Dear God
Today we pray for peace.
We remember those who perished with the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan 72 years ago this week. The monuments and memorials and parks in these cities and other cities and lands having suffered holocausts remind us that our prayers are mighty and necessary. Help us to continue to share our grief which echoes yours, to restore and rebuild our humanity.
Lead us from darkness to light.
Today we pray for:
- the cessation of civil wars in South Sudan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan and Libya.
- the people of Kenya as they vote asking that their elections unfold in a free and fair manner, that they accept the results peacefully.
- the peoples of the Korean peninsula and for the leaders of South Korea, North Korea, China, Japan and the US, asking that diplomacy bring us face to face.Shine your light of peace today. Help us to not hide behind weapons.
Teach us to be merciful as you have shown us mercy.
Help us to shed tears for those lost, forgotten and even discarded. Sustain us and give us courage to step into community, and to keep stepping into community accepting that we have your work to do. Help us to recognize “the other” and open our hearts when we look into a strangers face.
Enable us to fulfil our calling to be channels of your love and grace to all whom we meet.
As a major meeting on ending homelessness completed this past July in Washington, DC, USA bless this work and the reports and the visits with congressional staff. Give strength to the many voices that lead and participate in serving children, teenagers, pregnant women and their families, elders and single individuals. Remind us that over 500,000 individuals in the USA do not go to their home to sleep at night. Pour your mercy on the 100 million people who are homeless worldwide. Breath in us the understanding and determination to provide for the 1.6 billion people who lack adequate housing.
We especially pray for our refugees and asylum seekers. As we marshal resources for World Homeless Day this October 10th expand our sense of community to the 7.442 billion people, our brothers and sisters in this our shared world created by you. In Christ there is no east or west. We ask you to teach us loving kindness.
Lord Christ, hear our prayer.
Help us to take a deep breath when the anxieties and deep troubles of this world seem to be all we can see, hear and feel. You are always calling us. You are speaking to each of us. You alone make all things new.
We seek your guidance as Venezuela descends further into chaos and as freedom of speech is punished with detention and imprisonment. And yet in these dark times, your miracles signal of your great work among us. Help us to see them and understand your deep work, your abiding love among us. We breathe a sigh of relief as an international prisoner of conscience Leopoldo Lopez and the Mayor of Caracas, Antonio Ledezma were returned to house arrest. Comfort this nation. Bring your truth to the factions and restore its peacemakers.
Help us see events and people through your eyes and to change the things that contradict God’s love by the power of your cross and the freedom of your spirit.
As we go forth today keep us mindful of your love for us. Remind us in the little things. Help us to offer your healing touch. Help us to carry the Christ-light to one another. Amen
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