Today in our prayers for the people of Latvia.

Prayer for Peace

David Brock

Teach us, we pray, peace-speaking God, the language of shalom. We have not yet learned your ancient, unfamiliar tongue. Our accent is that of a foreigner. Our gestures are awkward. Tongues tangle, throats hurt, and mouths tire of trying to shape so many new sounds.

But we are willing to start at the beginning, learners asking for help, practicing again and again and once again until we hear your inflection in our own voice and catch your nuance in new words from patient teachers of peace.

One day, slowly, haltingly may we hear in our own voice the faint hint of music, the rhythmic beauty of the language of peace. May our words be with gesture of hands and movement of feet. Letter by syllable by word, may we speak the vision of your new world into being.

Help us say, “forgive me, please,” to our families. Teach us to pronounce “healing” in hospital rooms, to plead “reconcile” in our places of work, and to proclaim “justice” when we call our government’s representatives. Then, in the dark of our own weary nights, Lord, will you please whisper in us, “shalom”?

God, eternal word of peace, speak the language of shalom through us, stanza by stanza in the world, we pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen.