Prayerful responses to the Royal Commission

By Uniting Church in Australia Assembly

Posted in Faith

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses into Child Sexual Abuse handed its final report to the Government on Thursday 14 December.

Uniting Church President Stuart McMillan shared prayers and a pastoral statement in response. The following prayers can be used for during worship services or for personal prayer. Ministers are invited to use these prayers within their services on Sunday 17 December. The pastoral statement is available to read online here. A news item about the Royal Commission has also been published on New Times online here.

 

For those who have experienced abuse

Gracious and healing God,

we thank you for the many ways that you enrich our lives - giving us hope in the midst of despair; comfort and strength to live,

when we are at our most vulnerable.

Be with all those who continue to suffer - living with brokenness and pain.

We particularly think of people who were sexually abused as children.

May your Spirit be a comforting and healing presence in their lives.

May they find peace within relationships and communities of safety and trust.

Give us the wisdom to bring your healing and hope in our relationships, neighbourhoods and communities.

Give us courage, insight, power and passion that we might work with you for justice and liberation of all those who were abused and oppressed.

And help us to honour survivors’ stories by ensuring our Church is the safest place we can make it for children in our care.

Lord, hear us

Lord, hear our prayer

 

For the Royal Commission

God of wisdom, we pray for all those who have served the Royal Commission,

that their work will be received and acted upon by institutions.

We give thanks for Royal Commission staff and their dedication and pray that their work will make our country a safer place for all children.

We ask that this Final Report and its recommendations will lead to healing and peace for those who have survived sexual abuse in the past, and for them to feel that justice has been done and hope restored.

Lord, hear us.

Lord, hear our prayer

 

For the church

Holy God, through Jesus your Son, in the power of the Spirit,

you brought your church into being.

The revelations and stories of these past five years have challenged us to respond in Christ-like ways,

Give us the strength of character to courageously and honestly face the mistakes of the past.

Help us all to confront and confess our failures that we may continue with integrity to speak out for truth and justice in our nation

and boldly declare the salvation promised to all who repent and believe in the good news revealed in Jesus your Son.

Lord, hear us.

Lord, hear our prayer

 


More from Faith

Subscribe to receive Faith articles by email >

Faith

Stories of Life

Who doesn’t love a story? Hope, conflict, wonder, desperation, loneliness, surprise, love, a hero. Story seems to be wired into our DNA. We all tell them, and we find many ways to do them.

Faith

Reflection of the Week - 19th March 2024

The act of making a pilgrimage – traveling to a sacred place to encounter the divine – is ancient, probably as old as humanity itself. Perhaps the first Christian pilgrimage was that of the Wise Men, men who were not even believers in the Messiah, but who knew that “something” drew them from their homes and studies. Unsure as to what they sought, they found not a someTHING, but a someONE: Christ the Lord.

Faith

Reflection of the Week - 26th March 2024

Reflect, today, upon how willing you are to embrace sacrifice in your own life. No, your sacrifices are not able to save the world by their own merit, but if you face your crosses in life, be they big or small, and if you intentionally and wholeheartedly unite them to the actions of Jesus that first Holy Week, then you can be certain that you will suffer with our Lord. But you can also be certain that your suffering will be transformed by the power of this Holy Week and lead you to a glorious sharing in His triumph over all sin and suffering.


Comments

Comments (3)