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God of peace,
This land now stands at the edge of its darkest dawn. Breaking through the silence of a long night, we begin to hear faint signs of peace rising from afar.
And quietly, our hearts begin to beat again with hope. Eighty years have passed since liberation and division, seventy-two years since the guns fell silent.
Still, we wait for the covenant of true and lasting peace.
Yet, O Lord, even through those long and painful years, we believe that your mercy and peace have never ceased, not even for a moment. We believe this place where we now stand is held within the dawn of your new beginning.
God,
Forgive us for closing the doors of our hearts to one another.
Forgive us for turning away from the suffering of our neighbors.
Forgive us for living with indifference and cold hearts.
Yet beyond the long walls of division, we feel once again the stirrings of small but hopeful changes. We see people taking steps toward one another again. Words that had been cut off are being heard again. Breaths held in silence are alive again. Whispers of peace, long hidden in silence and darkness, are now awakening through small but courageous acts.
The loudspeakers of hostility have been silenced. And cautious footsteps toward peace have begun once more.
God,
May these small beginnings grow into true encounters and a path of lasting peace. May the hatred and hostility that have justified war on this land no longer stand in the way of our future.
Give us courage to remove the boundaries and conditions we have built. Help us to dream of the day when we may freely cross borders and share each other’s pain and healing.
God,
Let the love and forgiveness of Christ flow over the wounds of war and division that still scar this land.
God,
We have not forgotten that holy moment, when, 39 years ago, in the small village of Glion in Switzerland, the churches of North and South came together to share in the Eucharist.
We remember with gratitude that time when your Spirit made divided people one.
Now, help us to reach out our hands to one another again, and with courage and hope, to begin once more the ecumenical journey of justice, reconciliation, and unity.
Bind us together in solidarity with your children who still suffer from war and oppression throughout the world.
Help us to take part faithfully in the journey of the global ecumenical community toward justice and sustainable peace.
God,
Lift us from despair.
Grant us the strength to answer your call to live again as people of peace.
In obedience to your will, may this land become a land of peace, not only for the Korean Peninsula but for all Northeast Asia.
Help us to offer our lives for your reign of justice, peace, and life.
We believe this is your Kairos, a gracious and holy time when, in Christ, all things can begin again. Help us to answer this calling with all our hearts and souls, and to walk toward you, the God of love, peace, and life.
In the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.