Warm greetings from Seoul.
In our Korean people"s journey toward peace and unification, the National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK) and the Korea Christians Federation (KCF) in the North have met together once a year since 1989 to commemorate the August 15th anniversary of liberation from Japan"s colonial rule by jointly writing the people"s "common prayer" for peace and reunification.
Especially in 1989, the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches decided to encourage all member churches to use the common prayer and join the "Common Prayer Week for Peace and Reunification of the Korean Peninsular" on the Sunday closest to August 15th.
Therefore, together with NCCK and KCF I ask you to share this prayer in your respective churches on the Sunday closest to August 15th.
In ecumenical solidarity
sincerely yours,
Paik, Do-Woong
General Secretary NCC-Korea
2005 Common Prayer for Peace and Reunification of the Korean Peninsula
God of history,
we thank you for righting all that is wrong,
and uniting all that is divided.
This is the day of August 15,
the day when our peace-loving people were freed from foreign oppression,
the day when our tears of joy and shouts of triumph flowed as river-waters.
The flowing days of our new history
have brought us to this 60th anniversary of that day of independence.
The child then born has grown old with years;
Rivers and hills and valleys have changed their shape,
Yet our people, our land, have not been able to cast off the shackle of division.
The children of Pyongyang with their red neckerchiefs,
The children of Seoul with caps cocked to one side,
These who run as friends in playful fun are that: friends,
But the sixty long years of division
Have knifed them apart as children of the North and children of the South,
A division we have come to see even as normal.
The last sixty long years have borne witness
That peace and justice cannot be where division cuts and divides,
Yet still we can look at one another only from a long distance,
Unable to embrace and call each other "my fellow countryman", "my sister, my brother".
Our God,
Forgive us who have done wrong and
Who find it so difficult to live together in harmony.
God,
We know, however, that the June 15 South-North Joint Declaration
Is the peace sign you have given us
That, laying down the cross of division and uniting our strength,
Our whole Korean people can bring a lasting peace in our land.
To do this without fail is your command.
God,
After so very long a time, we now understand.
What seems the impregnable wall of division
Raised up by sixty years of unceasing grief and pain,
Will weakly crumble, as though made of straw,
Under the strength of our united efforts of the past five years,
the unwavering will of our people for peace and reunification.
God,
Together we seek the way forward.
From South to North,
From North to South,
Our unfaltering steps coming and going:
Let"s live together, build peace together, realize unification together.
Quickly, may South and North, North and South
Build one economic community,
One cultural community,
One community of peace.
Help us to live truly united.
As we follow your guiding,
Let tomorrow be better than today,
And tomorrow"s tomorrow an even better day.
This is our fervent prayer.
We yearn to see at last, at the end of those days,
Men and women, old and young, embracing and dancing,
Lifting high their cry, raising voices of joy.
We long to see our people, elated with the joy of peace and unification you have granted us,
Bearing witnessing to the all the world, this true peace,
Brought not by gun or sword but by reconciliation and peace.
God,
Hear our prayer.
Fail not to hear our prayer.
Looking earnestly to the not-distant realization of peace in our land and our people"s unification,
We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
* This prayer was written jointly by the National Council of Churches in Korea and the Korean Christians Federation.
