World in Prayer

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 26 September 2019

Precious Lord, take my hand.
Lead me on, let me stand.
I am tired, I am weak, and worn.

Precious Lord, there are times when the news of the world – your world – seems only to abuse and abase us, when it seems indeed to assault us. When a large clump of the Mont Blanc glacier in Italynears collapse, when scientific review of the data show the oceans suffering as never before from climate change, the very earth seems to shudder with destruction. At the United Nations General Assembly in New York City, USA, the leaders of the world appear unable to prioritize our duty to care for creation above our fascination with making money. Indeed, we are tired, we are weak, and we are worn.

Yet these are circumstances of our own making in many cases. These are circumstances where we have been gifted with the minds and abilities we need to protect the earth and everything therein. Lead us on, let us stand where we ought to stand.

We believe that our inheritance is in your image. Our prayer is not of something you don’t understand. Our prayer is to share more generously of your understanding. Our prayer is to have more of your strength in confronting what we need to confront, in meeting whatever grief we must with compassion for those who suffer and those who love them.  Our prayer is struggling to build up the individuals and communities who all belong to you.

When our way grows drear, Precious Lord, linger near with forgiveness for our inevitable failures to prevent what we should have prevented and with compassion for our hope that you will correct all those things that should long since have been corrected.

When we stand at the river of the decision, when we face final judgments on how we have used this blessed life you entrusted to us, when the light of life is extinguished in us, we pray that you accept us in spite of our imperfections.

Through the storm, through the night
Lead me on to the light
Take my hand, Precious Lord, lead me home.

Amen.

 

Editor’s note: “Precious Lord, Take My Hand” lyrics by the Rev. Thomas A. Dorsey

World News in Prayer – Thursday, 19th September 2019

There is a voice ringing throughout the universe; throughout all space and time; seeking to reach our ears, to touch our hearts and souls.

Gracious God, help us to listen for Your voice, calming and clear, throughout the chaos of our frenzied lives, the voices in our heads, and the roaring sounds all around us. Help us to tune into you as we pray for our world.

Holy One, we listen for Your guidance in healing your world. We pray for resolution of political, economic and social paralysis and uncertainty affecting the UK and Europe over Brexit. We pray for the people of the Bahamas, who have a long road of recovery ahead after Hurricane Dorian turned their world upside down and the need for help seems endless. We also lift our hearts in prayer for Bermuda, where Hurricane Humberto knocked out the power for about 80% of the island.

We pray for all the places in the world that are burning, including Brazil and Bolivia, and Indonesia. We pray that we are given ears to hear the cries of your children, including those across the Globe who have organized the Climate Strike this Friday, September 20th..

Loving One, we listen for Your tranquility when the clamor of gun violence and missiles so often ring in our heads, even days, months, and years after we hear of them. We pray for change in the United States, where gun violence is so prevalent, particularly after the Sandy Hook Promise commercial has been released and gaining so much attention, seven years after the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary.

We pray for the Middle East, especially since the Saudi Arabia oil attacks, that they may experience healing rather than rage. We cry with those grieving in Afghanistan following the attacks by the Taliban yet again on civilians and now a hospital replicating the murderous attacks on hospitals in Syria. We pray for the protection and provisions for all seeking to help the wounded and vulnerable.

Help us tune into Your voice, O God, that we may live lives of true discipleship and carry out Your will to bring peace to this tumultuous world around us. Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019

Sometimes I feel like a motherless child,
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child,
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child,
A long way from home.     – African-American spiritual

Mother-Father God, we come to you when we feel lost. We come to you when we feel discouraged. We come to you when our strength fails us. We come to you when injustice seems to have the upper hand. We come to you on our knees when we can no longer stand on our own.

Hear us, O God, and heal our hearts and our world.

Our hearts are broken as Israel continues to plan to annex one-third of the occupied West Bank, virtually negating any future peace process. Our minds are confused as we seek to understand Japan’s government considering dumping radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear plant clean-up into the Pacific Ocean, even as area fishermen and the government of South Korea protest.

Hear us, O God, and heal our hearts and our world.

Our hearts are broken as we think of the 14-year-old schoolgirl in Kenya who hanged herself after being shamed in class because her uniform had been stained by menstrual blood, in spite of the 2017 law to provide free sanitary products to schoolgirls, and we cry out, “Enough is enough!” Our minds are confused as we see the continued lockdown of Kashmir by India, as food and medical care and supplies reach crucial levels, as men are killed or simply “disappeared,” putting women at high risk for violence, threatening the well-being of countless children.

Hear us, O God, and heal our hearts and our world.

Our hearts are broken as we learn that large parts of this planet have already passed the crucial climate threshold of 2 degrees Celsius of warming, as we see the people of The Bahamas attempting to recover from the devastating effects of category 5 Hurricane Dorian.

Hear us, O God, and heal our hearts and our world.

Mother-Father God, we also come to you when we feel gratitude. We come to you when we see things which give us hope. We come to you when our hearts are overflowing with joy at the actions of our fellow humans which inspire us. We come to you with our arms raised, reaching out for your ever-present hand to hold and guide us.

Hear us, O God, and fill us with hope.

Our hearts are filled by the prospect of justice by a lawsuit filed in Virginia (USA) on behalf of three couples, challenging the decades-long statute that requires a couple to declare their racial backgrounds in order to get a marriage license; challenging, too, the 1924 Virginia Racial Integrity Act known as “The Act to Preserve the Integrity of the White Race.”

Hear us, O God, and fill us with hope.

Our hearts are filled by the fight for human rights which continues with the pro-democratic protesters in Hong Kong, as they call for the intervention of the United States in their months-long struggle for self-rule and self-determination.

Hear us, O God, and fill us with hope.

Our hearts are filled by the actions for human rights of the California legislature which passed a bill that paves the way for Gig economy workers to get the benefit of holiday and sick pay.

Hear us, O God, and fill us with hope.

Our hearts are filled by the Poor Peoples’ Campaign in the United States, led by Rev. Dr. William Barber, as they begin a nine-month tour across the country to organize and mobilize low-income people in the lead-up to the 2020 election.

Hear us, O God, and fill us with hope.

Mother-Father God, as you look upon our world with its sorrows and struggles and still see beauty, help us to see with your loving eyes; to not lose hope in the midst of what seems hopeless; to stand strong and true, filled with your love of justice; to join hands with our siblings everywhere – each and all your children – to make this world the place you intended it to be. Your reign come, O God. Your realm come, and let it begin with each of us.

Let it be so. Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019

Kindle a flame to lighten the dark and take all fear away.
~ John L Bell and Graham Maule*

When nations are being riven by fear, lies, lack of trust in political, business
and so many seeming to seek leadership positions for their own aggrandisement rather than the common good:

Kindle a flame to lighten the dark and take all fear away, so justice and truth prevails.

When all efforts have been made to cope with natural disasters:

  • Hurricane Dorian, devastating the Bahamas and threatening east coast states of the USA;
  • Severe ice cap melting in Greenland, the Antarctic and Arctic – threatening low lying communities and countries throughout the world;
  • Bird migrants arriving at their usual time in northern countries (e.g. the UK and Scandinavia) to find food sources already flowered and unavailable due to climate change

Kindle a flame to lighten the dark and take all fear away.

When people are exhausted from the struggles against injustice and terror:

  • 1.9 million people facing losing their citizenship in Assam, India; 
  • Those detained, disappeared or tortured in Kashmir;
  • Starvation, violence, lack of medical care and hopelessness experienced by millions in Yemen, and in stateless camps throughout the Middle East, Libya, Sudan and so many other countries;
  • The fear of so many in Afghanistan where the  US -Taliban deal does nothing to stop bombings and the use of children as suicide bombers;
  • Increased xenophobic riots in South Africa leading to deaths, injuries and boycotts;
  • Thousands of economically disadvantaged groups left without education or medical care after Christian and Muslim schools and health centers were seized by the government in Eritrea;
  • The desperate and often life-threatening experience of refugees in the US, Mexico, Sweden, the European Union, Canada, India, Bangladesh, Turkey, Australia and so many other countries

Kindle a flame to lighten the dark and take all fear away.

When people seek to care for their fellow human beings in need:

  • Over 1,000 people in the Central African Republic have become foster parents, like Henriette and Jean-Philippe Idjara. Despite having 4 children, and having lost 5 others through illness, they adopted 2 teenage boys who had seen their father executed by rebels. Alone and in fear of their lives, the boys had fled and walked 150 miles in a week, before being found exhausted and rescued by the Idjaras.
  • We give thanks for all who open their hearts and homes to brothers and sisters in need of any sort, without checking their balance sheet first.  Help us to dare to trust in You, our shield and our defender.
  • We give thanks and remember all who act as carers (paid or unpaid), ambulance workers, medical staff, police, firefighters, military personnel, ministers and priests of all faiths, and those who keep our communities clean and safe with often little thanks. We pray for their protection and support, praying especially for their mental health dealing with the sights and situations we so often prefer not to see..  Throughout the world, the silent loss of way too many of those helpers of us all, their high rates of suicide and mental and physical illness from so much stress, is a scandal and source of shame..

Kindle a flame to lighten the dark and take all fear away. Bless and strengthen them by your loving spirit and help us provide them with the care and support they need.

When families are changing, new life is being formed and others prepare to leave this earthly life:

Give us all a sense of thankfulness and proportion as to what is real or imaginary;
help us nurture truth rather than deceit;
humility rather than hubris;
tenderness, love and compassion rather than aggression, hatred and division.

Despite all we like to think, we are not in charge. You are.

O God, save us from ourselves, from double standards and divided hearts, and give us light and life in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

               

*©1987: Heaven Shall Not Wait, WGRG, Iona Community, Glasgow, Scotland

 

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 29, 2019

Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. – 1 Peter 4:8

God of love, you created the world and everything in it. You created the beautiful rain forests, the colorful sunsets, the innumerable animals and leaving creatures, human beings, and most of all you created the love which flows through all of it. We see your hand in every living thing and we mourn as we see your creation lose life in all of its forms. Help us to be comforted by your incredible love and may it wash over every hurting being in this world.

May your love flow through, Oh Lord.

Lord, we ask that you be with your creation in the many places which are being destroyed. We pray for the Amazon rain forest as it burns away causing Brazil to be forever marked by destruction. We pray for all places where fire continually consumes your creation in Siberia, Indonesia, Greece, the United States, Russia, South Africa and so many other places in your world. We ask for your presence to be with your incredible trees, plants, and animals which are dying and in need of your healing. We ask that you be with all of those in the Caribbean and United States who are affected by hurricane Dorian. As your creation fears for the loss of life and homes we ask that you breathe life as well as hope back into your creation.

May your breath flow through, Oh Lord.

God of our hearts, may you release the anxieties which fill our world. Be with the people in Hong Kong as more troops are sent into the streets where your children work, play, and are trying to live. We pray for your people in the Jammu and Kashmir region of India as they contend with detention and as many suffer severe injuries. We ask that your love be spread also to the people at the border in the United States as your dear people suffer and many die as they are turned away. Lord, we ask that your love be spread throughout all regions where your dear people only long for safety and love in a world which is filled with conflict.

May your protection be a shield, Oh Lord.

God of us all, may you open our hearts to be filled with more love than divisiveness. May your love spread out as a calm breath, a protective shield, and a flowing stream. May you teach us all that while we may never know the right thing to do, we always know it is better to share your love rather than spread hate and violence in your creation. As you soothe all of your children’s hearts, may you continually teach us that above all else we shall only spread love which is a comfort to all things in all time.

Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 22, 2019

But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.
Job 12:7-10

God of all creation, we are aware of our mandate to care for the beauty you have given us, but we fail. From the Amazon rain forests and smoke-filled skies threatening Brazil to the official death of a glacier in Iceland, we have not listened to the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, or our planet Earth as it now moans in pain under the pressure of population and the technological advancement of human ways and human will over our Creator’s. God, we no longer know how to live simply and in harmony with your creation.
Divine Love, Hear our Prayer.
 
God of our very being and nature, we have to search deep into the news to find such inspiring stories as Switzerland teen Greta Thunberg who’s gone from solitary climate change protester to icon; or the perseverance of tech-savvy Iranians to stay connected for social good on social media despite regime restrictions; or the recent hero story in Canada where one man rushed to the aid of a United States family from New Jersey at a campground when a sick and dying wolf attacked them in their tent at night. We are made all too aware of the evil and sick parts of human nature, but it doesn’t seem to be leading to changes toward a more just and grace-filled world. The detention this week of a British consulate worker in China, ongoing nuclear proliferation in Russia and North Korea, and the more than 60 people killed after a bomb blast at a wedding in Afghanistan. There are children living in shipping containers in the United Kingdom and infants, toddlers, and teens remain in detention camps in the United States as new allegations of additional sexual assaults come to light. God, we are mistreating one another, your children of all ages, and we no longer know how to compassionately converse or have civil discourse.
Divine Love, Hear our Prayer.
 
Global concerns may have local impact, but we know there are many prayers that need to be heard from our various local communities and neighborhoods.
Whether it be in prayer for your entire creation, or well wishes for students, teachers, administrators, support staff as schools resume from break, or the addict down the street, or the upcoming mental health awareness initiatives, we wish to see things with new eyes, with passionate and respectful hearts of our neighbors and their needs. Help us to find the divine energy within us so that we may be representatives of your love, grace, kindness and compassion in your world. May it be so. Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 15, 2019

There is a Love that is deeper than love,
that fills the world,
that fuels the world.

O, give thanks and sing.

From Genesis 18:16-23 (Paraphrased):

The Lord, having heard much outcry about the sins of the two cities, was prepared to destroy them, and all the people in them. But Abraham challenged the Lord: ‘Suppose there are 50 righteous within the city; will you then sweep away the place and not forgive it for the 50 righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked…Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?’ And the Lord said, ‘If I find 50 righteous in the city, I will forgive the whole place for their sake.’ Abraham answered, ‘Suppose five of the 50 righteous are lacking? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?’ And he said, ‘I will not destroy it if I find 45 there.’ “What if there are 40?” asked Abraham. “Or 30? Or 20?” And each time, the Lord conceded. Then Abraham said, ‘Oh do not let the Lord be angry if I speak just once more. Suppose 10 are found there.’ He answered, ‘For the sake of 10 I will not destroy it.’

Holy one, can we – dare we – become like you, willing to be swayed when we want to wipe out an entire group of people?

In today’s world, where Saudi Arabia just declared that all atheists are terrorists,
and two charity-operated boats full of rescued migrants remain off the coast of Italy,
overcrowded and in unsanitary conditions, unable to disembark because of feuding between Italian leaders,
while Kashmiris are once again caught between the territorial claims of India and Pakistan,
and North Korea again refuses peace talks with South Korea…

Holy one, can we – dare we – welcome those who speak with the bravery of Abraham, calling even those who seem as powerful as gods to rediscover their better natures?

We watch as 16-year-old activist Greta Thunberg of Sweden sets sail across the Atlantic on a hyper-efficient yacht, to draw attention to climate change. We read of the court in Belgium that is investigating an orphanage for alleged abduction and trafficking of children from the Democratic Republic of Congo, taking young children from their parents in the guise of giving them a holiday and instead illegally sending them out of the country for adoption. We hear calls for Google to better police the ads they accept, as studies show that Google Maps is overrun with as many as 11 million false business addresses and ads per day.

Holy one, can we – dare we – love like you, forgiving all if there are even a few righteous among them?  

When the Israeli Women’s Under-19 Lacrosse team noticed that their opponents from Kenya were slipping all over the field because they didn’t have shoes with cleats, they didn’t have them removed from the game (even though playing without cleats is against the rules). Instead, they purchased shoes for every single member of the Kenyan team, and delivered them with hugs and friendship.

A group of Palestinian Authority young men wrote a moving message to the family of a 19-year-old Israeli student, after he was killed in a stabbing attack by Hamas-linked terrorists earlier this week.

A man with no family lost his wife in the El Paso, Texas, U.S., shooting two weeks ago, so he invited the public to her funeral – and more than 1000 have said they will attend in support.

Holy one, how can we ever doubt that there are righteous among those near and far to us, among both our friends and foes?

There is a Love that transcends the deepest love,
that fills the world,
that is ready to heal the world.

O, give thanks and sing.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 8, 2019

‘Truly the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him on those who hope in his steadfast love..’ ~ Ps 33:18

‘Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen…..  By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.’  ~ Hebrews 11:1 and 8

God beyond all definition, in our finite humanity we like to pin everything down, delude ourselves into thinking we are in control, we claim to be logical and strain to understand all that is and all we experience.  We forget too often that all things come from you, and of your own do we give you. You are the creator of all life and all that makes our planet and universe.

God of wonder and power: give us the humility to be open to your presence in all its forms.

This world is a beautiful place, yet we humans too often make it fearful, threatening, damaged and damaging for each other and all the creatures and environments you have given us. We recall the devastation following fires, droughts and floods in the Arctic, Zimbabwe, USA, various parts of Europe, India,  and Asia. We give thanks for the scientists coming together to warn world leaders, and all of us, of the calamitous environmental changes wrought by our stripping the planet of resources needed to combat climate change and absorb the carbon contributing to this. May we learn how to nurture and live in harmony with nature, taking only what is essential to life, not our greed.

Come fill us with your light, love and wisdom: so we may be channels for you to lighten the darkness where we are.

As warring madness and violence escalates, even by the young and towards the young, and all who are deemed to be vulnerable and ‘other’, help us to stand up to the bullying tactics in language, attitude and deeds in all walks of life and by leaders as well as people like ourselves.  We remember all those killed and grieving through acts of violence, in  El Paso, TX, and Dayton, Ohio, USA, in Kabul, Afghanistan, in Syria, in Cape Town, South Africa, and so many other countries around the globe.

God, draw near and comfort those who grieve, care for those wounded. Strengthen and encourage those trying to bring peace to our communities and neighborhoods. We give thanks for all those of good heart and love, and those of faith or none who nevertheless live a life of love and peace and reconciliation in all that they do and are.

Lord hear us, and answer our prayers.

We remember those political representatives throughout the world, their families and staff being threatened because of their role in serving their communities. We hear of threats against Members of Parliament in the UK, leaders in the US, in Russia, Australia, Latvia. Sadly the list is endless. Governments too often incite this through false propaganda on social media.  May we learn to engage our brains before spreading rumors and gossip which poison minds and relationships.

Lord hear us, and answer our prayers..

We remember the parents in Russia being threatened with having their children removed from their care – just for participating in peaceful protests allowed under the 1993 Russian Constitution. We also remember the illegal change in the status of Kashmir by India and the continued fighting and tension between them and Pakistan.

Heavenly Father, you take the long-term approach, while so many in politics go for the short-term option, not thinking out the possible consequences of their words and actions.

Mothering God, you gave us life. Teach us to value it in all whom we meet and all that we seek to do.  May this be incorporated into all our institutions and goals.

Lord hear us, and answer our prayers.

In the words of Martin Luther King, ‘all that it takes for evil to flourish is for good people to do nothing.’  May this truth enter our beings. Forgive us when we are judgmental and full of unrighteous belief that we are right and others have to change to be like us.  Instead let each one of us change, to be like you and as revealed especially to us in the incarnate Christ.

Purify our hearts, and by your Holy Spirit, transform us into people of love as you are Love. Teach us to live and love all whom you have created, and all that you have created. May we touch each other and the earth lightly as sacred gifts from you. You God are our Rock, our Life and everlasting love. AMEN

 

World News this Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 1, 2019

My soul cries out with a joyful shout that the God of my heart is great,

and my spirit sings of the wondrous things that you bring to the ones who wait.

You fixed your sight on your servant’s plight, and my weakness you did not spurn,

so from east to west shall my name be blest. Could the world be about to turn?

                                               Canticle of the Turning/ Irish traditional tune

O, God, who sees and hears the plight of your children, your beloved ones, in every place, in every land, we ask that you hear the voices of the forty-four pro-democracy protestors arrested in Hong Kong; for the families of the two young mothers killed in a drive-by shooting in Chicago, U.S.A. as they were part of an anti-crime street vigil; for those arrested in Moscow, Russia, for protesting over the lack of free elections. You have given us the desire to work and fight and speak for justice; empower those who dare to live into this desire and grant them peace of heart and mind. Empower us, even as we sing:

My heart shall sing of the day you bring. Let the fires of your justice burn.

Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near, and the world is about to turn.

O God of peace and justice, you who call us to be peacemakers and to work for justice, we ask that you bring your healing touch of peace to the ongoing tensions between Israel and Palestine over the Israeli razing of Palestinian buildings; to North Korea where there have been additional tests of short-range missiles; to the attempts of the U.S. peace envoy for Afghanistan to establish talks with the Taliban; to the offer of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javada Zarif to talk with Saudi Arabia. And as our hearts break over the shooting in California, U.S. which killed three and injured more than a dozen; over the more than 900 children separated from their families at the U.S.– Mexico border this year, in spite of a court order against such action; over Italy denying admittance to 116 African asylum-seekers, we fall to our knees, even as we sing:

From the halls of pow’r to the fortress tow’r, not a stone will be left on stone.

Let the king beware for your justice tears ev’ry tyrant from his throne..

The hungry poor shall weep no more, for the food they can never earn;

there are tables spread, ev’ry mouth be fed, for the world is about to turn.

O God of love, who never fails to accept and comfort us, even when we fail and fall, we ask that you keep us ever-mindful that, even in the midst of a world which seemingly filled only with pain and heartache and injustice, there are good and beautiful and wonderful things happening: the increase in the previously endangered tiger population in India; the faithful members of the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) working tirelessly at the southern U.S. border in behalf of the asylum-seekers there; the young woman, Rachel Oehlert, who has used her struggle with dyslexia to allow her to begin a small charity, Truly Make Believe, which has volunteers who read to children in children’s hospitals who are far from home. And so, with tear-filled eyes and thankful hearts, we sing:

My heart shall sing of the day you bring. Let the fires of your justice burn.

Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near, and the world is about to turn.

Hear our prayers for our world this day, Most Holy God. Amen and amen.

World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, July 25, 2019

He has shown all you people 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.
Micah 6:8 NIV

Let us pray.

We think of the 45 People beaten by organized thugs in Yuen Long, a far northwest metro station of Hong Kong. There is worry of collusion and payments being made to criminals to actually disrupt public safety as citizens are peacefully protesting. An extradition bill that sparked the civil protest has been suspended. Comfort the families of the injured. We ask that you bring clarity to leaders and especially the police as they sort out right action to address the turmoil. Bring justice where there is violent behavior and help us to show mercy where impoverished people seem to turn toward crime. Oh Lord, we hear of these horrendous things and bow our heads. Help us to walk humbly.

We remember the Paradise fire and morn the loss, loss that killed 85 people and devastated a small city. “Ahead of the Fire,” reported by the Arizona Republic (USA) and USA Today reflects and analyzes the fire and the human risk for people living in the west, and what and where prevention can happen to avert catastrophe. Help us to hear the Good News months later as wild fire specialists and other scientists sort out the over 500 high-risk western US communities like Paradise. We pray for the disabled, the elderly, the poor who may not have cell phones to hear an Amber alert, who live in housing that is substandard and fire prone. Bring compassionate services to them. We remember fires around the world that devastate communities leaving people with nothing. We pray that this report will inform policy and opportunities for just and equable action. Help us to live humbly and work for justice. 

We seek courage of voice to declaim abuses in Sudan, as reported by the BBC this week, where the Rapid Support Forces have been accused of a massacre in which more than 120 people were killed and many of the dead dumped in the River Nile in early June. This quasi-ruling power in Sudan, fueled by its gold mining in Darfur, sends its gold to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Sudanese militiamen are now fighting in Yemen with the UAE and “policing” the border to Libya, extracting bribes, ransoms and levies. We shutter at the expanding web of war and the millions suffering in famine in Yemen. Lord, show your mercy; restore our sanity and resolve to take just action. Help us to speak with courage.

And help us to remember that through the work of the UN, 12 million refugees around the world have received essential supplies and 92,400 refugees have been resettled in 2018. Help us to live with thanks.

May we show devotion in all seasons, times of the day and spaces. We take out the garbage, fix a meal, lend a hand, soothe a baby, read to a child, fold the bedding, close a tent flap to shelter from rain, or linger a moment to look at the stars. Eternal One, you are with us in all these moments. May we feel your Holy Spirit even in the darkest of times. May Christ’s words to love infuse our hearts, minds and hands. Help us, indeed, to love mercy and to show mercy.

We close with the words of St. Francis of Assisi, For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.

Amen