May Peace Pre
vail on Earth
Leader: We dedicate now, not only this physical object, this peace pole, this symbol of our great desire, but also ourselves to the cause of peace. We pledge ourselves as the embodiment of the words here inscribed: May Peace Prevail on Earth.
Leader: If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other. (Mother Teresa)
Participants: May we recall and embrace our connection.
Leader: The single clenched fist lifted and ready, or the open hand held out and waiting. Choose: For we meet by one or the other. (Carl Sandburg)
Participants: May we have the wisdom and the courage to choose the open hand.
Leader: If you want to make peace, you don’t talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies. (Moshe Dayan)
Participants: Together may we learn to talk to our enemies, and to listen to them.
Leader: The only alternative to coexistence is co-destruction. (Jawaharlal Nehru)
Participants: May we choose existence over destruction, curiosity over fear.
Leader: Peace is not something you wish for; it’s something you make, something you do, something you are, and something you give away. (Robert Fulghum)
Participants: May this day mark the beginning anew of our resolve to make peace, do peace, be peace, give peace.
Leader: Most people think of peace as a state of Nothing Bad Happening, or Nothing Much Happening. Yet if peace is to overtake us and make us the gift of serenity and well-being, it will have to be the state of Something Good Happening. (E. B. White)
Participants: May the small Something Good that is the installation of this peace pole be but the seed of a more profound Something Good Happening in our hearts, our community, our nation, and our world.
Leader: Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal. (Martin Luther King, Jr.)
Participants: May we be granted the patience, faith and wisdom that nonviolence demands.
Leader: The pursuit of peace resembles the building of a great cathedral. It is the work of a generation. In concept it requires a master-architect; in execution, the labors of many. (Hubert Humphrey)
Participants: May an architect of peace emerge sooner rather than later, and may we, each in our way, willingly, hopefully, prayerfully take up the labor of peace.
All: Let us strive for peace within ourselves and within our world; to actively work in nonviolent ways to abolish war and injustices from our own hearts and from the face of the earth. We pray for our world leaders that they will reject the violence of war and work for conflict resolution and justice through negotiation and diplomacy. May our Peace Pole be a reminder to us and a witness to our community of our commitment to work for a just and peaceful world.
And so it is.