We asked friends and colleagues to write prayers calling for an end to modern slavery. Could you add your voice to the call?
A PRAYER FOR RELEASING HIDDEN VOICES
Written by The Rt Revd Dr Alastair Redfern, Chair of The Clewer Initiative.
Heavenly Father,
who sees the unseen and notices the unnoticed,
help each of us to hear the Hidden Voices of those
who pray for release from slavery and exploitation,
so that we may give ourselves more fully to the service of your saving love,
and be strengthened together as agents of your healing and hope,
through Jesus Christ,
who himself came to serve as a slave,
so as to bring freedom and grace to all.
Amen
A COLLECT FOR MODERN SLAVERY
Taken from ‘From Shore To Shore: Liturgies, Litanies and Prayers from around the World by Kate Wyles, published by SPCK, London 2003’. Thanks to the Revd Dr Michael Clarke for his permission to use this collect.
Almighty and most loving God,
through your Son Jesus, who came among us as a slave,
choosing rather to serve his disciples than to be served by them;
help us in our weakness not to seek to oppress others,
nor to make peace with any form of exploitation,
but in all things earnestly and of our own free will,
to seek to serve each other following Christ’s good example;
this we ask in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
A POST COMMUNION PRAYER
Written by Revd Gemma Sampson, Diocese of Durham.
Father God
may we who have been strengthened by this sacrament, strengthen those in weakness,
we who have been fed, feed those in hunger,
we who have been welcomed, welcome others,
we who have been seen and known, see and know the needs of others
give us your grace to respond always in loving service,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
A PRAYER TO END MODERN SLAVERY
Written by the Rt Revd Simon Burton-Jones, the Bishop of Tonbridge.
Lord, you are a God who sets the captives free.
Your Spirit searches restlessly for those in despair, that they may find the life you are calling them to.
We pray for those who are being trafficked and callously put to work in our region.
On the cross, you were powerless and subject to the cruelty of others. Look with mercy on those who suffer this way.
May we, who are blinded by the shallow distractions of daily life, feel the fear of the cornered and be roused to action.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
A PRAYER FOR INTERNATIONAL VICTIMS OF MODERN SLAVERY
Written by the Revd Rachel Carnegie, Executive Director of the Anglican Alliance
Loving God
We call to you with hearts in pain for all in our world
who suffer the horrors of modern slavery;
for all who dream of a better life in another place
only to be trapped, tricked and traded;
for all those who labour, forced and unseen, to make our everyday possessions;
for all who agonise for loved ones lost into this trade in humans.
Your Son came to bring good news to the poor and freedom for the oppressed –
may we too be voices against oppression, channels of good news;
may our eyes be opened wide to all who suffer in our midst but out of sight.
All this we pray to you, loving God, for whom no one is invisible.
Amen.