognize that we are one with you and one with all who are part of your world. Here, we surrender all that sets us apart from others and ask your forgiveness for our callous disregard of those who suffer violence, hunger and the dislocation that is perpetrated upon them.
Here, we invite you to come and transform us by your grace and empower us by your Spirit to be agents of your peace, healing and hope in every place of discord and despair.
And we ask, God, that you give wisdom and insight to leaders and governments everywhere, so that they may have courage to disavow violence and chart a course that makes for peace. Instill them with compassion and a respect for the humanity of each person, so that hunger, homelessness, bigotry and xenophobia may be banished from the earth. We pray the day will soon come when the poor and the broken find wholeness and comfort — when a revolution of love, justice and righteousness will dawn and set both oppressed and oppressors free, and your goodness and peace will cover the whole earth.
Here, now, we join with all of creation to proclaim your praises. We join those on the margins of our society, and we join those in the centers of wealth and power. We join with our allies and also our enemies to acknowledge that you are the sovereign Lord, who rules over heaven and on earth. To you, we bring these, our prayers, and bow down before you, for to you belongs honor, majesty, glory and praise in all times and through endless ages. Amen.
“Learn, Pray, Join: Conflict Transformation” provides tools and resources to help MC USA church communities peacefully engage in dialog around difficult and divisive topics. By embracing restorative justice and modeling healthy communication, we seek to witness to God’s peace, as we build diverse communities to serve and follow Jesus.
You are invited to get involved with Learn, Pray, Join: Climate Justice: Conflict Transformation.
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The views and opinions expressed in this blog belong to the author and are not intended to represent the views of the MC USA Executive Board or staff.
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