World Peace Prayer Society - 2003 compilation

MASSACHUSETTS, USA
(2003 World Peace Prayer Society Report)

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

United Nations International Day Of Peace, September 21, 2003

In honor of the United Nations International Day of Peace, 2003, it was my joy and blessing to coordinate and host a prayer service at the First Parish in Malden–Universalist. As powerful as this day was, it was particularly significant for me, as I chose to celebrate this event with a friend who’d recently assumed the head ministerial position at this beautiful Unitarian Universalist Church in the Greater Boston area. After the morning service, we reassembled in the sanctuary, at noon, to add our collective Light to give honor to this day.

Having gathered everyone in a circle around a table of lit votive candles, I opened the service with a brief reading of the United Nations Resolutions, which established the mandate for the UN IDP.

Next, I read a prayer I wrote specifically for the UN IDP, 2003. I chose to design the cover page of the prayer with a white dove holding an olive branch in her mouth, against a black backdrop, almost in a silhouette form. At the top of the page was our beloved mantra, MAY PEACE PREVAIL ON EARTH.

Dearest God,

As we gather in community at First Parish in Malden, Universalist, to celebrate the United Nations International Day of Peace, 2003, we offer You our prayers for personal and planetary Peace.

On this momentous day, we join with humanity all over the world, who are affirming a commitment to walk the path of Peace, in efforts to create a Culture of Peace.

As we come before You in sacred space, we thank You for the opportunity to rededicate ourselves to You.

Please make us who you would have us be, that we may do as You would have us do.

We pray that You will illumine our minds, renew our souls, free our spirits, and open our hearts,

so that our lives may become clear reflections of Your Love and Light.

O Eternal Source of Peace, grant us Peace.

In Divine Partnership with You, May we learn Peace, May we teach Peace, May we know Peace, May we be Peace.

May we all hold to the awareness that, “There is no way to Peace, Peace is the way.” *

And for the gifts and blessings of this day, the United Nations International Day of Peace, 2003,

We say, Thank You, God.

MAY PEACE PREVAIL ON EARTH!

Amen.

*Gandhi

Next, I taught a song that I learned from Thich Nhat Hahn and his community of monks and nuns when they were in Boston a couple of years ago. Then we read from “Light Out of Africa,” taken from Nelson Mandela’s Presidential inaugural speech of 1994.

My intention was to read selections of prayers taken from “The Peace Seeds,” a collection of interfaith, condensed prayers. I would like to give you the history of how these came into being: At the invitation of Pope John Paul II, the religious leaders of the world assembled for the first time in history to pray for peace on earth. At the request of the translators at the United Nations, the twelve prayers prayed in Assisi, Italy on the “Day of Prayer for World Peace” during the United Nations International Year of Peace, 1986, were condensed to form “The Peace Seeds.” These abbreviated prayers represent the following faith traditions: Baha’i, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jain, Jewish, Muslim, Native African, Native American, Shinto, Sikh, and Zoroastrian.

I sing in the Mystic Chorale here in Greater Boston, and I chose one of my favorite Peace songs to close the service. It is called “Circle Chant,” by Linda Hirschhorn. I can share the words:

“Circle round for freedom, circle round for Peace,

for all of us imprisoned, circle for release.

Circle for the planet, circle for each soul,

for the children of our children, keep the circle whole.”

At the conclusion of the service, I distributed gifts including “May Peace Prevail on Earth” stickers, pencils, balloons, brochures and Global Link newsletters.

Penny Joy Snider-Light
WPPS Peace Representative

2003 World Peace Prayer Society Compilation

May Peace Prevail On Earth