FOR OUR TROUBLED WORLD
We pray today for the peace and safety of all humankind. We pray for the people of New Orleans and America's stricken Gulf Coast, struggling to recover from the hurricane's fury. We pray for the people of Iraq, beset with blasphemous terrorism as they strive to rebuild their country. We pray for those in Europe whose summer has brought either scorching drought or devastating floods. We pray for all people whose lives are shattered, whose lives hang in the balance, because of hunger, disease or tyranny, wherever they may be in our troubled world. We pray for those of our own Unitarian and Universalist community who are caught up in the consequences of disaster in Transylvania and the United States. O God, grant us the wisdom to manage our one world with intelligence, foresight and compassion, working with nature and not against it. We ask to be motivated by generosity, not avarice; by love not selfishness; by your just and loving Spirit, not by some perverted mockery of faith. We pray today for the peace and safety of all humankind. Make us your instruments to achieve them. This we ask in the spirit of Jesus and of all your messengers. Amen.

—Cliff Reed
2nd September 2005

This prayer was offered by Rev. Cliff Reed of the British General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches.