Spirit of peace

Our troubled world needs your peace

Our violent thoughts need your peace

Our troubled hearts need your peace

Help us find our way from anger

            To peace

From revenge

            To peace

From doubt and despair

            To the peace of hope and trust

May we find our human way

            Out of the wrongs of the past

            Through the challenges of today

            To a future where individuals are free to flourish following their own paths

            Where the inherent worth and dignity of every person is respected

            Where justice and compassion govern our relationships

            Where neighbors live peacefully in beloved community

We don’t seek an easy peace

            A false peace that disregards pain, and cruelty, and injustice

We don’t pray for a hollow peace

            A weak peace that emboldens evil

            By refusing to confront wrongdoing

We seek a true peace

            Built up from the best of humanity

            A lasting peace,

nurtured slowly by care and concern

            Divine peace,

Uncovered from the deepest places of our souls

                        Lifted high by painstaking spiritual work

May we be courageous as we must

To let the worst that is in us not defeat us

            But to cling determinedly to a faith that proclaims

            That human beings can solve human problems

            And that it is possible to live in peace.