Created by Pat Luna and Molly Vetter, editors. Free to use or adapt.
This prayer was shaped from words and ideas that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. shared in his sermon "Loving Your Enemies" and elsewhere. It was edited together for use during a meeting of our Resist Harm leadership team, and can be used in small groups or congregations of all sizes.
Affirmation of Faith / Prayer
Inspired by and Drawing deeply from MLK's sermon, "Loving Your Enemies"
How do you go about loving your enemies?
We desire to love our enemies and love those persons that hate us whether in collective life or individual life by looking at ourselves.
Love is the only way.
We seek to discover the element of good in all people, acknowledging the image of God in everyone.
Love is the only way.
We wish to end the chain of hate and evil and replace it with the strong and powerful element of divine love.
Love is the only way.
We ask for hearts free of the distortions of hatred:
"For the person who hates, the beautiful becomes ugly and the ugly becomes beautiful. For the person who hates, the good becomes bad and the bad becomes good. For the person who hates, the true becomes false and the false becomes true. That’s what hate does. You can’t see right. The symbol of objectivity is lost. Hate destroys the very structure of the personality of the hater."
Love is the only way.
We aspire to live and serve with loves redemptive power. May we be instruments of your power through love.
Love is the only way.
Oh God, help us in our lives and in all of our attitudes, to work out this controlling force of love, this controlling power that can solve every problem that we confront in all areas.
Amen.
