Online prayer service draws more than 300 participants
As fighting in the Middle East spreads, the PC(USA)’s Office of Public Witness offers a thoughtful time of prayer
LOUISVILLE — With concern over war with Iran and its proxies continuing to grow, more than 300 people were present Tuesday evening for the Prayers for Justice, Peace and Hope online service put on by the Office of Public Witness of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The service included liturgy, music and scripture, but leaned heavily on prayers offered by staff members and included readings by a pair of Young Adult Volunteers, Philile Dlamini and Madeiline So.
The scriptures read were Lamentations 3:22-24, Matthew 11:28-30 and Romans 8: 28-39.
“It’s a gift to gather with you across cities and congregations for this sacred time of prayer,” said OPW’s the Rev. Christina Cosby. “This hour is not about political positions. It’s about returning — a return to the One who holds all nations, whose justice is deeper than policy, whose peace is stronger than fear, whose mercy is new every morning.”
The PC(USA)’s advocacy director, the Rev. Jimmie Hawkins, led a litany of justice, asking the Almighty to “have mercy on our broken and divided world and on your people who cry out to you for healing.”
“We strongly lament the outbreak of war with Iran,” he said, “and grieve the mounting cost of violence around the world,” naming places of armed conflict including Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gaza, Ukraine, Lebanon, Burkina Faso, Myanmar and Haiti.
“We humbly ask that you turn our prayers into acts of justice,” Hawkins said. “Help us to have eternal hope, that when we gather we may remember that true security does not rest in our own ability to implement change, but that our ultimate identity, peace and hope is found in God alone.”
“In this time of prayer,” said OPW’s Ivy Lopedito, “we gather our voices, especially alongside those most impacted by injustice and burdens, and we bring our whole selves before God.”
Some of us “are steady in faith, and some of us are searching,” she said. “We bring to you the weight we carry — responsibilities, relationships, decisions that press on us. We bring you our shared joy too — laughter, shared beauty … moments of grace that surprised us.”
“Make of our many voices one prayer, rooted in your mercy and stretched toward your justice.”
Cosby prayed for trans siblings, asking that they be rooted “in communities of safety and joy.”
“Strengthen us to be faithful witnesses to all our siblings, regardless of gender identification, sexuality, age, culture, race or ability, as all are sacred in your sight, O God,” she prayed.
Amanda Craft, who manages immigration advocacy, prayed “for our immigrant members and neighbors as we witness increased targeting by federal agents and the use of force in our communities.”
“Guard those who are vulnerable to detention and separation,” Craft prayed. “Comfort children and elders who carry the weight of instability. Remind every immigrant sibling that their worth is not defined by papers and policies, but by your breath within them.”
“Call this nation to repentance when enforcement overshadows compassion, and turn us to laws and practices that reflect your justice — justice that welcomes the stranger and refuses cruelty,” she prayed. “Make your church a sanctuary of courage and accompaniment, steadfast in love and bold in solidarity.”
Lopedito also prayed for the health of the nation’s democracy and for “the sacred right to vote.”
“We grieve the harm done when eligible voters are made to feel suspect, when neighbors are discouraged or silenced, when access to the ballot is constrained rather than protected,” she said. “In your mercy, O God, guard against policies that burden the elderly, the poor, married women, rural voters and communities of color — any whose documentation may not easily align, any who may be turned away in confusion or shame.”
“God of Abraham and Hagar, God of Sarah and all their children, we turn our hearts toward the land called holy and toward the people of Gaza, Palestine and Israel,” said OPW’s Catherine Gordon. “We grieve the staggering death toll, each life a universe known and loved by you.”
“We mourn hospitals overwhelmed and undersupplied, doctors and nurses laboring without rest, the wounded waiting for care that cannot come,” Gordon said. “We lament the scarcity of food and clean water, the ache of hunger, the cruelty of starvation in a world of abundance.”
“Strengthen all who work for ceasefire, for aid, release and for protection,” she prayed. “Soften hearts hardened by terror and grief. Turn leaders from vengeance towards courage, from domination towards dignity for every neighbor. Let justice and safety embrace for Palestinians and Israelis alike, and let your peace and justice — so fragile in our hands — be guarded by your steadfast love.”
OPW’s Dr. Andrew Peterson prayed for Venezuela. “Grounded in our religious convictions, we confess that there is a better way — non-military, collaborative, international engagement — that seeks resolution rather than domination,” he said.
Gordon offered prayers for the United Nations, “that all member states would honor their obligations under international law, including the Charter of the United Nations, which prohibits the threat or use of force” against “the territorial integrity or political independence of any state or in any manner inconsistent with its purposes.”
“We stand in a long lineage of Presbyterians holding fast to solidarity with the people of Iran,” she said, “praying that justice, restraint and reconciliation would prevail over violence and fear.”
Peterson concluded the prayers with one of hope. “As a body, help us keep hope alive for one another, so that when our hearts tremble at the darkness of the world, we can lift one another back up to the psalmist’s confidence: ‘I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.’”
“Never forget you are a child of God, made in the image and likeness of God just as you are,” Hawkins reminded attendees, drawing the service to a close. “Let us also remember the question God asks each one of us through the mouth of the prophet Micah: ‘What does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?’”
A Joint Christian Advocacy Summit, with sponsors including the PC(USA), will be held at Shiloh Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., May 5-7. Learn more here.
You may freely reuse and distribute this article in its entirety for non-commercial purposes in any medium. Please include author attribution, photography credits, and a link to the original article. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDeratives 4.0 International License.
