World in Prayer

World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020

In 1925, Pope Pius XI established the Feast of Christ the King, also known as Christ the King Sunday, as a corrective to a major worldwide shift toward nationalism. This feast day is included in the Revised Common Lectionary and is celebrated by most mainline Protestant denominational groups.

O Christ, what can it mean for us To claim you as our king?

What royal face have you revealed Whose praise the Church would sing?

Aspiring not to glory’s height, To power, wealth, and fame,

You walked a diff’rent, lowly way, Another’s will your aim.

Though some would make their greatness felt And lord it over all,

You said the first must be the last And service be our call.

O Christ, in workplace, church, and home Let none to power cling;

For still, through us, you come to serve, A diff’rent kind of king.

O Christ, What Can It Mean For Us

Evangelical Lutheran Worship #431 Verses 1 & 3 Text by Delores Dufner

O Christ, King of kings and Lord of lords, our world is full of examples of what makes a good king: ruthlessness, violence, vengeance, selfish ambition, and the accumulation of power. Even as we celebrate Christ the King Sunday, rightly claiming you as the center of the universe and center of our lives, we hypocritically bow down to many other kings: the King of Wealth, the King of Power, the King of Control. Help us to see these so-called “kings” for what they really are, feeble attempts to claim your crown in all times and places:

– In Afghanistan, where evidence of the murder of dozens of civilians by Australian special forces has been revealed;

– In Italy, France, India, the United States, Brazil, and other nations that have failed to control the spread of COVID-19 because of lack policies and selfish choices;

– In Ethiopia, where thousands of civilians are fleeing unrest in the Tigray region and entering Sudan on foot because of the violence and danger in their homes.

Pierce our hearts, O Christ, with your call to love and serve as you do, and remind us that true power lies in the repudiation of power, and true glory comes only through bowing low in service. Open our eyes to your work in our world:

– In Vietnam, where a rapid and coordinated response to COVID-19 has kept cases and death very low while supporting a strong economy;

– In Iraq, where the Yazidi community faithfully celebrate the naming of a new religious and spiritual leader for their people despite years of oppression by the Islamic State;

– In Saudi Arabia, where the first women’s football (soccer) league has been formed, reversing years of policies against the inclusion of women in sporting activities.

As we honor and praise you this day and every day, O Christ, purge us of our tendencies toward loyalty to the kings of power, wealth, and fame, and fill us with the servant leadership and servant love you embodied in your earthly ministry and continue to support in us for the sake of your beloved creation. We ask this in the name of the one who emptied himself so that we too might become children of God, serving all and loving all in your name. Amen.

World News this Week in Prayer, Thursday, November 12, 2020

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:3-10

Dear God,

We know we are blessed. We know you have given us more than we could ever have imagined. You have given us people in our lives who we care about, more than we could ever say. You have given us love, nourishment, and our very lives. We have been blessed with neighbors around the world who are our siblings in you. As we sit blessed with so much, we also sit with so many people in our world who are suffering. So many who need your help. So many who need your blessing.

God, we ask for your blessing and your healing to those who are sick because of Covid-19. Our prayers for your dear people cannot cease until all are healed and your children stop dying even as we hear of surges world-wide. We are in need of your blessing as we care for those who are sick. Shield and sustain the nurses and midwives who tend the world night and day in this the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife. We ask healing for our hearts especially as we grieve those lost to this horrible disease. Help us to hold up a candle signifying the light of abiding care as we celebrate this year the 200th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale.

God, we are grateful for a completed election in the US and as returns and counts and recounts continue. Sustain us. During this transition of political power, we ask that the burdens and sense of exhaustion be lifted for all of your children. We ask for your hope for a future that serves all people no matter who they are or from where they come. We pray that divisions are softened, knowing that love eternally prevails over hate. We pray for the transition in Bolivia as a new president is inaugurated. We pray that there might also be peace as new political leaders come into power. We pray that your people might have a blessed future of less division and more love.

We pray for your children in the UK as another recession is likely to occur due to Covid-19. We ask for all of those whose lives will likely change dramatically with the loss of income and jobs. We ask for your presence that you might bring a blessing to those who feel they have so little.

We pray for peace in Ethiopia as civil war unfolds again and a nation’s people are already spilling over borders for safety. As tensions continue to rise, we pray that somehow you may bring a blessing of peace to your dear people. May anxieties soften. May hope replace division and restore a community of love in your people.

We pray for those lives taken on a horrendous killing field in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique. Bring the world to action as we hear of the mounting heinous human rights violations in the name of combatting militants and opposition forces. We are sickened by the news of ISIS insurgents crimes as they set fire to several villages, beheading fifty people and chopping their bodies, while women from the villages were abducted. Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Awaken us to the crime of inaction or too-late action as occurred during the Rwandan genocide over twenty-five years ago. We pray that this not be repeated.

We are so grateful, Lord, for peace in Armenia as the Prime Minister announced a peace agreement was signed with Russia and Azerbaijan to end war. We are so grateful, God, for peacemakers and we ask for your continued blessing as we seek peace to break division in a world filled with so much chaos.

We pray for our dear people in Hong Kong as the remaining pro-democracy lawmakers resigned in protest. We pray God that somehow your people might receive the rights they deserve and might be blessed with hope for a better future.

God, we know we are blessed, and yet we know there are so many who are in need of your blessing and your infinite peace. Guide us Lord that we might have hope for the future while we dwell in you. You alone are our greatest blessing, and in you we find our ultimate peace.

In your blessed name we pray.

Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, November 5, 2020

Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD my God, you are very great! You are clothed with splendor and majesty, covering yourself with light as with a garment, stretching out the heavens like a tent. He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters; he makes the clouds his chariot; he rides on the wings of the wind; he makes his messengers winds, his ministers a flaming fire. He set the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be moved. Psalm 104: 1-5

Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.
Job 38:4

Oh, Lord,
We breathe in the verses in these scriptures. Awaken us. Be with us now. Stir our awareness. Strengthen our resolve and hope. Help us to focus on your creation beyond these times yet in the midst of these times. Let us not be distracted by grand schemes, nattering and judging of this and that, ways that divide and devalue, ways that twist us away from you. Turn our eyes toward your light. This great light is all around us. You revealed your truth and way to us through your son Jesus.

We light a candle or watch the sunrise or the afterglow as the day settles into dusk or gaze at the ascendent moon full and now declining in this first week of November 2020.

Everything seems at stake and our anxieties rise and rise. The news seems to pour over our lives — the world news this week challenges us, occupies our waking moments and even our dreams. We are so burdened and distracted. What foundations do we cling to that will fall, will disintegrate, will become dust? What ways of being no longer work, perhaps have never worked and must be let go of? In our everyday lives help us to loosen our grip on being right and judging others. You forgive us. Help us to forgive. This is a potent act. It returns us to love. Can we see into our neighbor’s eyes? What is our friend really needing right now? What would it be like to delight in the stranger as we would upon seeing a family member or friend walking towards us?

Help us to connect with those both true and false to us and we to them. Yes, all of our ancestors as we have remembered the dead on All Souls Day. Help us to see that our acts have consequences. Guide our understanding that we can change and perhaps soften. We can express kindness. We can produce a miracle with a change of heart, an apology can be communicated in a second, in word, behind a mask and with a light touch.

We pray for the love expressed as we hear of Elena S. of Caracas, Venezuela who dresses in PPE. A cafeteria worker at a kindergarten, she goes to her hospitalized father to clean his bed, feed and diaper him in the COVID–19 wing of a city, of a country destitute of health care workers. Lord in your compassion.

We take up our individual duties and jobs during this pandemic that has infected 48 million people. May we consider the sick, severely ill and dying. Help us to attend to this great suffering. Guide the health care work force. Position their every step and wrap them in appropriate PPE. Help our hospital administrations fight this pandemic and sustain their resources and mission. Let no patient be turned away. Help us to use our ICU beds, step down units, rehab facilities and skilled nursing facilities to take care of each and all even as some hospitals must divert patients to other facilities. Sustain those in training and gather our energies to fill the six-million gap in nurses needed around the world. We honor the over 7000 health care workers who have died world-wide. Sustain their families and communities in this great loss. We mourn the over 1,209,927 dead as of this week. Lord in your compassion.

We pray for justice and right action by the government of Nigeria as it sets up tribunals to hear and address the Lekki Toll Gate violence and murder of protestors. We are concerned of the independence of its judiciary. Sustain journalistic voice and those who testify on the crimes and losses even as they are held and beaten. Lord have mercy.

We pray for the people of Austria mourning as gunmen took the lives of four individuals and wounded 17 persons in central Vienna. We decry terrorism.

We pray for the nation of Ethiopia as it mourns the massacre of 54 men, women and children from the Amhara ethnic group attack by an armed group who then looted and set fire to the community. Lord have mercy. Remove the swords, bullets and weapons of terrorism. Let there be no collusion by governments of the people with paramilitaries and false liberation groups that kill.

Draw leaders close to their people. Draw them close to their suffering. Help them to see the promise of each child, the strength of youth who dream. Unlock the cages. Task those in power to protect the least with food and water not with armed guards in watchtowers. Challenge our implicit bias of who belongs and who does not. Send your messengers to those who would build structures that divide and deny. Remind us that our institutions like physical structures can act like walls and prisons denying human rights and causing terrible isolation. We pray mightily for justice.

Oh Lord your tent so vast as the universe we see at night it contains us in all times. This world is trembling. Call our faith. This world so broken. Call our active hope. This world is so tender. Call our love.

Amen.

The following prayer is offered for those of our readers who are fearful about the results of the U.S. election, and may wish to join in making this vow before God.

Today
I awake
Realizing that the election
will not be settled today.
Or tomorrow.
Not until all the votes (including the paper ballots) are counted,
And the results are certified by Dec. 14.
Not until the January 6, 2021 Joint Session of Congress to count electoral votes and declare election results.

Today
I awake
Knowing that I cannot hold onto my dread
for that long.
Choosing that I will no longer
Let my life be ruled by
fear, fostered by fear,
foisted by fear upon fear.
Today I choose Life.
Whatever the election may bring.

Today
I affirm
That nothing – but nothing – but nothing
Will change my commitment
To make this a world (and a nation)
That is safe, and just, and healthy,
and fruitful, and life-affirming,
for my LGBTQIA+ friends,
and my Black friends,
and my immigrant friends,
and my Muslim friends,
and my Jewish friends,
and my Latinx friends.
For my disabled friends,
and my homeless and underemployed friends.
For my youngest friends
and my oldest friends
of every color or shape
or ethnicity or national origin or gender
or religion (or lack of religion).

Today
I affirm my commitment
To make this a world (and a nation)
That is filled with compassion and justice
and hopes for the well-being
even for my political opponents.
Even for those with whom I disagree.

Today
Whatever happens in this election
Today, I choose love.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., October 29, 2020

We meet you in prayer this day, asking for hope and guidance during these times of great uncertainty.

We lift our hearts in prayer for all those protesting police brutality:

In Philadelphia, PA, U.S., where Walter Wallace, Jr., a black man experiencing a mental health crisis, was shot and killed by police.
In Nigeria amid the #EndSARS weeks-long protests, where dozens of unarmed demonstrators were killed this week at two different demonstrations.

We ask for Your peace, in place of our violence.

Less than a week before Election Day in the United States, many of us are nervously praying for a just election and for all who are able to make their voice heard at the polls.

We ask for Your calm, in place of our anxiety.

We pray for the world during this global pandemic as countries contemplate fresh lockdowns amid the surge of new Covid-19 deaths. Many of us feel completely discouraged.

We pray particularly for France, where there’s a record number of new cases.
And especially for refugee camps in Syria, where the cases have risen tenfold.

We ask for Your hope, in place of our despair.

We continue prayers for Syria, where violence is steadily escalating, and, this week, Russian airstrikes have killed more than 50, and injured many others.

We ask for Your love, in place of our hatred.

O God of all people, grant us open eyes, minds, and hearts: for all that we can learn during this uncertain time, for new understanding, for abundant generosity, and for more love, that we may learn to truly be Your beloved community.

Amen.

World News this Week in Prayer, Thursday, October 22, 2020

“I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

Dear God,

Our world is changing in ways that we never imagined. We are in need of your unwavering love. We live in a world which holds so much pain and need – need for hope, peace, expressed love, justice and heartfelt understanding. Comfort us. Strengthen us. God, our world might be changing, but you are changeless. You remain with us. Help us to find new ways to live and to love acknowledging our diversity and honoring differences.

God, relationships seem to be everchanging. When things fall apart, we ask that you bind us up, heal our spiritual brokenness and pain. We know, Lord, that you are a part of all of us, and so we know that you deeply care for all of our relations. Whether connections with family, friends, work mates and neighbors or in our expanding interactions around the world we ask that you bring your peace to one and many. We pray for the liaisons between China and the United States as tensions continue to rise. May peace always prevail and may conversations be stateswoman-like and more fruitful. We ask that you be with those in the United Kingdom and countries within the European Union as the economy is being affected and so many are already in need of help. We also pray for relationships that spiral into violence. We ask for your healing presence for those in Nigeria where anti-police violence protests continue. As demonstrators have been horribly wounded in Lagos, we pray that somehow all of your dear people might be protected and comforted.

We need your help, Lord, with our relationships. We are so grateful that although our human relationships might be shaken or fall severely apart at times, we know your spirit is woven into every part of our lives.

God, as new forest fires in Colorado destroy homes and force hundreds of people to evacuate, and fires are burning in Utah, United States we ask for your comfort. We ask that peace and safety be rendered to those who are suffering from natural and man made disasters throughout the world. Shore up the essential workers, firefighters and logistics teams that work day and night in great peril. Guard those who steward and safeguard parks, wetlands, preserves, great rivers and watersheds.

God, we are in need of your constant and abiding presence as we see Covid-19 cases and deaths sweep upward. With over 40 million cases worldwide, we are weary of knowing how best to help neighbors and distant kin. As we sort through ways in the UK, France, Spain, and Italy and around the world on how to disrupt the spread of this virus, help us to bear witness that your love encourages and strengthens. Although we are in deep need of change in this world guide us to find ways to protect our dear people. We ask for your cooling breath to come upon us all. May your shining presence always be there even as we forget that “yes!” you are always alongside us.

We pray for critical watch and diplomatic action as cyber attacks by Iran have targeted countries in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as hundreds of individuals and entities in 30 additional countries across Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America. Guide us as we negotiate in this changing world.

God, sometimes it is so hard to not be dismayed and anxious and so we ask that you carry our fears and lift these burdens. Lead us God as we try to be spreaders of hope, peace, and understanding as we kindle new connections and rebuild old relationships. For your infinite love we are forever grateful.

In your name we pray.

Amen.

World News in Prayer- Thursday, October 15, 2020

1 Thessalonians 5: 1 – 3

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When they say, ‘There is peace and security’, then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape!

* Writer’s note: The writer to the Church in Thessaloniki was writing to a people who had thought the Roman empire would bring peace and security, but had found events turned out very differently. I reflect, Creator God, on my mother’s response to unexpected events. Her generation had, in the previous decade, lived through the 1939-45 war, supposedly the war to end all wars. So news of earthquake, volcanic eruption and armed conflicts sent her into fear that the world would dissolve in nuclear disaster.

What is it, Creator God, about humanity that we consistently desire peace but in our own image? We cannot seem to learn to live in your security, with a peaceful mind among disastrous events knowing that you have us engraved upon the palm of your hand.

There is a jumble of such thoughts and news in our minds at present, as we struggle to disentangle human engagement from natural disasters; otherwise we would be forced to face our own complicity in “natural” events.

We hold before you the floods and lives lost in southern India and wonder why the storm did not spin the other way over the fire on Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. We pray for Hyderabad, India and for the firefighters, residents and students in Tanzania in the area of the National Park; for those threatened by and those fighting the continuing wildfires in California, U.S.A.; for those on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. battered by yet another hurricane.

As tentative talks on the Lebanon/Israel maritime border begin, we await the outcome as it is already blighted by thoughts from Israel that talks are not worthwhile if Lebanon’s economy collapses. We pray for the diplomats in these talks.

Mehbooba Mufti, a former chief minister in Jammu and Kashmir, and other politicians detained by Indian authorities, following the revocation of the region’s autonomy last year, have been released. A year on from India’s scrapping of its agreement over Kashmir land-grabs and rising unemployment, we wonder about Nagorno-Karabakh: are there lessons the world should take there? We pray for the people of Kashmir and Nagorno-Karabakh.

As scientists say the Australian Great Barrier Reef is damaged beyond repair and dead sea life constantly washes ashore in Russia’s Kamchatka province, we pray for the scientists trying to turn the tide of our unwillingness to change our comfortable lives.

We thought pandemics didn’t happen in the modern world. Now, many European countries are returning to full or partial lockdowns and a number of pharmaceutical firms have halted their Covid-19 vaccination trials, and so we pray for all our world. Lord, hear our prayer and let our cry come to you.

Engraved upon my palms, yes, written on my hands in letters spelled out large for all to see, your name is marked forever, will never be removed. I’ll not forget that you belong to me.

As a mother tends her tiny child, I will care for you. You shall never be forsaken, never left alone. I’ll enfold you with my arms of love. I will comfort and surround

I love you with a love far greater than you’ve ever known. Right from the start I held you, I steadied your first steps, I led with cords of love that will not break, I took your hands and guided, I healed you with my touch. know I’ll be with you every step you take.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., October 8, 2020

Editor’s note: World Teachers’ Day has been celebrated internationally on 5 October each year since 1994, commemorating the anniversary of the adoption of the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation Concerning the Status of Teachers, which establishes standards for teacher rights and responsibilities, as well as teacher preparation and support. This year’s theme, “Teachers: Leading in Crisis, Reimaging the Future,” acknowledges the additional challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic for teachers worldwide and seeks to remind us that we must support teachers, protect the right to education, and celebrate the accomplishments of teachers in responding to this current crisis and building the resilience needed to shape the future of education in our world.

A reading from the Psalms, chapter 86, verse 11: “Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart to revere your name.”

And a reading from the Letter to the Colossians, chapter 3 verses 16 to 17: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Wise Teacher, you call us to learn to live in right relationship with one another. Political tensions deepen in places like Kyrgyzstan, where the contested and potentially corrupted results of a recent election have led to violence and unrest, and the United States, where similar violence and unrest have followed in the wake of disordered and inconsistent pandemic responses and racial inequalities.

Teach us to guard our hearts, to use our political and social power on behalf of the powerless and vulnerable, and to treat each other as the beloved children of God that they are.

Just Teacher, you call us to learn to live in right relationship with your creation. Storm Alex has proven deadly in the face of heavy rains and flash floods in south-eastern France and north-western Italy, yet so many of us refuse to acknowledge the ways our behavior affects the climate of this world we call home. The Pacific waters along the shore of Kamchatka, Russia, are so polluted that the water is discolored and dead sea life washes onto shore every day, but so many of us fail to connect our well-being and our very survival with good stewardship of the environment.

Teach us to tend your garden in the way you intend for us, with selflessness, love, and deep gratitude.

Loving Teacher, you call us to learn to live in right relationship with you. Open our eyes to see you in the faces of those who suffer, including mentally-ill children in Nigeria who are being discovered after years of abuse and neglect by their parents, the hundreds of Myanmar children who have been driven into illegal work in the seafood industry after the closure of migrant learning centers in the southern province of Ranong, and the impoverished millions who face starvation as the human-made famine in Yemen enters its fifth year.

Teach us to number our days, to understand who we are to whom we belong, so that we might apply our hearts, hands, and voices with wisdom.

Patient Teacher, you call us to learn, to teach, and to grow in our faith in you and in our love for others. Teach us respect and honor you, fill our hearts with the word of Christ, form us so that whatever we do, in word or deed, we might do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., Oct. 1, 2020

O God, why are you silent? I cannot hear your voice;
the proud and strong and violent all claim you and rejoice;
you promised you would hold me with tenderness and care.
Draw near, O Love, enfold me, and ease the pain I bear.
Marty Haugen/ Tune: Herzlich mich verlangen

O God, O Love, sometimes in these difficult days, it feels like you are both silent and absent. All around us in this world of ours, in this world of yours, there is pain and suffering, confusion and violence. It seems like the forces of evil are triumphing over good; seems like despair is winning out over hope. And yet, to whom else shall we go, Holy One? Who else will hear our prayers with love and compassion? Who else will understand our pain and hold us tenderly?

Through endless nights of weeping, through weary days of grief,
my heart is in your keeping, my comfort, my relief.
Come, share my tears and sadness, come, suffer in my pain,
oh, bring me home to gladness, restore my hope again.

It is because you love and understand that we can pray for this world and its peoples. And so we pray for the disabled people in India – most of whom are Dalits, the untouchables- who, especially during this coronavirus pandemic, are struggling to obtain the basic necessities of life: food, medical care, housing.

We pray for the people of Armenia and Azerbaijan where fighting has once again erupted over control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

As Covid-19 deaths worldwide reach one million, we pray especially for the people of Israel, Spain, Brazil, England, and Scotland, where an upsurge of the virus is causing more closures in response to increased cases and deaths.

We pray for the people of Rwanda, as- at long last- one of the long-time genocide suspects, Felicien Kabuga, is being extradited so he can be brought to justice for his role in the 1994 genocidal murders of nearly one million people.

We pray for the tens of thousands of women who continue to be raped in India each year, and for the work of activist and advocate Yogita Bhayana, as she works with survivors and provides a voice for them in court and with the government.

We pray for the protestors in Venezuela, as anger mounts over fuel shortages (with people waiting in lines for a long as 13 hours) and shortages of safe drinking water, while the government does little or nothing to provide assistance.

We pray for those in the United States dealing with the numerous wildfires in the West, with the results of the increasingly-strong hurricanes along the Gulf and East coasts, even as many leaders continue to deny the reality of climate change and its effects upon our planet.

Yet, despite the sadness and discouragement, we can joyfully pray for 7-year-old Cavanaugh Bell, who set up a GoFundMe page to raise funds and supplies to take trailers filled with COVID-19 supplies to the South Dakota Pine Ridge Reservation (one of the poorest places in the U.S.) because “they need things there.” May we be led to follow where a little child leads us- to a place of caring and hope and help.

May pain draw forth compassion, let wisdom rise from loss;
oh, take my heart and fashion the image of your cross;
then may I know your healing through healing that I share,
your grace and love revealing, your tenderness and care.

O God, O Love, even in these difficult days we know that you hear us, that you care, and we ask that your love and compassion and justice may be incarnated in us, as we go about the work of healing your world and all its peoples, to work for the coming of the your Reign on this earth. Let it be so. Amen and amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, September 24, 2020

God of Our Ancestors,

Since before we were born, you have knit your people into a great reimagining of purpose and life. You call us by your mercy and claim us with your truth. Even in these days of protest and pandemic, show us what it means that you are the Creator, Christ, and Comforter. Show us how to believe that you have made each of us in your image. Show us what it means that even now, your kingdom is breaking into the world. Even in these days, show us how to sing and praise and pray to you.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers.

God of Our Present,

In Christ, we recognize our reality as people called to join you in the journey. Teach us how to follow you. Make yourself known to us. Make yourself known to those fighting and fleeing wildfires on the West Coast of the United States, as well as those who are living with the aftermath of devastating flames and red skies of smoke. Make yourself known to those grappling with COVID-19, whether they are at home or in hospital beds, prison cells or nursing homes, science labs or health institutes or non-profit organizations. We give you thanks for those within the African Union, New Zealand, and other regions where communities are collectively, compassionately working so well to contain and curtain the virus in their midst. We pray for guidance for those in the United States, India, Brazil, and Mexico, as they all grapple with severely high mortality rates. This week our heart breaks as the United States pass 200,000 dead. This week also we lift up the family and colleagues of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, after her death in Washington, DC, last week. Shower mercy upon all those who grieve. Be with us in our present moments. Reveal yourself in ways that we might taste and touch and see and hear and know, deep within our flesh and bones.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers.

God of Descendants,

Your story does not begin and end with us. You who loved our ancestors are also preparing the way for our children. Nurture the lives of all young people around the world who are living with the uncertainty of economic prospects, the stress of climate change, the unanswered questions around truths of human dignity. Bring forth in them a new energy for purpose-seeking, meaning-making, and community action, as they lead us forward into the future.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers.

God of Our Every Ending and Beginning,

We pray these things because you have come among us, as human, as Word Made Flesh, as God with us. In Christ, we have been shown the kindness of your touch, the fierceness of your grace, the perseverance of your covenant, the power of your peace. How glorious it is to rise in your grace, to pray in your name, to rest in your Spirit. Thanks be to you, Triune God.

Amen.

World New This Week in Prayer – Thursday, Sept. 17, 2020

“No hands, no feet on earth but yours.
Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world.
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good.
Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body.”
~ Teresa of Ávila

Dear God,

We are living in a world that is in deep need of your healing power. As we strive to be your hands and feet in a world which is staggering from hurt, pain, loss of life, loss of home, tiredness, and weakness, we need you, God, to hold us up when we have such little strength. You know more than anyone what our bodies look like right at this moment. You know the pain we are going through personally, the pain we feel for our neighbors around the world, the pain we feel for our family and friends who we cannot help. You know, God, what we are going through, and so we ask that as we do your work to show compassion, to reveal love, to help our neighbors, that you will also help us as we need to be filled with your peace just as we reveal your peace to others.

God, as we learn to be your body in the world, we ask for your presence in a world which is being ravaged by natural disasters. We pray for our friends, our family members, and our neighbors in California, Oregon, and Washington, U.S., where fires are devastating the homes, businesses, and lives of all these people. We pray that you might send a healing balm to quench this burning earth.

As a particularly harsh hurricane season continues, we pray for all of our people around the world who are in the path of so many hurricanes that are about to hit as well as those that are yet to come. We pray, God, that as we find ways to assist our neighbors that are in their paths, may they prove to hurt fewer of your beloved people, and may you be a shield of protection to them.

We pray for all of our friends and communities in Israel where so many feel unheard, and where injustices continue to hurt so many. We pray that peace may abound someday and all will be treated with dignity and love regardless of who they are. As violence continues in so many parts of the world, we pray that there are fewer casualties. May we find our own peaceful ways of fighting for justice for the poor and those without privilege.

As Covid-19 continues to ravage our world, with 29 million people around the world having been diagnosed and the global death toll being about 925,000, we see a world which is continually breaking. As we recognize that the numbers are likely much higher than this, we also recognize that so many other pieces of our lives have been devastated by this virus. As poverty increases and illness of all kinds continue to become worse due to loss of jobs and lack of healthcare, we also recognize the aid that is not going to countries that desperately need it. We pray for our neighbors in Yemen where aid cuts have devastated our neighbors there. As malnutrition doubles there, may you be with your beloved people who are in great need of food and supplies.

God, help us to be the hands and feet. Although it may seem that there is little we can do to make a difference, help us to start now.. Teach us to find ways to nurture and help those who need your healing. Grant us the wisdom to find a way to be your body in a broken and hurting world. While we may feel we can never do enough, help us to do what we can with what little time we have on this earth. Although we recognize we will never be perfect, teach us that by even doing the smallest of acts, we are spreading your love to your dearest children who need it most.

In your name we pray,
Amen.

This Week’s Prayer