peace for all by Sjaak Kempe via flickr CC BY 2.0
Lord Jesus Christ, you are the way of peace.
Come into the brokenness of our lives
and our land with your healing love.
Help us to be willing to bow before you in true repentance,
and to one another in real forgiveness.
By the fire of your Holy Spirit, melt our hard hearts
and consume the pride and prejudice which separate us.
Fill us, O Lord, with your perfect love which casts out fear
and bind us together in that unity which you share
with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
A prayer used in the Irish Republic and in Northern Ireland
_________________
We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.
God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.
Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first.
prayer & verse 