A Prayer as War Begins
March 20, 2003

Heavenly Father, The God of All the World

Do you weep for Your Children at this moment?

We foolish humans think that we can 'fix' the problems of the world with bombs.

The only thing that bombs can do is kill and maim and destroy.

Please, Father, open the eyes of your people

That they may see that true Peace can be won Only with Love:

Love for our enemies as well as for our allies

Love for the lowly as well as for the powerful

Love for the disagreeable as well as for our friends.

Until such time as all the World's people can come together in Loving one another,

Please, Lord, guide our hearts and our hands to do good, rather than evil.

Guide our minds to make decisions that will do the least amount of harm to the least among us.

And bring the troops of our Armed Services home alive and un-bloodied to the safety of our shores.

Watch over these men and women and keep them in Your care.

For those that fall, as is an inevitable product of the use of force, send your Angels to embrace them and bring them to your table.  Assure them that they are loved and welcome them into Your Grace.

Send Peace to those who loved them on Earth and a balm of acceptance to sooth their souls.  Help them rest in the assurance that their loved one died doing what he/she deemed was the right and honorable thing to do in defense of freedom from oppression and tyranny.

And for our foes, Lord, I pray that they too will survive by the mercy of a victorious and caring Allied Force who is more interested in compassion that in revenge.  I pray also that in coming years these survivors will come to know that they lived in order to work for a better, more peaceful world where all can have freedom to worship and conduct their lives in their own way while respecting the rights of others to do the same.

As for the Leaders of this War:  Lord, ONLY YOU know what is in their hearts.  Only you can judge the rightness of their stance (on both sides) in calling for such a dangerous course for our World.

Sooth my mind and take the burden of judgement of their actions from my responsibility onto yourself.  Free me from any resentment that I hold in my heart with the knowledge that You will met Your just judgement upon them in the fullness of time.  Making them accountable for all their actions - both good and evil.

Lord, I pray most fervently that you will stay the hand of terrorists and keep all Your people everywhere safe from harm.   Open the hearts and minds of the terrorists to accept Your Love and turn them from the destructive path they have chosen onto the course of loving themselves as well as their perceived enemies and working for life for all - not death.

A pictorial essay of their 'Human-ness'.

God, let us love one another, as we have loved You.