Prayer for Ecumenical Sunday
Third Sunday after Epiphany

 The following prayer is from an unnamed church in Germany, prepared for the third week in the season of Epiphany, during which we celebrate Ecumenical Sunday.

When I behold the problems of our world, O Lord,

I pray not to be tempted to quick answers.

When every tongue declares a different truth,

when every people praises its own righteousness,

let me pause before I speak or praise or hope.

Let me look inward seeking to discover eternal truths

implanted there by you,

truths greater than those heard in the outer multitude

of voices and words.

And let me remember always that

            to be loud is not to be right,

            to be strange is not to be forbidden,

            to be new is not to be frightful,

            to be dark is not to be ugly.

Thus let me find truths true to you,

That I may live with them, and you, and myself in peace.

Source:  In God’s Hands:  Common Prayer for the World

Eds:  Hugh McCullum, Terry MacArthur

World Council of Churches Publications 2006, p. 94