"God,
Lift us from despair.
Grant us the strength to answer your call
to live again as people of peace..."

2025 Prayer for Peace and Reunification, National Council of Churches in Korea

Each year, in solidarity with the Korean and global ecumenical community, the Uniting Church joins together in prayer for peace on the Korean Peninsula.

At its 10th Assembly in Busan (2013), the World Council of Churches called upon churches worldwide to observe the Sunday prior to August 15 as the Sunday of Prayer for the Peaceful Reunification of the Korean Peninsula.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of both Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule and the painful division of the peninsula. As we remember August 15 as a day of liberation, we continue to walk in hope for reconciliation and healing, seeking to move beyond division toward the peace of God’s Kingdom.

In honour of the Sunday of Prayer for Peace, Uniting Church President Rev Charissa Suli will be hosting an online time of prayer.

Join the Uniting Church Korean community, and others from across the country, at 7:00pm AEST on Friday 8 August (6:30pm ACST, 5:00pm AWST). Access will be via Zoom and registration is below.

Download the flyer

We also warmly invite you and your community to use the 2025 prayer provided by the National Council of Churches in Korea. Read the prayer below and download the prayer materials here.

2025 Prayer for the Peaceful Reunification of the Korean Peninsula

On the Occasion of the 80th Anniversary of Liberation and Division

National Council of Churches in Korea

God of peace,
This land now stands at the edge of its darkest dawn.
Breaking through the silence of a long night,
we begin to hear faint signs of peace rising from afar.
And quietly, our hearts begin to beat again with hope.

Eighty years have passed since liberation and division,
seventy-two years since the guns fell silent.
Still, we wait for the covenant of true and lasting peace.

Yet, O Lord, even through those long and painful years,
we believe that your mercy and peace have never ceased, not even for a moment.
We believe this place where we now stand
is held within the dawn of your new beginning.

God,
Forgive us for closing the doors of our hearts to one another.
Forgive us for turning away from the suffering of our neighbours.
Forgive us for living with indifference and cold hearts.

Yet beyond the long walls of division,
we feel once again the stirrings of small but hopeful changes.
We see people taking steps toward one another again.
Words that had been cut off are being heard again.
Breaths held in silence are alive again.

Whispers of peace, long hidden in silence and darkness,
are now awakening through small but courageous acts.
The loudspeakers of hostility have been silenced.
And cautious footsteps toward peace have begun once more.

God,
May these small beginnings grow into true encounters
and a path of lasting peace.
May the hatred and hostility that have justified war on this land
no longer stand in the way of our future.

Give us courage to remove the boundaries and conditions we have built.
Help us to dream of the day
when we may freely cross borders and share each other’s pain and healing.

God,
Let the love and forgiveness of Christ flow
over the wounds of war and division that still scar this land.

God,

We have not forgotten that holy moment,
when, 39 years ago, in the small village of Glion in Switzerland,
the churches of North and South came together to share in the Eucharist.
We remember with gratitude that time
when your Spirit made divided people one.

Now, help us to reach out our hands to one another again,
and with courage and hope,
to begin once more the ecumenical journey of justice, reconciliation, and unity.

Bind us together in solidarity
with your children who still suffer from war and oppression throughout the world.
Help us to take part faithfully
in the journey of the global ecumenical community
toward justice and sustainable peace.

God,
Lift us from despair.
Grant us the strength to answer your call
to live again as people of peace.

In obedience to your will,
may this land become a land of peace,
not only for the Korean Peninsula but for all Northeast Asia.
Help us to offer our lives for your reign of justice, peace, and life.

We believe this is your Kairos,
a gracious and holy time when, in Christ,
all things can begin again.
Help us to answer this calling with all our hearts and souls,
and to walk toward you, the God of love, peace, and life.

In the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.