Dear global friends in Christ and supporters of peace,

Below please find a prayer which the National Council of Churches in Korea is requesting that you use in one of the next two Sundays.

August 15 is Korea’s Liberation Day, when we celebrate liberation in 1945 from Japanese colonial domination, which was soon tragically followed by the division of our Peninsula by the western powers. In 1989, the WCC agreed that WCC member Churches throughout the world would be asked to pray on a Sunday near August 15 for the Peace and Reunification of Korea. Therefore each year since then, Christians of the NCCK and the KCF, the Korean Christian Federation of North Korea, have been preparing a common prayer for use on one of the Sundays around the 15th.

We are grateful each year for the prayer support and solidarity of Christian partners throughout the world, as you join us in seeking peace in Korea. Again this year we want to share this joint prayer with you for use in your church or organization. Together let us pray for peace and reunification in the Korean peninsula.  May God’s rich blessings pour upon you and fulfill your every need.

Sincerely,

Rev. Dr. Kim Young Ju, General Secretary,
National Council of Churches in Korea 

PEACE and REUNIFICATION SOUTH-NORTH

COMMON PRAYER SUNDAY, AUGUST 15, 2013

O, God of Love!

We, the churches of both South and North Korea, give thanks to you and pray in the day of our Nation’s Liberation. We remember the precious tears and blood which our forefathers and foremothers experienced and how they overcome oppressions and brutalities done by the Japanese Empire and achieved liberation. Approaching the 68th Liberation Day, however, we cannot celebrate our liberation with complete joy.

O, Lord! We pray that we live no more with confrontation and conflict. Here and at this moment, lead us to open our hearts and pray for each other as sisters and brothers, and through praying together make us recover our national community with love.

O, Lord of Mercy!

Forgive us for our past negligence in not achieving reunification, that is, real liberation. We are inattentive to the word “Reunification” because the days of division have been going on for so long. Hope for reunification has disappeared although our lips sing of ‘Our wishes for Reunification”. Our hearts which longed for oneness have become hardened. We are acclimatized to the reality of division, and criticism and conflict with each other have become common in our daily life.

O, Lord! Forgive us for not having merciful hearts. Make us long for peace and reunification with sincere love and trustful will, confessing our sin. We pray that the wounds caused in the times of blaming each other with resentment can be healed through the love of the Cross.

O, God of Might!

We believe God’s providence which makes two into one. We pray that the suffering of this separated people should not been passed down to the next generation. We hope for communication and understanding of each other in the issues of Mt. Keumkang, Gaesung Industrial Complex, and the West Sea. We pray that the railroad, broken for such a long time, become connected, so that people-to-people contact and the sending of necessary goods, as well as peaceful news, could freely come and go. We pray that the de-militarized zone could be a place for meeting, and that this peninsula could become a symbol of reconciliation and peace.

O, Lord! Make us to dream of reunification again. Lead us to break down the walls of our hearts and respect each other. Guide us not to brag of military alliances and not to continue our present hostile policy. Allow us to hail this year, the 60th anniversary of the Armistice, as the first year of peace.

O, God of Peace!

We pray that there be no more war in this land, and that we can be proud in the global society of the trust and friendship of the north and the south. Make us embrace each other, not with careless words and slogans, but with a burst of sympathy from the bottom of our hearts. Make us to love each other, being proud of that we are children of God and that we are sisters and brothers of one blood. Allow us to prepare the space of Grace which will enable us to share the Agape meal and to wash each other’s feet.

O. Lord! Today, when we celebrate the joy of liberation, we pray you keep watch over people in this land. Make us obey your command, ‘love your enemy,’ and to realize that we, the Church, are called to be peace makers. We pray that national reunification be realized before long.

We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, the Lord of Peace. Amen.

August 15th, 2013

The National Council of Churches in Korea

The Korean Christian Federation of North Korea