Above:  The Flag of Baltimore, Maryland

Image in the Public Domain

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God of compassion, you have reconciled us in Jesus Christ who is our peace:

Enable us to live as Jesus lived,

breaking down walls of hostility and healing enmity.

Give us grace to make peace with those from whom we are divided,

that, forgiven and forgiving, we may ever be one in Christ;

who with you and the Holy Spirit reigns for ever,

one holy and undivided Trinity.  Amen.

Genesis 8:12-17, 20-22

Psalm 51:1-17

Hebrews 4:12-16

Luke 23:32-43

—Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), page 737

Above:  A Steeple

Image Source = Wikipedia

Prayer Source = Chalice Worship (1997), of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

I found the prayer first in Chalice Worship, the acknowledgments section of which says of it, “source untraced.”  Subsequent flipping through the Presbyterian Book of Common Worship (1993) turned it up there also.  That discovery led me to The Worshipbook–Services and Hymns (1972), where I also found it.

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In Unison:

Holy God, giver of peace, author of truth:

we confess that we are divided and at odds with one another,

that a bad spirit has risen among us,

and set us against your Holy Spirit of peace and love.

Take from this congregation mistrust, party spirit, contention,

and all evil that now divides us.

Work in us a desire for reconciliation, so that,

putting aside personal grievances,

we may go about your business with a single mind,

devoted to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Above:  Statue of Reconciliation, Coventry Cathedral, Coventry, England, United Kingdom

Image Source = Rebecca Kennison

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:UK_Coventry_Statue-of-Reconcilliation.jpg)

Prayer Source = Chalice Worship (1997), of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

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O God the Father of all, you ask every one of us to spread

love where the poor are humiliated,

joy where the church is brought low,

and reconciliation where people are divided:

father against son

mother against daughter

husband against wife

believers against those who cannot believe

Christians against their unloved fellow Christians.

You open this way for us,

so that the wounded body of Jesus Christ, your church,

may be a leaven of communion for the poor of the earth

and in the whole human family.  Amen.

Statue of Reconciliation, St. Michael’s Cathedral, Coventry, England, United Kingdom

Image Source = Rebecca Kennison

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:UK_Coventry_Statue-of-Reconcilliation.jpg)

Website of the Cathedral:

http://www.coventrycathedral.org.uk/

Prayer by Jetty van den Berghe, who has graciously granted me permission to reproduce it; She posted it in the Facebook group for the Ecumenical Catholic Communion; I have adapted it slightly for ease of word choice and for punctuation here and there

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Lord,

You offer your love to all humankind,

It’s a gift, your unconditional love,

A love that is repeated every day.

Thou Faithful God, you’ve put in all your love by sending Your Only Son, Jesus.

The essence of this love is that You carried your creation

In the warmth of your heart.

Father, your Son has brought reconciliation in our lives.

Grant that we humans will be as you originally intended.

It is in this love that our lives are completely renewed.

Make us witnesses of this unconditional love,

to love one another,

That our environment may also be touched by this unconditional love.

Father of our existence, accept our honor and glory.

Amen.

Battle

Image Source = Wikipedia

or

Burnt Cross at Coventry Cathedral, England

Image Source = sannse

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Coventry_Cathedral_burnt_cross.jpg)

The second is preferable to the first.

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Prayer Source = Lutheran Service Book (2006), of The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod

The command of our Lord and Savior to love our enemies is a difficult one to keep.  I have struggled with it in circumstances far less dire than his.  Yet this imperative remains with me, reminding me of how far I fall short.  Like the Apostle Paul, I do what I know I should not do and do not do the things I know I ought to do.  Fortunately, there is abundant grace.  Anyhow, this prayer seems especially appropriate in early Easter Week, just a few days removed from Good Friday.–KRT

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Almighty, everlasting God,

through Your only Son, our blessed Lord,

You commanded us to love our enemies,

to do good to those who hate us,

and to pray for those who persecute us.

Therefore, we earnestly implore You

that by Your gracious working

our enemies may be led to true repentance,

may have the same love toward us as we have toward them,

and may be of one accord and one mind and heart

with us and with Your whole Church;

through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

http://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2010/10/29/thirty-ninth-day-of-lent-good-friday/

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2012/07/21/proper-9-year-c/

Image Source = Wikipedia

Prayer Source = Gates of Repentance:  The New Union Prayerbook for the Days of Awe (New York:  Central Conference of American Rabbis, 1978), p. 324

I hereby forgive all who have hurt me, all who have wronged me, whether deliberately or inadvertently, whether by word or by deed.  May no one be punished on my account.

As I forgive and pardon those who have wronged me, may those whom I have harmed forgive and pardon me, whether I acted deliberately or inadvertently, whether by word or by deed.

O God, god of our mothers and fathers, grant that our prayers may reach You.  Do not be deaf to our pleas, for we are not so arrogant and stiff-necked as to say before You, Lord our God and God of all ages, we are perfect and have not sinned; rather do we confess:  we have gone astray, we have sinned, we have transgressed.