Prayer resources for Anti-Slavery Day
A Prayer for the end of Human Trafficking
God of freedom, beauty and truth we believe that your deepest desire, your most powerful energy, is that all creation might know abundant life. We raise our voice in anguished prayer for our sisters and brothers, women and girls, men and boys, who are modern day slaves; they are your beloved daughters and sons, exploited sexually or forced to work because of human violence and greed.
Fill us with your holy anger and your sacred passion that those who are trafficked might know healing and justice; that traffickers will come to repentance and conversion; that all of us might live in such a way that others are not made to pay the price for our comfort and convenience.
Hasten the coming of the day when all people and our precious Earth itself will be treated, not as a commodity, but as radiant images of your freedom, beauty and truth.
Amen. May it be so
A prayer for Action
Dear Lord, just as You helped Moses and Aaron as they spoke boldly to Pharaoh on behalf of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt, help us speak up for modern slaves around the world.
A prayer for Protection
Dear Lord, You are a strong tower and a mighty fortress. Help Your rescued children feel safe and begin to heal. Protect them from those who seek to harm them.
A prayer for Prevention
Dear Lord, most of us reading this prayer will never experience the kind of extreme poverty that millions of people live with every day. Help us to be understanding and compassionate toward their needs. Help us to love them in the way that You love them. Give us the will to make things better.
A prayer for Restoration
Dear Lord, Your Word shows that You bring new joy and hope where previously there was only shame and fear. We ask this for our brothers and sisters, who desperately need to accept that they can be made new.
A prayer for Justice
Dear Lord, You demand justice for those who have been wronged. Give strength to those who investigate and prosecute traffickers. Encourage them when they are weary. Give courage to survivors when they are asked to testify against their former captors.
Amen.
Collect
Loving Father,
Who gathers the outcast, heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds; Bring liberty and freedom to all whose lives are entangled in slavery and trafficking in our world today. Lift up the down trodden and tread wickedness into the dust: We make our prayer through Christ our Lord, Who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit in perfect freedom,
One God, now and forever. Amen
Based on Psalm 147
Intercessions
Reader: We pray for people who are trafficked; May they find freedom from fear and harm and courage to live in hope.
Let us pray to the Lord. Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy
Reader: We pray for people who traffick others; May they find freedom from greed and violence and courage to live with justice.
Let us pray to the Lord. Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy
Reader: We pray for people who work to prevent trafficking; May they find freedom from threats and webs of untruths and courage to live in peace
Let us pray to the Lord. Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy
Reader: God of compassion and mercy, who heard the cry of your people and sent your servant Moses to lead them out of slavery to freedom in the promised land: free us from the tyranny of sin and death and, by the leading of your Spirit, bring us to our promised land; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Resources from The Clewer Initiative
Downloadable prayer resource
Downloadable Sunday Service Guide
The Clewer provide a comprehensive Sunday Service guide: resources for prayer, preaching and reflection.