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Ecumenical Worship Resources for Day of Prayer and Action for Colombia
May 21, 2006
By Rev. Barbara Gerlach, United Church of Christ

Call to Worship
Divided world. Divided selves.
Tension and loneliness in our own families.
Continuing violence in Iraq and Colombia and around world.

We all know the need for peace and reconciliation,
for moving toward each other and not away,
for seeking new places of meeting and understanding.
We cannot do this work alone.
We know we have to enter into relationship,
into processes that are dynamic and evolving,
and risk the unknown.
We must dig down deep to find
sources of hope, trust, courage, forgiveness, and love
in order to reach out to one another.
We have to find a spirit with in us, and see the spirit in others,
and trust the movement of the Spirit to draw us together,
help us as we seek common ground,
and discover our common humanity.

Let us seek this spirit of reconciliation as we sing "God of Grace and God of Glory"
Or
"Vamos Todo al Banquete" "Let Us Go to the Banquet".

Calling on God
Great and gentle Spirit,
who some of us call God, and some by other names,
we come to you my many paths,
and often are most drawn to seek you when we have lost our way.
This is one of those times.
It feels like our world is falling apart
and we don't know how to put it back together again.
So much within and around us is broken
and in need of healing and repairing, renewing and restoring.
Come to us now as hope and vision,
a small stirring of energy, a renewing of trust, a reviving of commitment,
and the desire to take one small step toward someone from whom we are separated. Amen.

Call to Confession
Part of the work of reconciliation work is spiritual and personal.
We have to know ourselves,
our own capacity to hurt, to dehumanize, and to lose hope,
our fears of getting close to someone who has hurt us.
We have to face the darkness
and find the light that overcomes darkness and all that separates us
and leads us back into relationship and a new sense of possibility.

Unison Prayer of Confession
Spirit of love, Spirit of life,
our hearts are heavy with war escalating around us,
the suffering of victims on all sides,
our confusion about how to stop the violence
and prepare new ground so that peace and reconciliation can take root and grow.
We often feel powerless to make change in ourselves and our world.
We are quick to complain and criticize
and slow to join with others in constructive action.
Help us to hold up that shadowy place
between what we would like to be and who we are
to the light of your truth and love.
Help us bring our lives into deeper communion with the wholeness and holiness of life,
to trust in forces of renewal, our capacity to forgive and be forgiven, to change and be changed.
Open us to presence and guidance of your loving spirit
in the healing of nations, families, and our own hearts. Amen

Sung Response #23 New Century Hymnal
There's a wideness to God's mercy, like the wideness of the sea;
there's a kindness in God's justice, which is more than liberty.
There's no place where earthly sorrows are more felt than in God's heaven;
there's no place where earthly failings have such kindly judgment given.

Words of Assurance
These words of assurance are taken from Footpaths from the Center for the Transformation of Conflict at Eastern Mennonite University.

The journey toward peace is one in which the end is not known at the beginning.
The journey can not be taken by flying over the conflict, or driving past it.
Those paths are tempting, but in the end futile.
Only by walking through the conflict -
sharing the dust and fatigue,
stumbling and starting again,
weeping with those who weep,
and rejoicing with those who rejoice --
can transformations be reached.
So we commit ourselves to walking together with people around the world
on the footpaths to Truth and Mercy, Justice and Peace.

Trusting in a spirit who walks with us and renew us in our journey,
let us share God's peace, which passes our understanding, as we greet one another.

Sharing the Peace

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