Hiroshima August 1945
Present, loving God, on this 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, we remember the 140,000 children, women and men who perished in that blinding flash, the survivors who carried visible scars and invisible trauma, and the families whose stories were forever changed in a single moment.
We confess, O God, our human capacity for both devastating destruction and remarkable resilience. We have seen how quickly fear can eclipse love, how swiftly we can forget our shared humanity when we feel threatened or different from one another.
Yet we also witness, in the testimony of hibakusha—the survivors—a profound commitment to peace that transcends bitterness. In their courage to share their stories, we see your Spirit working to transform suffering into wisdom, trauma into testimony for peace.
Today we pray for world leaders who hold such power in their hands. Grant them the humility to seek counsel, the wisdom to choose dialogue over destruction, and the courage to lay down the tools of war. Help us all to remember that every person carries your image—in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in Ukraine and Gaza, in Haiti and South Sudan—and every place where conflict threatens your beloved children.
We pray for our own hearts, that we might choose reconciliation in our daily relationships, practice forgiveness in small moments, and build bridges rather than walls in our communities. May our congregation be a sanctuary where former enemies find fellowship, where differences become opportunities for deeper understanding.
Holy Spirit, move among the nations. Transform our swords into plowshares, our nuclear arsenals into instruments of healing, our fear into faith. Help us envision and work toward a world in which children never again need to fear the sky, where the light that falls upon cities brings only warmth and life.
