Common Easter Prayer of the Churches of South and North Korea
At the ecumenical meeting at Arnoldshain in Germany on February 16, the National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK) and the Korea Christian Federation (KCF) in the North have met and agreed to use “Common Easter Prayer of the Churches of South and North Korea” for the coming Easter Sunday on March 23rd, 2008.
We join the NCCK and KCF, wholeheartedly ask you to join in our prayer journey for healing and reconciliation on Korean peninsula and we hope that the light and joy of the risen Jesus Christ shine on every corner with darkness, pain, and suffering over the world.
In ecumenical solidarity,
Rev. Dr. Xiaoling Zhu
Area Executive for East Asia and the Pacific
Global Ministries
Common Easter Prayer of the Churches of South and North Korea
March 2008
O God, Lord of our history as well as of our nation!
Today we praise you, Lord, who have risen as Eternal Life
through the struggle for righteousness, between lies and truth, at the fork of the path of dying or living.
O Lord, who deserves to be praised!
We give thanks to you for allowing us to enjoy this Easter morning of New Life.
Help our nation to commit ourselves to the Peace and Life of Christ in the new day of Resurrection.
O Lord, who is still alive and is with us!
As the one day of resurrection has brought a new day continuing through all eternity, and
as you accomplish the salvation of all humankind and all creation through the risen One,
Free us from the reality of war and conflict and from the world of antagonism and jealousy through your mercy and grace.
O Lord of Peace!
We live under the shadow of threats by foreign power;
our tears, sighs, wrath and quarrels, all prevail under this shadow.
Those without belief and hope say that our nation’s unity is beyond our accomplishing and beyond our waiting.
Christians of both North and South, however, believe in the unity of our 70 million people.
We believe we can find reconciliation and peace through mutual exchange and cooperation.
When we see through the eyes of Resurrection and Life, we confess that our nation already lives with peace and reunification.
O Lord!
Help us, churches of North and South, sisters and brothers of North and South, to achieve resurrection itself with one accord.
Help us to enjoy a life of peace through our belief and action.
Help us to be reborn as one nation wearing white clothes, a new nation of white and cleanness.
Help us to build a kingdom of peace serving our neighbors, to open a new day of reunification standing firmly as light for the world.
We pray in the name of the risen Jesus Christ. Amen.
This Common Prayer was jointly written by the National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK) and the Korean Christian Federation (KCF) in March 2008.