World in Prayer

This Week’s Prayer

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, December 13, 2018

“For unto us a child is born…
and the government shall be upon his shoulders.”
(Isaiah 9:6)

God, it’s hard to be a citizen.

At each stage of creation, you looked and said, “it is good”. You established The Promised Land as a place to live out your covenant, that you will be our God and we will be faithful as your people. Your prophets preached an ever-more enlightened governance, yearning for righteousness among kings and merchants and citizens. Then you gave us Jesus, born to us as a child but with promise of government upon his shoulders.

We give to Jesus the language of leadership: Lord, Almighty, Prince. But we keep him at arm’s length from decision-making in village, town, city, and nation. We have not learned how to lean on his shoulders and depend on his governance without causing harm, suspicion, and fear. We have abused the power that came with faith, corrupting both. We are still learning to render what is Yours, and what is Caesar’s.

Yes, you are the God of every citizen, however free. You have taught us that nothing separates us from you, no form of principality comes between us. It is with such hope that we pray.

And so, in these very days we remember efforts to suppress voting, to manipulate modern technology for political gain, to divide people by fear, to prefer identity over unity, to upend basic democracy and simple freedom.

And we remember with joy the raised purple fingers and “We Voted” stickers that grew in number, the people who overcame long lines and intimidation and threat to vote, the candidates who stepped forward with zeal in order to serve, the voters who set aside ancient prejudices to vote their hopes.

Lord God, this prayer is for every village, town, city, and nation; for every kind of governance; for every citizen. One day, may You look at us again and say, “it is good.”

Amen.

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World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, December 13, 2018

“For unto us a child is born…
and the government shall be upon his shoulders.”
(Isaiah 9:6)

God, it’s hard to be a citizen.

At each stage of creation, you looked and said, “it is good”. You established The Promised Land as a place to live out your covenant, that you will be our God and we will be faithful as your people. Your prophets preached an ever-more enlightened governance, yearning for righteousness among kings and merchants and citizens. Then you gave us Jesus, born to us as a child but with promise of government upon his shoulders.

We give to Jesus the language of leadership: Lord, Almighty, Prince. But we keep him at arm’s length from decision-making in village, town, city, and nation. We have not learned how to lean on his shoulders and depend on his governance without causing harm, suspicion, and fear. We have abused the power that came with faith, corrupting both. We are still learning to render what is Yours, and what is Caesar’s.

Yes, you are the God of every citizen, however free. You have taught us that nothing separates us from you, no form of principality comes between us. It is with such hope that we pray.

And so, in these very days we remember efforts to suppress voting, to manipulate modern technology for political gain, to divide people by fear, to prefer identity over unity, to upend basic democracy and simple freedom.

And we remember with joy the raised purple fingers and “We Voted” stickers that grew in number, the people who overcame long lines and intimidation and threat to vote, the candidates who stepped forward with zeal in order to serve, the voters who set aside ancient prejudices to vote their hopes.

Lord God, this prayer is for every village, town, city, and nation; for every kind of governance; for every citizen. One day, may You look at us again and say, “it is good.”

Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 6 December 2018

A voice cries out:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Isaiah 40:3-5 (NRSV)

 

As we journey deeper and deeper into Advent, O God,
we find it harder and harder to wait.
We are impatient.
We want to experience your justice, your salvation, your love.
And waiting is so very hard.

When we look around the world we see the destruction
of earthquakes and fires,
of floods and droughts,
of terror and malice,
of apathy and greed.

Yet, at the same time there are glimmers of hope
and preludes of peace.
New life springs forth in unexpected places.
New opportunities surprise us and captivate our imagination.
Living water and the bread of life are found in the parched deserts of our lives.

Guide our hearts,
our hands,
our feet,
our voices,
our lives.

So that we may actively work toward the kingdom for which we are waiting.
A time where the promises of scripture are revealed in their fullness.
While we wait,
empower us as we labor to prepare the way,
so your glory will be revealed for all to see.

Amen

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, November 29, 2018

Holy One,

When what we have is yours and what we receive is a gift from you, we offer up our words of prayer in the knowledge that you are the Word from whom all our prayers flow. We pray with grief for the things that have broken your heart; we pray with joy for the things that have made you dance.

We pray with awareness that we cannot fix the world, but, instead, we can learn to see and taste and touch and know this world as your Creation. In this time and space, we try to take our next step of faith and in so doing, we hope to discover you.

We pray for that which fills us with grief: the devastation from wildfires in California (USA); the violence inflicted on asylum-seekers at the Mexico-United States border; the ongoing conflicts in Yemen; the cruel treatment of the Rohyinga in Myanmar; all who care for someone who struggles with addiction and mental illness; all who wait and watch and weep at the bedsides of loved ones this week.

We pray for that which fills us with fear: the unfolding havoc of climate change around the world; the flaring tensions between Ukraine and Russia; the continued fallout from the murder of Saudi journalist Khashoggi; the precariousness of a Brexit deal; the rise of raging, hate-filled political rhetoric in countries near and far from us.

We pray for that which gives us strength: the compassion of strangers who care for migrants in the Mediterranean and in Central America; the rise of women leaders in Ethiopia; the energy of students who fight gun violence in the United States; those who believe we belong to each other; those who live as if we belong to you.

Lord, teach us how to love what you love. Show us how to nurture what you nurture. Reveal to us how to speak your Word, today and in the days to come.

Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, November 22, 2018

Note: Words in italics are from Ps 8 (NRSV)

O Lord, our Sovereign,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

As cosmologists view a “ghost galaxy” hidden in sight…
You have set your glory above the heavens.

As the UN tries to recruit more women to be Blue Helmets peacekeepers, Mali has the grim distinction of being the deadliest active peacekeeping deployment in the world…
Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
to silence the enemy and the avenger.

As astronomers announce the discovery of a planet around our nearest neighbor star…
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;

As a U.S. federal judge blocks an order issued by President Trump to deny the possibility of asylum to migrants crossing the southern border illegally…
what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?

As environmentalists battle to protect the only place in the world where orangutans, rhinos, elephants and tigers still co-exist in the wild (the Leuser Ecosystem in Sumatra, Indonesia) from destruction by companies producing palm oil…
Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
and crowned them with glory and honor.

As spurious health claims about diseases carried on clothing are used against the providers of humanitarian aid in Mediterranean Sea…
Lord, what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?

As children search for food in the rubbish of the streets of Yemen; while marine life dies as it engulfs plastic instead of food; as wildfires still smolder; as a volcano erupts in Guatemala; as Vietnam floods; as El Nino triggers severe weather in South America…
You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under their feet,

all sheep and oxen,
    and also the beasts of the field,

the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
    whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

O Lord, our Sovereign,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, November 15, 2018

Thanksgiving Prayer

“Oh, may this bounteous God through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts and blessed peace to cheer us;
And keep us in His grace, and guide us when perplexed;
And guard us through all ills in this world, till the next!”
(verse 2, “Now Thank We All Our God,” by Martin Rinkart)

Holy and loving God, in this season where those in the United States celebrate Thanksgiving, we remember seed time and harvest, bounty and want, “all the ills in this world and the next.” Yet in the middle of all that makes us “perplexed” we come to You in prayer, with grateful hearts.

Along the migrant caravan trails  – crossing through Mexico from Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador -we give thanks for the acts of kindness among ordinary citizens who share from their widow’s mite: food, blessing, care.

From the fire-ravaged towns of California, U.S., and flood and landslide-swept path of Typhoon Yutu in the Philippines, the we give thanks for the heroism of firefighters, first responders, search and rescue teams, and medical staff in the long work of protecting and healing. Your “peace which passeth all understanding” includes wiping away all tears of those who have perished, all who grieve. Thank you for hope itself, when all seems beyond hope.

Within the heartache of hate-filled violence in the U.S. against Jewish worshippers in Pittsburgh and college students in Thousand Oaks, amidst the terror with which Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh face the idea of forced repatriation to Myanmar (possibly beginning as early as this week), we find gratitude for such outpouring of love from mourners, families and people of all faith. Bind us together with such strength that the perpetrators of hate will tremble, bow down, and be resurrected in love.

In remembrances of the first World War to end all wars, we give thanks for stories of sacrifice in the face of war, and determination after. May our Prince of Peace yet find a home in the hearts of all. We give thanks for acts of courage and conscience that still seek to turn swords into ploughshares.

Around our own Thanksgiving tables, filled with aromas of abundance, may we smell the cooking fires of refugee camps across the world. We give thanks for aid workers and charities and missionaries who welcome those who have been abandoned, targeted or turned out. Like Jesus with the 5,000, may gratitude for what is too meagre turn into a miracle of more than enough.

Holy God, from Your house to ours, from our house across the world, we receive the gift of love, and determine to share it in word and deed, gratefully.

Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 8 November 2018

Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” – Mark 12:29-31

God of each one of us and God of every one of our neighbors, near and far, we lift our hearts in prayer to You:

We thank You for the freedom to vote that many of us take for granted and not all of us are afforded. May we exercise our right and our moral duty to take the steps that we can, when and where we are able, and the courage to fight for this right where needed.

We are grateful for the Midterm Elections in the United States, which took small steps toward recognizing the humanity and dignity of our neighbors, including formerly incarcerated felons being granted the right to vote again in Florida and transgender rights being upheld in Massachusetts. We are grateful for more representative expressions of the people of the United States in many of its newly elected officials, including over 100 women in the House, two Native American women and a female Somali refugee for US Congress, and an openly gay Governor. May all elected officials around the globe be guided by Your love and seek the common good for Your people.

We pray for the 10 arrested on the island of Zanzibar, Africa for conducting a same-sex wedding. We recognize that there are still countries that not only outlaw same-sex marriage, but punish homosexuality with the death penalty. May all of our neighbors around the globe one day be able to live their truths authentically without fear of repercussions.

We are grateful for the lives of the 78 kidnapped schoolchildren and 3 others who were just freed in Cameroon, Africa. We pray that You might comfort them and their families after this traumatic experience. We also fervently pray for the hundreds of Chibok schoolgirls who are still missing years after their kidnapping, and all children who are separated from their families and loved ones. May there come a day when all of our neighbors are safe in their schools, on their streets, and in their homes.

We pray for all those affected by the shooting at the Borderline Bar and Grill in Thousand Oaks, California, USA on Wednesday night, where 13 were killed, including a first responder and the gunman. As details are still unfolding, we pray that we may be moved to grieve with the loved ones of those who died and, as hard as it is, also the shooter, rather than harden our hearts to another mass shooting. May we work together to establish laws and systems that protect all of our neighbors from these kinds of tragedies that are becoming more and more commonplace.

We pray all in Hodeidah, Yemen, where the calls for a cease fire in a three-year war have instead resulted in horrific violence. Violence in Yemen has become normalized and the chief of Houthi rebels has said he will “never surrender” as this humanitarian crisis deepens. May all of our neighbors around the globe know what it is to experience peace and safety.

We pray too for Remembrance this Sunday 11th September and especially for the centenary that marks the end of World War One. We think of all the many men and women who lost their lives and gave their service in all wars in the last hundred years. May we honor their courage and cherish their memory and be thankful for their dedication to protect their country in a bid to ensure peace in our world.

May we love You, O God, so fiercely that we become the change that brings about a ripple effect of love for our neighbor. May we constantly hold onto hope as we work together to bring kindness, mercy, and justice to all areas of our world.

We pray all of these things in your many, Holy names. Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 1 November 2018

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Revelation 22:1-2 

And wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish. For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes. Ezekiel 47:9

 

Dear God our Creator and Redeemer,

Help us to live in awe in this world, this day and in this moment.  Help us to understand with new eyes how you spoke the world into being and as it unfolds, even now, in this season, as wind and water move over earth.  Help us to hold sacred the lands.  Are we stewards or despoilers? Help us to understand how you restore and renew the world. Help us to see your grace at work.  We read of TheKofan people of Sinangoe in the Amazonwhoprotecting more than 79,000 acres of primary rainforest in their ancestral homeland in Ecuador. Theyhave won a landmark legal battle to defend one of its’ largest and most important rivers from mining claims.

And when will peace come like fresh water flowing through the many rivers of Ethiopia where 1.4 million of its 100 million people are displaced?  Help us to hear Ambassador Shalework Zewde’s words, “When there is no peace in country, mothers will be frustrated. Therefore, we need to work on peace for the sake of our mothers.”  Help us to see your grace at work as the two Houses elected their first female head of state.  Sustain this ancient land, stop the bloodshed and renew its peoples.

Be with the people and lawmakers of Sri Lanka, Germany and Brazil as leadership is changing and uncertainty grows.

And when will peace like the rains that come to Gaza in winter bring reconciliation and an end to the bloodshed and deprivation for the near 2 million Palestinians?  We mourn for the 210 killed and more than 18,000 wounded in the past 6 months during the weekly Friday protests along the Israeli border.  We pray for the brokering by Egypt for peace as refugees live with undrinkable tap water and only a few hours of electricity a day.  Only your mercy can cause these and other injustices to fall away.  In these days and weeks to come may your truth be known and received.

We watch and pray as the United States government has been ordered by the International Court of Justice in the Hague, Netherlands to halt sanctions that it had placed on the exporting to Iran of medicine and medical devices such as incubators, food and agricultural commodities such as wheat and spare parts and equipment necessary to ensure the safety of civil aviation.  Open our eyes and hearts.  Help us to bend and bow to your commandment: to love you and to love one another.

Awaken us from the suffering and deep misery, the horrible loss of opioid addiction and death so prominent in both the United States and Canada. We pray that the US legislation signed into law this week known as the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Act will indeed work swiftly, prioritizing children, adolescents, and families as this public health crisis continues to unfold.  We call on the Holy Spirit to guide our discerning as neighborhoods, towns, schools and workplaces find new resources to turn around this epidemic. We lift the tens of thousands who have experienced loss of loved ones.  Lord have mercy.

Shed your mercy on the grieving families and their community in Louisville, Kentucky, United States as an attempted break-in at a church and murder of two people raises the alarm of violence so often fueled by hate. Forgive us for our sins Lord.

We weep, we grieve, we shake our heads and we come together once again. The world watches as a young man’s ashes are laid to rest twenty years after a hate crime ended his life.  Again we despair, we groan and grieve as eleven worshipers at The Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA are murdered and six are injured. Guide us in these dark days where fear and hatred seem so common.  Will this violence end? Help us to continue our resolve for peace making amid such hate and deadly force.  In this time of mourning may we comfort each other as you have comforted us.  In the days to follow may we commit to the words of Micah, “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”  Help us to take those steps no matter how hard it seems and how impossible the way.

And as this day becomes night let us remember your tender power amidst all the little things:  the birds in migration, the little ones yet to be reunited with their families, the least of these, the forgotten, the unnamed, the isolated and imprisoned, those on the road and in hiding, the many suffering – we pray for these and call to You.  Hear our prayers.

Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, October 25, 2018

Then the king will say to those on his right, “My father has blessed you! Come and receive the kingdom that was prepared for you before the world was created.  When I was hungry, you gave me something to eat, and when I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. When I was a stranger, you welcomed me, and when I was naked, you gave me clothes to wear. When I was sick, you took care of me, and when I was in jail, you visited me.”

Then the ones who pleased the Lord will ask, “When did we give you something to eat or drink?  When did we welcome you as a stranger or give you clothes to wear or visit you while you were sick or in jail?”

The king will answer, “Whenever you did it for any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me.”

Matthew 25:34-40 (CEV)

God of all wholeness and peace, our world yearns for your presence.  We call out to you day after day, wondering why we do not see you and why we feel so abandoned.  And yet, time and time again, you remind us that we only need to look around us to find you.  Help us to look with clarity and compassion into the faces of your children, no matter how unimportant they might seem, so that we might find you there.

Help us to see you in the faces of those who mourn.  As news breaks of the deaths of seven children and many others suffering from a virus outbreak at a health center in New Jersey, United States, remind us of the deep pain of those around the world who have experienced the loss of a child.  Open our ears to listen and open our arms to comfort.

Help us to see you in the faces of those who suffer.  As we hear about inhumane conditions in the prisons of Madagascar and the forced “re-education” of Uighur Muslims in China, fill us with a thirst for justice for all people who are abused due to poverty, gender identity, and all other vulnerabilities.

Help us to see you in the faces of those who are being affected by disasters.  As a major hurricane makes landfall in Mexico keep survivors of all disasters, both natural and human-made, safe from harm, and help us to keep them in our hearts.

Help us to see you in the faces of those we consider our enemies.  As the President of the United States threatens to withdraw aid from countries that allow refugees and asylum seekers to travel across their borders toward the United States, remind us of the humanity of all people, regardless of their skin color, language, and country of origin.  Remind us that everyone, from the most powerful leader of a nation to the most vulnerable and impoverished of refugees, is a beloved child of God.

Help us to see you in the faces of all people, for we are all made in the image of God.  Remind us of our connection to all of your children as members of your universal family.  Fill us with your love and compassion, so that we might act as your hands, feet, and voices in the world.  Make your presence known and felt in all places, so that your kingdom might grow to the ends of the earth.

Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer — Thursday, October 18, 2018

The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it,
the world, and those who live in it;
for he has founded it on the seas,
and established it on the rivers.
 
Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
Those who have clean hands and pure hearts,
who do not lift up their souls to what is false,
and do not swear deceitfully.
They will receive blessing from the Lord,
and vindication from the God of their salvation.
Such is the company of those who seek him,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob.

–Psalm 24:1-6 NRSV

As the seasons change,

we are reminded of your consistent love through all the seasons of life.

As we celebrate, O God, you are with us.

As we grieve, you comfort us.

As life goes along, you journey with us.

Highs, lows, in-between,

you are there,

loving,

guiding,

calling,

supporting,

encouraging,

…

In it all, you are God.

Help us to lift our eyes from our situation,

to see the world around us.

Open our hearts so we might see your presence,

your glory,

your love,

in those around us

and in the beauty of creation.

Encourage us to expand our horizons,

look at the world through the eyes of another,

and marvel at the diversity.

Console us, Redeemer God,

when we are dismayed by the news of the world.

Headlines of strife fan the flame of fear.

News of tragedies triggers grief unresolved, and unbidden.

However, those headlines don’t tell the whole story,

they don’t capture the humanity of the people involved,

they often don’t tell of the countless joys,

focusing instead on the multitude of sorrows.

Though we may not know their names,

though we may never hear their stories,

we pray for the billions of people who call this planet their home.

We pray that each person will sense your presence,

marvel at the world around them,

draw close to others who love and care for them.

Help me,

help us all,

to have clean hands

and a pure heart;

so we might draw closer to you

and receive your many blessings.

Amen

World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, October 11, 2018

(Inspired by the Book of Common Prayer, Prayers of the People Form VI)

In peace, we pray to you, Lord God.

               Silence

For all people in their daily life and work;
     For our families, friends, and neighbors, and for those who are alone.

For this community, the nation, and the world; for the victims of Hurricane Michael in the United States; for all of the participants in the #MeToo movement, which is erupting in India;
     For all who work for justice, freedom, and peace.

For the just and proper use of your creation; for scientists, doctors, and nurses; for those who are grieving; for those who are marrying or divorcing; for those celebrating a new birth;
     For the victims of hunger, fear, injustice, and oppression, 

For all who are in danger, sorrow, or any kind of trouble, especially those in China‘s Xingiang region, where camps have been legalized to “re-educate” Muslim Uighurs;
     For those who minister to the sick, the friendless, and the needy.

For peace and unity, especially in the Eastern Orthodox Church, as a Ukrainian sect seeks to separate from Russia;
     For all who proclaim the Gospel, and all who seek the Truth.

For bishops and other ministers; for priests and preachers; for rabbis and imams;
     For all who serve God in his Church.

For the special needs and concerns of this congregation.

               Silence

(The People may add their own petitions)

Hear us, Lord;

We thank you, Lord, for all the blessings of this life.

Silence

(The People may add their own thanksgivings)

We will exalt you, O God our King;
     And praise your Name for ever and ever.

We pray for all who have died, that they may have a place in
your eternal kingdom.

Silence

(The People may add their own petitions)

Lord, let your loving-kindness be upon each of us;
     We put our trust in you, for your mercy is great. Amen.