If we see the world through your eyes, Lord,
then we see a vision of our world as your love would have it:
a world where all who are weak are protected and none go hungry;
a world where your riches of creation are shared for everyone to enjoy them;
a world where mutual respect is expressed between different races and cultures and harmony descends;
a world where peace is built with justice, and justice is guided by love.
Give us the inspiration and courage to build it how you see it Lord!
That all may praise together and the only power exerted is the power of your love. Amen.

God of all understanding,
the more I learn about your holy justice
the more I realise that even my prayers can be
riddled with sin.
In praying for other people
I have thought that I know best what they need.
I have taken the seat of judgement
and found others wanting.
I have not challenged the ground
of my own understanding,
allowing prejudice and stereotypes
to flourish unchecked.
Forgive me.
Help me to kneel before your throne of grace
with both confidence and humility.
Remind me to leave the judging and directing to you.
Enable me to pray for others
not by way of the gulfs that divide us
but via the love in which you hold us all in common,
revealed to us in Jesus. Amen.

You are the One, the Holy One,
who looks on all you have made, with love.
You gaze at me, and your faithful kindness overwhelms me.
I fall silent before you, my words stalling,
as my heart breaks open and pours out my thanks, my delight in you.
The more I gaze back at you,
the more I see through your eyes;
I am born again in your devotion to your creation.
Let my words fall before you,
but grant me the words and the acts of love
you long for me to have for your world. Amen.

Peace is a rose.
So lovely, so delicate, so fragrant,
so easily crushed.
Holy God, let peace flower in our damaged world.
In parched places, let peace take root,
in broken places, let peace send forth strong shoots,
in barren places, let peace bud and bloom,
that all may see her beauty,
feel her softness,
be overcome by her gentle perfume,
and tend her.
Amen.

Loving God,
May all that we learn
from you and alongside one another,
challenge and transform our thoughts, words and deeds.
May your message dwell richly in our hearts.
May it be treasured.
May it pour out from us in expressions of praise, proclamation and protest.
Help us to listen to all who have been marginalised
to hear what cannot be spoken.
Prepare us for the times when your message will pierce and break our hearts.
Change us as we join in your work as your body here on earth.
In the name of the One who came as Teacher, Justice Seeker and Defender of the Oppressed. Amen.

God of all, we praise you for the life that you give us,
even when we cling to it by no more than our fingertips
and, in Jesus’ name, we protest the inequality created by human greed. Amen.

O God, how long? How long must we wait to see your justice lifted high? How long must we groan under oppression and injustice? The poor get poorer, and the rich get richer. Help us to sing a new song. Help us, through your Holy Spirit, to sing your song of a world renewed, of dignity freely given, of right living between sibling and sibling. But it begins with me. It begins with my willingness to partner with the God of all the earth. Help us to see the riches you have placed within us and let us add our voices to the song all creation longs to sing.
Then our souls shall truly magnify the Lord,
today and always.
Amen.

God of grace and hope,
Where the warmth of a smile eclipses the sinister sneer –
Let hope stand triumphant.
Where an act of kindness
undermines an evil deed –
Let hope stand triumphant.
Where a word of peace
silences the terrorist’s threat –
Let hope stand triumphant.
Where difference is diversity
in place of disunity –
Let hope stand triumphant.
Where youth is innocent
and age is wisdom –
Let hope stand triumphant.
Where love is real
and faith is kindled –
Let hope stand triumphant.
Praying that praise and protest
would be partners in our living and in our praying,
that your kingdom may come among us.
Amen.

God of the Outcast; God of the Disempowered:
Thank you that you walk with us as One who has been rejected, despised, mocked.
Help us to follow the story of your pathfinders long past: justice-seekers like the Primitive Methodists who opened wide doors to welcome all.

Through your infinite mercy, O God, may we be prevented from destroying your creation. With so many ongoing conflicts, Lord, it can sometimes be a challenge for many people to believe in your existence. Yet, in spite of centuries of violence and hatred, oppression and injustice, all spawned from humankind, it is a miracle indeed that the human race can still recover, and produce people who can, and do, overcome evil with good; hatred with love and greed with open-handedness. This, Father God, can only be possible by your outpouring of grace. Amen.