Prayer Occasioned
By War in Iraq

We come to You in silence, O God,
entering once again a Way of Sorrow.
we can only weep -

for the people of Iraq, burdened by
years of oppression, by a decade of
sanctions, and now facing death and
destruction,

for those in flight, joining refugees
throughout the world in a journey of
profound uncertainty,

for soldiers and their families facing
dire threat and days of anxious
waiting,

for Jerusalem and all it represents
throughout the Middle East - would
that they, and we, knew the things
that make for peace,

for those who are poor, whose needs
are set aside while we pay the costs
of war,

for ourselves, despairing that we
could not turn hands and hearts from
the way of violence.

Allow us our silence, O God, but do
not leave us alone. Receive our tears,
but also gather them together to
remind us that as we have been
baptized into Christ's death, so we
are also baptized into Christ's
resurrection. Thus may our journey
with Jesus on the Way of the Cross
be filled with hope, that in these days
we might not loose heart. Amen.

The Rev. John H. Thomas
General Minister and President
United Church of Christ