Just Peace Sunday 2026

In 2026, Just Peace Sunday is Sept. 20
“God’s Economy: People Over Profit”

The Thirtieth General Synod called on the congregations of the United Church of Christ to mark the Sunday preceding September 21 (which the United Nation recognizes as the “International Day of Prayer for Peace”) as Just Peace Sunday.

Further materials and resources will be announced and shared on this page, stay tuned and check back for updates!

We mark Just Peace Sunday in 2026 under the ongoing fog of war. The genocide in Gaza continues without end, and a war with Iran has killed hundreds of civilians and wreaked havoc on both the environment and global economy for over six months. The administration’s failed policy of “peace through strength” has shunned diplomacy and other peacebuilding measures, instead escalating military might and economic threats. The result is chaos and a less secure world.  

The “cost of war” is not simply economic.  

The human and moral tolls of these conflicts are incalculable. Woven through it all are the sinful ideals of American exceptionalism, unbridled capitalism, and the idol of military strength that all echo the “triplets of evil” (racism, materialism, and militarism) that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. warned of in 1967. Those triplets are all too present in our political life today.    

This Sunday’s lectionary scriptures challenge these systems and call on us to wrestle with the interplay of power, profit, people, and peace. God’s vision of shalom, a just peace economy, as envisioned in the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard. The parable illustrates a different system of economic relations that challenges systems of inequity, racism, colonialism, and any structure built to privilege some over others. In these passages, we glimpse God’s abundance and God’s extravagance breaking into, and confronting, our narrow human notions of “fairness.” Workers are valued not on the basis of their labor, but on the basis of their inherent worth as children of God. In Exodus, we witness God’s provision for all in the form of manna, God’s provision, raining down from heaven.   

On this Just Peace Sunday and during the Season of Creation, we are called to live into God’s kin-dom on earth, seeking peace in all spheres of life: peace with the planet, peace among nations, peace among the people, and peace in the marketplace. We are called to build a world of just economic relations in which all have enough; a world in which God’s provisions are not squandered on ever more advanced weapons of war but instead bent into plowshares for the common good. May it be so! 

-Rev. Michael Neuroth, Director of the Washington D.C. Office

Worship Resources

Labor Sunday Worship Resources: Check out materials created for Labor Sunday (September 6th) curated by Rev. Seth Wispelwey, Minister for Economic Justice in the United Church of Christ. Resources include prayers, litanies, hymns, and sermon ideas.

Call to Worship

One: Today is a Sabbath.
All: We are called to rest.
One: This space is for Sabbath.
All: We have come here to rest.
One: For all who are lonely…
All: May we find belonging.
One: For all who are weary…
All: May we find rest.
One: For all who labor…
All: May we find renewal.
One: For all who are not afforded belonging, rest, and renewal:
All: May we embody solidarity with those longing for community, wages, and sabbaths
that everyone deserves.
One: Today is a Sabbath.
All: Let us find rest, and worship together the One who provides rest from labor,
loneliness, and weariness.

Author: Rev. Seth Wispelwey

Confession

Invitation to Confession

On this Labor Day Sunday
let us lift up all people who labor,
either for pay or as volunteers,
in jobs or at school,
at home or in the workplace,
here at home and all around the world.

Unison Prayer of Confession

We are workers, God, just like you.
But we confess that our actions
do not always affirm and honor each other.
Our work is not always done in a spirit that is pleasing to you.
We confess that, on some occasions,
we have blindly bought goods made by people who are paid too little
or work in unsafe conditions.
We admit that we have failed to end an unjust system
in which some workers have jobs that provide good wages and benefits
while others may have no job,
or one that pays little and provides few benefits.
Creator God,
help us to be your people,
working for a world where all workers are valued.
A world where those who clean houses are also able to buy houses to live in.
A world where those who grow food can also afford to eat their fill.
And one where those who serve and care for others –
in stores, schools, hotels, restaurants, nursing homes, and many other places –are,
themselves, also served and cared for.
A world where all workers everywhere
share in the abundance that you have given us.

Words of Assurance

Our God is a God of grace and transformation.
When we ask, God gives us the courage and strength
to live out our faith in the workplace and the marketplace,
as well as in the sanctuary.

Author: Dr. Edie Rassell

“Worker God Who Built Creation”
Hymn to Joy (Tune of “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore
Thee”)

Worker God who built creation, author of humanity,
Thoughtful planner, joyous potter, through your work we come to be.
May we labor in your image. May your love guide all we do.
Help us co-create your kin-dom. Help us make your dream come true.
Worker Jesus, teaching, healing, sharing gifts of wine and bread,
Strengthening the broken-hearted, making sure the poor are fed,
May we labor in your image. May we set the captives free.
Send us ever to the margins. Rouse our solidarity.
Worker Spirit, inspiration, you infuse each living soul,
Calling us to lives of justice till each heart is free and whole.
May we labor in your image. May we tend and heal and praise.
May we strive for life abundant, glad and grateful all our days.

Author: Amanda Udis-Kessler

“We Labor for the Day”

Music and lyrics written by Amanda Udis-Kessler

Hymns for Just Peace Sunday, New Century Hymnal
Spirit of Jesus, If I Love My Neighbor (NCH #590)
Great God of Earth and Heaven (NCH #579)
Lead Us from Death to Life (NCH #581)

Worship Resources

Download Twitter & Facebook Graphic
Download Instagram Caption

Take Action

Advocate for a Peace Economy:
▷ Take Action for Nuclear Disarmament
▷Take Action Against the War in Iran
▷Take Action to Invest in Alternatives to Militarism

Get Involved with Fill the Jar of God’s Economic Justice

Jubilee: Cancellation of Debts
Abundance: Plenty for All
Reparations: Land & Wealth Return

General Resources

Download the Just Peace Handbook
In 2015, the 30th General Synod held in Cleveland, OH marked the UCC’s 30th anniversary as a Just Peace Church and called for a renewal of the UCC’s Just Peace witness. This booklet is intended to accompany this resolution and be a resource for all levels and areas of the church for further work and witness, especially to local congregations declaring or recommitting themselves as “Just Peace Churches.” This resource includes a summary of the historical and theological uniqueness of the Just Peace vision; the biblical and theological grounding for Just Peace values; and recommended steps for how to become a Just Peace Church. (Download.)

Find additional resources here.

What is Just Peace? 

Just Peace is not a destination, but a path requiring awareness and constant vigilance to resolve existing and developing conflict in ourselves, our families, our communities, our institutions, and our world. This path requires non-violence when possible and even when impossible to engage in love and restraint. Just Peace envisions a renewed, vibrant, diverse, and sustainable world free of violence.  

Just Peace is grounded in God’s activity in creation; God’s covenant patience and provision in the wilderness; in the reconciling activity of Jesus Christ; in the presence of the Holy Spirit; and in the community of reconciliation. Shalom is the vision that pulls all creation toward a time when weapons are made into ploughs and all creatures lie down together without fear; where all have their own vine, fig tree, and dwell secure from want. As Christians, we offer this conviction to the world: Peace is possible!

Past Just Peace Sundays