God of justice and peace,
We remember. In our hearts, the lives lost and forever changed on September 11 inspire our prayer today. Receive our sorrow, our lament, the honor with which we hold their memories, and the grief that still remains in so many families and communities.
For twenty five years, we have prayed for those who died, for the families who carry their absence, for first responders and survivors, and for all whose lives were changed by that day. Today, building upon those prayers of remembrance and gratitude, help us also to ask something of ourselves before you.
Do not let us condemn hatred in others while quietly making room for it in ourselves. Do not let us pray for peace while remaining comfortable with injustice, or ask you to heal the world while refusing to recognize the humanity of those we have been taught to fear.
Our world is still wounded by war, violence, segregation, religious hatred, and the desire for revenge. Nevertheless, form us into people who refuse to add more fear to fear, more cruelty to cruelty, or more division to division. Transform our remembrance into compassion. Let our faith resist evil when it presents itself in the shape of revenge.
Let our words protect human dignity, and let our worship lead us beyond good intentions into the difficult work of justice, reconciliation, and peace.
Give wisdom to those who hold power, courage to those who speak against violence, comfort to those who mourn, and protection to those who live today under the shadow of war and terror.
And as we come before you in this time of remembrance and honor, help us to understand that the peace we ask from the world must also begin within us, among us, and through us. Make us faithful witnesses to your Divine will, until the day when weapons are set aside, hatred loses its power, and peace is known among all peoples. Amen.
Warmly,
Rev. David Gaitan
