Prayer For Reconciliation
Merciful God, as we prepare for first reconciliation, help us to ask forgiveness when we need to. Help us to forgive others who have wronged us. And let us be peacemakers in our school and in our family. We thank you for the gift of your forgiveness and love. Amen.
God of grace we pray for all those who live in the Cities and towns, those who in the
communities, settlements and missions, those on the islands, those in the bush, those
who are far from home, those who do not know where home is, those who have been
taken from their homes, those in prisons. Help them all Lord to be treated fairly with
compassion and love. Help them all Lord to find their home in you.
God of all our dreaming. Hear our prayer.
God of holy dreaming, Great Creator Spirit,
From the dawn of creation you have given your children
the good things of Mother Earth.
You spoke and the gum tree grew
In vast deserts and dense forest,
and in cities at the water's edge,
creation sings your praise.
Your presence endures
as the rock at the heart of our Land.
When Jesus hung on the tree
you heard the cries of your people
and became one with your wounded ones:
the convicts, the hunted, and the dispossessed.
The sunrise of your Son coloured the earth anew
and bathed it in glorious hope.
In Jesus we have been reconciled to you,
to each other and to your whole creation.
Lead us on, Great Sprit,
as we gather from the four corners of the earth,
Enable us to walk together in trust,
from the hurt and shame of the past
Into the full day which has dawned in Jesus Christ. Amen.
Holy Father, God of Love,
You are the Creator of all things.
We acknowledge the pain and shame of our history
and the sufferings of Our peoples,
and we ask your forgiveness.
We thank you for the survival of Indigenous cultures
Our hope is in you because you gave your Son Jesus
to reconcile the world to you.
We pray for your strength and grace to forgive,
accept and love one another, as you love us
and forgive and accept us in the sacrifice of your Son.
Give us the courage to accept the realities of our history
so that we may build a better future for our Nation.
Teach us to respect all cultures.
Teach us to care for our land and waters.
Help us to share justly the resources of this land.
Help us to bring about spiritual and social change
to improve the quality of life for all groups
in our communities, especially the disadvantaged.
Help young people to find true dignity and self-esteem by your Spirit.
May your power and love be the foundations
on which we build our families,
our communities and our Nation,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Across the barriers that divide race from race:
Reconcile us, O Christ, by your cross.
Across the barriers that divide rich from poor:
Reconcile us, O Christ, by your cross.
Across the barriers that divide people of different cultures:
Reconcile us, O Christ, by your cross.
Across the barriers that divide Christians:
Reconcile us, O Christ, by your cross.
Across the barriers that divide men and women, young and old:
Reconcile us, O Christ, by your cross.
Confront us, O Christ, with the hidden prejudices and fears
that deny and betray our prayers.
Enable us to see the causes of strife, remove from us all senses of superiority.
Teach us to grow in unity with all God's children.
O God, thou didst enter the pain humankind in Christ Jesus, in whom thou wast reconciling the world to thyself: Bend our wills, we pray, to rely on thy reconciling presence in the resentments and enmities we suffer in families, communities, churches and nations. Nourish our confidence that in thy compassion all our wounds are vulnerable to healing. Build our courage to address broken relationships with those from whom we are alienated. Deepen our capacity to listen, repent and forgive. As we journey toward thy wholeness, form us in the ministry of reconciliation thou hast entrusted to us, that others may hear thy appeal to be reconciled with God and neighbor through the cross and resurrection of our friend and savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
O God, you entered the pain of humankind in Christ Jesus, in whom you were reconciling the world to yourself: Bend our wills, we pray, to rely on your reconciling presence in the resentments and enmities we suffer in families, communities, churches and nations. Nourish our confidence that in your compassion all our wounds are vulnerable to healing. Build our courage to address broken relationships with those from whom we are alienated. Deepen our capacity to listen, repent and forgive. As we journey toward your wholeness, form us in the ministry of reconciliation you have entrusted to us, that others may hear your appeal to be reconciled with God and neighbor through the cross and resurrection of our friend and savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Gracious and merciful God, the problems facing our human family are very grave and we are no longer isolated from one another. We are confronted daily with our addiction to violence, our hatred and our greed. We are heartbroken. The media are relentless in their presentation and critique and we all long for some good news. It is so easy to forget that your Son, Jesus, is always the good news and that he has given us the remedy for our brokenness. Father, forgive them, they don't know what they are doing. He spoke so clearly. We ask your Holy Spirit to remind us of this again and again. We ask you for the gift of hope in our lives and know that we need to turn to one another for the confidence and assurance that we will emerge from situations, that, in the short term seem hopeless. Banish fear and anxiety from our hearts.
Amen