An order of morning prayer on Hiroshima Day

Chapel of the Ecumenical Centre
Thursday 06 August 2009
This morning’s prayers are adapted from resources written for the Sixth Assembly of the WCC
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 1983

Biblical affirmations
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me, and know my thoughts.
See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Hide your face from my sins, O Lord, and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, and put a new and right spirit within me. Amen.

For all faiths
O God, we thank you for the wholeness of the human family:
for people of other faiths, and of none, and not only those who are our friends and neighbours.
We thank you for the rich variety of human experience
and the gifts we bring to one another when we meet together in acceptance and love.

Yarabba ssalami amter alayna ssalam. Yarabba ssalami imla’ qulubana ssalam.

We thank you for dialogue in community, and for mutual enrichment and understanding;
for movements to establish and sustain the legitimate religious rights of all persons.

Yarabba ssalami amter alayna ssalam. Yarabba ssalami imla’ qulubana ssalam.

And we pray to you that people of all faiths may enjoy the freedom
to set forth their own conviction with integrity and listen to one another in humility;
that the Christian Church may perform a reconciling ministry in the world,
bearing a true and loving witness to the One whom it calls Lord; in whose name we pray.
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy – and grant us peace. Amen.

Exodus 16:31-35 ( Today’s New International Version)
31 The people of Israel called the bread manna. [
a] It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey. 32 Moses said, "This is what the LORD has commanded: 'Take an omer of manna and keep it for the generations to come, so they can see the bread I gave you to eat in the wilderness when I brought you out of Egypt.' "
33 So Moses said to Aaron, "Take a jar and put an omer of manna in it. Then place it before the LORD to be kept for the generations to come."
34 As the LORD commanded Moses, Aaron put the manna with the tablets of the covenant law, so that it might be preserved. 35 The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan.

A quotation from John Hersey

What has kept the world safe from the bomb since 1945 has not been deterrence, in the sense of fear of specific weapons, so much as it has been memory. The memory of what happened at Hiroshima.
Prayers of intercession
Today marks the 64th anniversary of the bombing with an atomic weapon of Hiroshima, Japan. This week the Ecumenical Prayer Cycle also focuses our attention on Canada and the United States of America. Let us remember the diverse peoples and churches of the North American region as well as the challenges of peace throughout the earth.
Let us pray.
Lord, God of justice and peace, you stand with those who are poor,
you ask us to be the voice of the voiceless;
we call upon you on behalf of those who suffer the injustices of war and greed.
From the depths of our being we cry to you, Lord.
Hear our cry, and listen to our prayers.

For those of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
Bikini and Enitwetok, Kwajalein and Muroroa,
Fangataufa and Christmas Island, Johnston Island and Monte Bello,
Emu and Maralinga:
For those Pacific people whose precious land and sea
have been ravaged by nuclear explosions.
From the depth of our being we cry to you, Lord.
Hear our cry, and listen to our prayers.

For those who are suffering this day from disease, genetic malformation
and the loss of those they love, as a result of nuclear radiation.
May their spirits not be broken by their bodies’ pain.
From the depths of our being we cry to you, Lord.
Hear our cry, and listen to our prayers.

For those whose land and sea are today being put at risk
through acts of war, environmental irresponsibility, radioactive pollution,
the dumping of nuclear wastes and the passage of nuclear ships.
May their livelihood and health be preserved and may they live in peace and hope.
From the depths of our being we cry to you, Lord.
Hear our cry, and listen to our prayers.

We pray that your promise of justice may become real to those for whom we pray –
and to those for whom we forget to pray.
May we all be released, to live in love and freedom.
We cry to you, Lord, and – each in our own language – we join our voices in prayer…

The Lord’s Prayer

Closing prayer
Across the barriers that divide race from race…
Reconcile us, O Christ, by your cross.
Across the barriers that divide the rich from the poor…
Reconcile us, O Christ, by your cross.
Across the barriers that divide people of different faiths…
Reconcile us, O Christ, by your cross.
Across the barriers that divide Christians…
Reconcile us, O Christ, by your cross.
Across the barriers that divide men and women, young and old…
Reconcile us, O Christ, by your cross.

Confront us, O Christ, with the hidden prejudices and fears
which deny and betray our prayers.
Enable us to see the causes of strife.
Remove from us all false sense of superiority.
Teach us to grow in unity with all God’s children.
In the name of the Triune God we pray, Father, Son and Spirit. Amen.