Today the church marks the Feast of the Transfiguration. The story is told in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke and there is a reference in Peter's second letter. Jesus, in the presence of chosen witnesses, appears on the mountain with Moses and Elijah and begins to shine with bright rays of light. The event, for all those who write about it, is clearly a message that God's salvation is for all and that the way to salvation is through Christ.

However, today also marks another historic, and more human-made, moment of transfiguration. 

Why Monday, 6 August 1945, was chosen as the date to drop the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, or whether anyone in the planning of this event made the connection with the Transfiguration of Christ, I do not know. If you have any information about this, I would be really interested to hear from you. Three days later a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki and, together, these two bombs were instrumental in bringing the war in the pacific to an end whilst inflicting a transfiguration of their own. 

So, let us join in prayer on this day of remembrance for Hiroshima, to recall the past, to be challenged in the present and to seek hope for the future. 

O God of power, gracious in love, you have given humankind responsibility to care for all the earth. We have put our faith in military power, while you call us to build a community of trust and love. By our actions and by our inaction, and by our participation in the systems of society we often become agents of violence and destruction. 

O God of us all, let Hiroshima become for us a symbol of hope that nuclear weapons will never again be used to kill and destroy. Let us remember Hiroshima as a beacon to commit ourselves to find ways to live together in peace, that we may not be just peace lovers, but peacemakers.

O God of infinite possibility, transform our hearts and minds and give us courage to use our skills and technology to transform weapons that destroy into all that upholds life. As Isaiah said: “It shall come to pass that the peoples shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks". 

We pray for the time when “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” 

Source: Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice