July 22, 2009
(ST. LOUIS) – On Monday, July 13, approximately 200 people attended, “We Have a Prayer – Interfaith Relations in Difficult Times,” an interreligious event hosted by Aquinas Institute of Theology, 23 S. Spring Avenue. Aquinas co-sponsored this free interfaith event with Eden Theological Seminary, the Islamic Foundation of Greater St. Louis and the St. Louis Jewish Community Relations Council.
An attentive crowd welcomed and enjoyed the presentations offered by three prominent religious leaders — Rabbi Steve Gutow, Executive Director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs; Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches; and Dr. Sayyid M. Syeed, National Director of the ISNA Office of Interfaith and Community Alliances – who came together last winter amidst the sudden surge of violence in the Gaza Strip and prayed together. The prayer these leaders composed is listed below.
PLEASE NOTE: All God’s Children, a book mentioned by Dr. Sayyid Syeed on the night of the presentation, will soon be available for download here :
(This link will redirect you to an I-Tunes site)
http://tinyurl.com/WeHaveAPrayer
Prayer for Gaza
Dear Lover of humanity and all creation, we come to you because we trust in your power and take comfort in your compassion.
Our world is in chaos.
Your children suffer greatly in Afghanistan and Darfur, in Burma, the Congo and Sri Lanka,and the Middle East is a place of soul-wrenching strife.
With no end in sight and no reason for easy hope, You are the One to whom we turn.
Strengthen us, Merciful God, o act and to know that our acting matters:
raising awareness at home of suffering in distant places, advocating for peace instead of violence, bringing together those who have been estranged, trying, ourselves, to see the world as others see it.
Fill us, we pray, with the visionof a time when children are not killed in war, and in which the neighbor’s wellbeing is a first priority.
We have not always agreed on decisions involving war and peace; but we do agree that you are on the side of those who suffer, and that peacemaking is our ultimate vocation.
We pray in different ways and languages; but we each long to hear your voice and to discern the way You wish us to travel.
Blessed are you, Holy One! May your will for peace prevail!
Amen.
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