Stop the pain
We ask that you stop the pain of the women who have sustained a beating from their abusers; be it husband, father, owner or master…heal their pain and keep them safe.
In Your Mercy
LORD, HEAR OUR PRAYER…
Provide them with physical nourishment to feed their family and friends
Almighty God, Father of all mankind, creator of women, hear our prayers today for the women whom you love and care for. We ask in the precious name of your son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus…that the women who woke up hungry and unable to feed their children this morning…are fed especially with your spiritual word and that you are able to provide them with physical nourishment to feed their family and friends.
In Your Mercy
LORD, HEAR OUR PRAYER…
Stir up the Spirit
Stir up the Spirit, O’ God, that our ears may be open to hear the cries of your daughters and sons entrapped by violent relationships. Stir up the Spirit, O’ God, that our eyes may be open to see the damage perpetuated by the human trafficking – modern slavery – of women and men; young girls and young boys.
Stir up the Spirit, O’ God, that our hearts may be open to feel the pain of sexual abuse of women and young girls; men and young boys, wherever it is found; in the home; in school; in institutions; in the market place.
Stir up the Spirit, O’ God, that our minds may be open to understand and acknowledge the untold damage wrought by all sexual violence and abuse.
Stir up the Spirit, O’ God, that we may give voice to what we hear and see – to what we feel and know – and with strength and courage seek healing and transformation of our broken world. Amen.
Virginia Lief
We offer our prayers today for the women and children who are victims of human trafficking
Merciful Father, We offer our prayers today for the women and children who are victims of human trafficking. Lord we know that human trafficking is a human rights violation and one of the gravest and most complex human rights challenges of the times. It is a crime against the dignity and integrity of people. It has devastating consequences for victims who may suffer emotional, psychological, and physical abuse. Many victims of trafficking are bought and sold many times over, multiplying the forms of violence they suffer. We ask for your divine intervention for these victims. Hold them in your loving arms Lord, free them and heal their physical, emotional and psychosocial wounds.
Lord we also pray for the perpetrators of these crimes against the dignity and integrity of your people. We ask that you grant them a change of heart and forgiveness. Move them to release every victim from the bonds of this horrific crime. Lord we also pray for ourselves. Move us in such a mightily way that we strive for justice for all victims of trafficking. Open the eyes for those of us who fail to see the gravity of trafficking, soften the hearts of those of us who do nothing and lead us into action to end this grave and complex human rights challenge. We ask this all in the most precious name of our lord and savior Jesus Christ.
Deb Gardiner Member-at-Large Social Justice National ECW Board
Hold the victims of slavery, sex, and abuse in your hands
Dear Lord,Thank you for this day. Hold the victims of slavery, sex, and abuse in your hands. Give them the will, strength, and courage to defend themselves to your glory! Help them to bear the burden they have endured and hold fast their belief of your goodness through Christ. Amen
Shirley Greiman
Collect for 16 Days of Activism
Stir up your power, Almighty God, and guide us in the ways of justice and truth. Help us to love one another as you love us, that we may be strengthened and renewed by the Holy Spirit to right the wrongs done by those who do not know how to love. Grant our petitions, O Lord, for the sake of Jesus Christ, your Son our Savior. Amen.
The Rev. Dcn. Nancy R. Crawford
We grieve the injustices
This is my prayer. We grieve the injustices that have been perpetrated against women throughout history, and we affirm the equality that you instilled when you created humanity.
We pray especially for women in the developing world, who are often most grievously affected by war, conflict, and natural disasters.
In your name, Jesus, we stand up against all violence against women. Amen
Linda Guest
To Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
WOMEN’S WORDS IN THE NIGHT
We are the hands that rock the cradle. But what if our hands are battered and bloody? tremble from coercion? abandon the cradle?
We are the voices that sing the lullaby. But what if our voices are faint? shriek with rage? are silenced?
We are the eyes that behold the hope. But what if our eyes are closed? glazed with pain? ignore the vision?
We are the hearts that burst with reconciliation. But what if our hearts embrace forgiveness? flower with justice? redeem the violence?
By Margaret Faulk of Nashua, NH Vol. I of “Women’s Uncommon Prayers
For those Who are Abused
O Lord, our Creator and Deliverer, you heard the cries of your people in Egypt and sent your servant Moses to lead them out of oppression. Hear our prayers for all your people who suffer from abuse and oppression, that we too might be a means to free them from their pain. O Lord, our Deliverer, Hear our prayer.
Bring to an end the divisions in your Church throughout the world, that unified in purpose, the Body of Christ may always remember and serve those men, women, and children whose suffering is hidden from our sight or painful for us to acknowledge.
O Lord, our Deliverer, Hear our prayer.
Bestow your grace on persons in positions of leadership throughout the Church, especially our Presiding Bishop, our bishop, and the laity and clergy in our parishes, that your Church may be holy ground where all your people can gather in safety and peace.
O Lord, our Deliverer, Hear our prayer.
Guide the leaders of all the nations, that your justice may be brought to all who have been wronged and that every country might be a promised land for its people.
O Lord, our Deliverer, Hear our prayer.
Open our eyes to those in our midst who suffer abuse, that we may also open our hearts to share their pain and bring them relief from their sorrow.
O Lord, our Deliverer, Hear our prayer.
Lift up all your people whose suffering is beyond their strength to endure, that they may feel the healing of your compassionate love.
O Lord, our Deliverer, Hear our prayer.
Strengthen all who care for the abused and who speak to the world of their pain, that they may find renewal for their labor in your healing presence.
O Lord, our Deliverer, Hear our prayer.
Remind us always that as you pardon all wrongdoings and heal all ills, we may also forgive those who inflict pain on others and pray for their restoration to wholeness.
O Lord, our Deliverer, Hear our prayer.
Hold in your loving care those who have died at the hands of others, and comfort those who mourn them with knowledge that you will bring justice and healing to all who have been wronged.
O Lord, our Deliverer, Hear our prayer.
O Lord, our Creator and Deliverer, you enlightened and strengthened Moses to be a prophet and guide to your people when they cried out for help. Open our hearts, our ears, and our eyes, that we might also work for justice and comfort for all who suffer abuse. This we ask in the name of your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, who came to set at liberty those who are oppressed. Amen.
-The Reverend Nancy Casey Fulton
We pray for ALL who are subject to acts of violence
We pray for ALL who are subject to acts of violence, O LORD,
that they may be restored to soundness of body, mind, and spirit to serve as models of faith and hope, that by their good example we can learn to resolve conflict without harm, anger, or hatred, respecting the sanctity of life, and affirming our common identity as children of a loving GOD, who would have us all care for one another: that peace and good will may find a home in our hearts as well as our lives; now and forever. AMEN.
Prayer by The Rev. Gregory Johnson – Diocese of Hawaii – December 2012.