A Liturgy for the 4^th Anniversary of the War in Iraq

The North Carolina Council of Churches

11 March 2007

GATHERING

Welcome and Announcements

*Opening Litany (RESPONSIVE)

(LEADER) God of peace,

(ALL) overturn our warring.

(LEADER) God of love,

(ALL) overturn our hating.

(LEADER) God of hope,

(ALL) overturn our fears.

(LEADER) God of life,

(ALL) overturn the death our brokenness creates,

until your kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven.

*Opening Hymn God Whose Love Is Always Stronger

BEACH SPRING

God, whose love is always stronger

Than our weakness, pride and fear,

In your world, we pray and wonder

How to be more faithful here.

Hate too often grows inside us;

Fear rules what the nations do.

So we pray, when wars divide us:

Give us love, Lord! Make us new!

Love is patient, kind and caring,

Never arrogant or rude,

Never boastful, all things bearing;

Love rejoices in the truth.

When we’re caught up in believing

War will make the terror cease,

Show us Jesus’ way of living;

May our strength be in your peace.

May our faith in you be nourished;

May your churches hear your call.

May our lives be filled with courage

As we speak your love for all.

Now emboldened by your Spirit

Who has given us new birth,

Give us love, that we may share it

Till your love renews the earth!

Carolyn W. Gillette (Need Permission to Use)

*Prayer of Confession and Words of Pardon

(LEADER) Trusting in the eternal mercy of God, let us confess our sin before God and one another.

(IN UNISION)

Merciful God, we confess:

our fear of death is stronger than our fear or you;

(SILENCE)

(LEADER) Lord have mercy,

(ALL) Christ have mercy,

(LEADER) Lord have mercy.

We confess our failure to question injustice, torture and oppression because of the feelings of security we have found therein; (SILENCE)

(LEADER) Lord have mercy,

(ALL) Christ have mercy,

(LEADER) Lord have mercy.

We confess our refusal to love our enemies when it seems too costly (SILENCE)

(LEADER) Lord have mercy,

(ALL) Christ have mercy,

(LEADER) Lord have mercy.

We confess our comfort with feelings of righteousness, which allow us to condemn both the terrorists and the nation states, but do not spur us onto working for peace and love; (SILENCE)

(LEADER) Lord have mercy,

(ALL) Christ have mercy,

(LEADER) Lord have mercy.

We confess our poverty of witness to your Way, which leaves the world with no viable alternative to violence; (SILENCE)

(LEADER) Lord have mercy,

(ALL) Christ have mercy,

(LEADER) Lord have mercy.

(LEADER) May God almighty have mercy on us and forgive us these and all our offenses through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen

(LEADER) Hear the good news, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for

us. That proves God’s love toward us.

In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven.

(ALL) In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven.

(ALL) Thanks be to God. Amen.

*The Peace

(LEADER) May the peace of the Lord be always with you.

(ALL) And also with you.

(LEADER) Let us share with one another the signs of Christ’s peace.

(In the ancient tradition of the faith, the congregation shares with one another signs of the peace of Christ, saying to one another, “The Peace of Christ be with you”, and responding, “And also with you”.)

PROCLOMATION

Micah 4:1-4

In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised up above the hills.
 Peoples shall stream to it, and many nations shall come and say:
 ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 
He shall judge between many peoples, and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away; they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more; 
but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.

(LEADER) The word of God for the people of God.

(ALL) Thanks be to God.

Psalm 33 (RESPONSIVE)

(LEADER) Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous.   

(ALL) Praise befits the upright.

(LEADER) Praise the Lord with the lyre;   

(ALL) make melody to God with the harp of ten strings.

(LEADER) Sing to God a new song;  

(ALL) play skilfully on the strings, with loud shouts.

(LEADER) For the word of the Lord is upright, and all God’s work is done

in faithfulness.

(ALL) God loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of

the steadfast love of the Lord.

(LEADER) By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all their

host by the breath of God’s mouth.

(ALL) The Lord gathered the waters of the sea as in a bottle; and

put the deeps in storehouses.

(LEADER) Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world

stand in awe of God.

(ALL) For God spoke, and it came to be; The Lord commanded, and

it stood firm.

(LEADER) The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; God

frustrates the plans of the peoples.

(ALL) The counsel of the Lord stands for ever, the thoughts

of God’s heart to all generations.

(LEADER) Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom

God has chosen as his heritage.

(ALL) The Lord looks down from heaven; God sees all

humankind.

(LEADER) The Lord sits enthroned and watches all the

inhabitants of the earth— The Lord who fashions the hearts of them all, and observes all their deeds.

(ALL) A king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not

delivered by his great strength.

(LEADER) The war horse is a vain hope for victory, and by its great might it

cannot save.

(ALL) Truly the eye of the Lord is on those who fear God,

on those who hope in God’s steadfast love, to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.

(LEADER) Our soul waits for the Lord; God is our help and shield.

(ALL) Our heart is glad in the Lord, because we trust in God’s holy

name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.

* Luke 6:20-31

(LEADER) The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke.

(ALL) Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Then he looked up at his disciples and said:

‘Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

‘Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.

‘Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.

‘Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.

‘But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.

‘Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.

‘Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.

‘Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.

‘But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

(LEADER) The word of the Lord.

(ALL) Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Acts of Peace or Homily

RESPONSE

* Hymn of Response

* Blessings and Curses (RESPONSIVE)

(LEADER) Our Lord, Jesus Christ said, “I give you the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you bind on earth, will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth, will be loosed in Heaven”. Therefore, straddling the line between our broken world and the kingdom of God, let us bind and loose what we see through blessing and cursing.

(LEADER) Cursed be…

(ALL) Bombs that kill, maim and scare.

(LEADER) Blessed be…

(ALL) Hands that heal, feed and comfort.

(LEADER) Cursed be…

(ALL) Tools designed to torture, and weapons of death and

destruction.

(LEADER) Blessed be…

(ALL) Planes, boats and trucks that bring relief.

(LEADER) Cursed be…

(ALL) Acts of terror, and the despair that drives them.

(LEADER) Blessed be…

(ALL) Acts of love, and the hope that fuels them.

(LEADER) Cursed be…

(ALL) The silencing of cries for help, of both the powerless

and the powerful

(LEADER) Blessed be…

(ALL) The pronouncement of truth, and the freedom it

brings.

(LEADER) Cursed be…

(ALL) Hunger, thirst, and poverty of any kind.

(LEADER) Blessed be…

(ALL) Fresh drinking water, nutritious food and adequate

housing.

(LEADER) Cursed be…

(ALL) The orphaning of children and the death of loved

ones.

(LEADER) Blessed be…

(ALL) Those who have been orphaned, those who have

lost one dear to them and all who mourn.

(LEADER) Cursed be…

(ALL) The faith that excuses and blesses evil, violence and

destruction.

(LEADER) Blessed be…

(ALL) That which insists on faith, hope and love.

(LEADER) Blessed be God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit

(ALL) and blessed be God’s kingdom, now and forever.

Amen.

Prayers for the world (RESPONSIVE)

(LEADER) The Lord be with you.

(LEADER) And also with you.

(LEADER) Let us pray.

SENDING FORTH

Ways to Act for Peace in your local Community

* Closing Hymn

* Dismissal with Blessing