Last month, a friend of mine asked me to write a prayer for him to use. His name is Manu Caddie, he’s a councillor on the Gisborne District Council, and apparently it was his turn to lead morning prayer.

I quite like writing prayers, almost as much as praying itself. For this prayer I thought long and hard about the work of the Council, and shaped the prayer accordingly. The prayer ends with a commonly used Māori blessing. The English translation that follows is one I’ve heard Archdeacon Hone Kaa use a lot, and I think it adds an eloquent touch.

Feel free to use and improve the prayer as you like. The important thing is that we all pray, without ceasing.

E te Atua ora, te Atua aroha,
Your gift to us is life, and we thank You for it

We thank You for the beauty of our whēnua and our moana,
and for the opportunities that we have here to live our lives abundantly

We ask for Your peace and prosperity to be upon this region,
upon every iwi and hapū, community and family
and upon every person both young and old

Guide us as representatives and servants of all the people that live in this place

That we would have the wisdom we need
to be good stewards of the resources that we are entrusted with

That we would have the strength we need
to balance the needs of the majority with the rights and aspirations of the minority

And that we would have the grace and humility we need
to see from the perspective of others
to hear and not just to speak
and to do only what is moral, right, and good

In all things we ask your blessing:
Kia hora te marino
Kia whakapapa pounamu te moana
Kia tere te karohirohi

May Your peace in our lives be widespread
May the oceans that we travel on glisten like the precious greenstone
And may the sunlight of God dance across our pathways

In the name of God – Creator, Redeemer, and Giver of Life,
AMEN