RESPONSIVE READING

 

Human Rights Litany

 

Someone is shouting in the desert: “Prepare the way of the Lord; make a straight path for God to travel! Every valley must be filled up, every hill and mountain leveled off. The winding roads must be made straight, and the rough paths made smooth” (Luke 3:1-6).

God of justice, your messenger has called us to prepare your way, to make your paths straight.

 

But the world is not ready to receive you. The roadway is choked with material possessions of people who have become rich from the labor of those who are denied access to resources because of their race, ethnicity, gender, class or nationality.

God of peace, your messenger is calling us to prepare your way.

 

But fearful threats exist. The highway is barricaded with armaments. The valleys are filled with landmines that kill innocent children, women and men.

God of compassion, your messenger is calling us to prepare your way.

 

But not everybody will be free to greet you. Some of the courageous languish in prison, tortured for their beliefs or for speaking truth to power.  Many women are imprisoned in their homes, abused by their husbands and without means of escape because they are denied legal and economic recourse. Many children are chained in sweatshops or sold into prostitution.

How then shall we prepare the way?

 

In the name of God and for the sake of God’s people, we proclaim in word and deed that all human beings are born with fundamental human rights.

How shall we prepare the way?

 

We will strive to guarantee the dignity and worth of the human person and the equal rights of women and men.

How shall we prepare the way?

 

We will work for a world in which human beings enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want.

Then we will go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before us shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. And every valley shall be filled and the crooked shall be made straight, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

 

(adapted from PC(USA), “Human Rights Litany,” www.pcusa.org/peacemaking/worship/humanrightsworship.pdf)

 

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

 

Let us pray that contemplating Jesus, 

Our Lord and our Peace, 

We Christians would repent 

Of the words and attitudes 

Caused by pride, by hatred, 

By the desire to dominate others, 

By enmity towards members of other religions 

And towards the weakest groups in society, 

Such as immigrants and itinerants.

 

(Pause for silent prayer)

 

 

Lord of the world, Father of all, Mother of all, 

Through your Son 

You asked us to love our enemies, 

To do good to those who hate us 

And to pray for those who persecute us. 

Yet Christians have often denied the Gospel; 

Yielding to a mentality of power, 

We have violated the rights of ethnic groups and peoples, 

And shown contempt 

For other cultures and religious traditions: 

Be patient and merciful towards us, 

And grant us your forgiveness! 

We ask this through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

 

(adapted from “Universal Prayers of Confession,” www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/documents/ns_lit_doc_20000312_prayer-day-pardon_en.html)

 

Our God,

who gave commandments that guide us into paths of justice and compassion,

teach us what it means to make good rules.

We pray for rules to govern our trade

that can bend to serve the needs of the poor,

that are strong to contain the greed of the rich,

that will challenge the inequalities present in our world.

Make us restless for change,

refusing to submit to political realities 

where life and death are bought in the market place,

and daring to work for the coming of your kingdom

where the world is reshaped in the image of Christ.

In whose name we pray. Amen.

 

(adapted from “Baptist Human Rights Day,” www.bwanet.org/humanrights/humanrights2005.htm)

 

We Cannot Merely Pray to You

 

We cannot merely pray to you, O God, to end war, for we know that you have made the world in such a way that all people must find their own path to peace within themselves and with their neighbors.

 

We cannot merely pray to you, O God, to end starvation, for you have already given us resources with which to feed the whole wide world, if we could only use them wisely.

 

We cannot merely pray to you, O God, to root out our prejudice, for you have already given us eyes with which to see the good in all people, if we would only use them rightly.

 

We cannot merely pray to you, O God, to end despair, for you have already given us the power to clear away slums and to give hope, if we would only use our power justly.

 

We cannot merely pray to you, O God, to end disease, for you have already given us great minds with which to search out cures and healings, if we would only use them constructively.

 

Therefore we pray to you instead, O God, for strength, determination and will power, to do what we can, to do what we must, to do instead of just to pray, to become instead of merely to wish.

 

(adapted from “We Cannot Merely Pray to You,” http://ns3810.ovh.net/~fiacat/en/spip.php?article264)

 

 

 

Prayer for Human Rights Defenders

 

Lord our God,

Despite all the misery and cruelty that people inflict upon each other, 

Let us hope that one day monuments will be erected for the peace-loving and non-violent.

Now is the time to act together in another way : 

Not only talk about justice but do it; 

To loose all bonds, to overturn misery, to bring liberation.

Not only talk about peace but create it; to surmount walls, to work for reconciliation, to approach each other.

Not only talk about creation but preserve it, to protect life, to be a guardian, to support the weak.

Not only talk about love but live it; to accept each other, to be there for one another, to give one’s heart away.

Not only talk about hope but spread it; to give evidence, not to give up, to look forward.

Now is the time to act together in another way.

 

(adapted from “Prayers for Human Rights Defenders,” http://ns3810.ovh.net/~fiacat/en/spip.php?rubrique66)