DNA Prayer For October 2025
Reading: Luke 15:1-10
(Good News Translation)
One day when many tax collectors and other outcasts came to listen to Jesus, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law started grumbling, “This man welcomes outcasts and even eats with them!” So Jesus told them this parable:
“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them — what do you do? You leave the other 99 sheep in the pasture and go looking for the one that got lost until you find it. When you find it, you are so happy that you put it on your shoulders and carry it back home. Then you call your friends and neighbours together and say to them, ‘I am so happy I found my lost sheep. Let us celebrate!’ In the same way, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 respectable people who do not need to repent.
“Or suppose a woman who has ten silver coins loses one of them — what does she do? She lights a lamp, sweeps her house, and looks carefully everywhere until she finds it. When she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbours together, and says to them, ‘I am so happy I found the coin I lost. Let us celebrate!’ In the same way, I tell you, the angels of God rejoice over one sinner who repents.”
Prayers of intercession
In the power of the Spirit and in union with Christ, we pray to the Father.
The Middle East today is a source of fear and grief for our worldwide Christian family.
For some, this is a new reality, for others it adds to the burden of violence carried for years or decades from local conflict.
We see all of those who are being crushed under the machinations of the mighty;
we mourn and we ask for God’s merciful presence among them.
We condemn the justification of unjust war as part of God’s will.
We invite our prayers to move us to action.
And we invite our actions to be our prayers.
Our allegiance is not to presidents or kings but to the Prince of Peace.
As members of your Peace Church – that is, a church dedicated to the ways of peace,.
We follow Jesus, the Prince of Peace, who calls us to radical love of enemy.
This love trains our hearts to see God in the human “other” whether enemy or friend.
This love gives us the courage to seek justice.
We invite our prayers to move us to action.
And we invite our actions to be our prayers.
This love calls us to pursue right relationships interpersonally,
at the level of organisations, among states and peoples,
and with the rest of creation – all of which suffer harm amid conflict.
The power of Christ’s love rallies us not to pride that defends nations or ideological purity but to compassion for those who are suffering
– regardless of national identity or political affiliation.
The teachings of Jesus remind us that the enemy is not the other person
but our own instinct to create barriers and fall victim to enmity itself.
We pray that as we find the courage to love,
God’s transformative power would break cycles of violence that divide, oppress and kill.
We invite our prayers to move us to action.
And we invite our actions to be our prayers.
Justice must accompany peace. Indeed, peace can only be present when justice that is restorative, truth-seeking and reparation-oriented is embodied.
We confess our failure to seek a just peace.
We ask the Holy Spirit to teach us humility and equip us with the courage to love.
We ask for the wisdom to recognize and speak truth with prophetic clarity and self-giving love. We ask for the boldness to confront injustice despite risk to ourselves.
We resolve to speak out – whether to governments or fellow citizens – to question uncritical support to sources of ongoing violence and death.
We invite our prayers to move us to action.
And we invite our actions to be our prayers.
As a global Chrisitan communion, we renounce violence – as Jesus did.
We commit ourselves – as Jesus followers – to transforming unjust systems through active nonviolence.
We call for states to cease investing in war and instead to begin the hard work of seeking the ways of peace – a peace that does not come through guns, missiles, or violent force – so that all may flourish.
Our words seem small and inadequate in the face of the crisis,
yet we affirm our conviction that the Spirit of Jesus empowers us to trust God in all areas of life so we become peacemakers who renounce violence, love our enemies, seek justice, and share our possessions with those in need.
We invite our prayers to move us to action.
And we invite our actions to be our prayers.
We pray for all who are walking through the valley of shadows, and for their carers; and those who have not emerged into the sunlight of this life but gone onto the endless glory of eternal life with you. May all the departed, rest in peace and rise in glory.
Lord Jesus, we place our trust in your boundless love and mercy,
offering all our hopes and doubts to the Father in the words you taught us,
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come; thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.