My Prayer for Belfast at the 4 Corners Festival
Last Sunday I was invited to pray at the 4 Corners Festival morning worship service. It was to be held in the former Poor Clares’ Convent chapel and broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster.
My initial thought was how do I, as someone who no longer lives in Belfast, but still calls it home, pray for the place I left all those years ago? With the theme of the festival being “Our Stories … towards a culture of hope” and in light of some of what I’d heard over the course of the week, I crafted the following prayer. I think it can be easily adapted to any context.
Lord, we come before you this morning
As people created in your image.
An image we share with all people.
No exceptions.
Yet there are times when we discount your image in others.
Disregarding and degrading their humanity.
Like the Pharisees of old, we have tendencies to draw lines in the sand, declaring who is in and who is out.
Who is worthy and who is unworthy.
But you have shown us a better way.
You have commanded, ordered, directed, and implored us to set aside the divisions this world seeks to impose upon us.
You have cancelled the sectarian category of them and us.
You have called us to be a people of hope - a voice of grace - a vessel of love.
To love our neighbour, yes, but also to love our enemy.
When it comes to love there are no exceptions.
Help us to see and love others as you do.
As your church, we desire the idealism of your kingdom and we long for the day when your “shalom,” your peace, will once again cover all of creation.
But until its full consummation we live with the pragmatic reality of a broken world in which grace is our best friend and most necessary companion.
Grant us the grace to honour and respect the stories of others as they make their way through life.
Grant us the grace to be a loving neighbour to everyone we encounter in our life’s sojourn.
Grant us the grace to see and celebrate those moments of hope in our world where walls are broken down and those who have eyes to see can appreciate the light that shines on an all too often dark world.
We celebrate the hope that comes from the pragmatic compromises that allowed the Northern Ireland Assembly to reconvene.
We celebrate the hope that comes from seeing Michelle O’Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly in attendance at the PSNI graduation.
We celebrate the hope that comes from bringing people together across the city through the 4 Corners Festival.
Lord, help us, your people, to maintain our prophetic voice in this world as we seek to follow your way, demonstrating your love and grace in all that we do.
In Jesus name, Amen.
