World in Prayer

World News This Week in Prayer Thursday, 12 February 2015

As we prepare ourselves for the holy season of Lent, let us reflect in prayer on the words of our Lord Jesus Christ: that when we love the least of these, we love you, Lord.

Help us to love the least of these in prison. We pray for prisoners throughout the world. We pray that they may receive justice, that those who are innocent may be freed and those who are guilty may be restored and reconciled. We remember especially this week for Taiwan where 6 inmates held several guards hostage before committing suicide.

Help us to love the least of these who are refugees. We pray for the souls of the 300 migrants who drowned trying to cross the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy. We pray too for all those who tried to rescue them, as they have done so many times over the past months and years, and help them deal with the grief and horror of the tragedy. We pray for the children from Guatemala, El Salvador, and elsewhere held in family detention camps in New Mexico, USA. We pray for all those who have been displaced from their homes.

Help us to love the least of those who seek peace. We give thanks for the ceasefire announced in Ukraine and pray that it may hold. We pray for Syria, Burkina Faso, Iraq, Afghanistan, and for countries affected by the Boko Haram insurgency, especially Nigeria, Cameroon, and Niger.

Help us to love the least of those of all faiths and tribes. We pray for Deah Shaddy Barakat,  his wife Yusor Mohammad and her sister Razan who were killed this week in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA by their neighbor.

Help us, O Lord, to love our neighbors as You have commanded us to do. Help us to see in them the image of the living God who has come to dwell with us. And may we be transformed when we see You before us in the face of the least of these.

Amen.

World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, January 8, 2015

There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord.
Proverbs 21:30

The rich and the poor have this in common, the Lord is the Maker of them all.
Proverbs 22:2

Lord, when will You tear the heavens apart to make Your will known and show Your might?   Yes, I understand that You are still making Your will known.  Give me the strength to share that knowledge to comfort and strengthen all people.   The best I can do is to share Your answer, to live and be the answer but, O Lord, tear the heavens apart to give me the impetus to make a difference.

Lord, give us the grace and love to be Your light in the darkness.

So Lord, let me and all my companion Christians and all who love You, make a difference in the lives of those displaced across the Middle East.  Especially we pray for safe passage for the gifts of winter clothing and warm bedding to Christians in northern Iraq and Syria in this harshest of winters.

Lord, give us the grace and love to be Your light in the darkness.

We pray for those mourning and coping following the massacre at the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris, France; for those who now make a difference in their challenge for freedom of speech.   Around the world there are others who mourn: following the loss of life in boats and aeroplanes, in avalanches and floods, in wars and acts of terrorism. We offer our comfort and prayers.

Lord, give us the grace and love to be Your light in the darkness.

We pray for the teachers and educators especially in areas such as northern Nigeria, Afghanistan and Somalia in their challenge to provide education and to make a difference in lives lived in extreme conditions.

Lord, give us the grace and love to be Your light in the darkness.

As “dangerously cold weather” is forecast for the eastern United States we pray for those tackling other extreme conditions across the world: wildfire across southern Australia; for those living with gales in Scotland, cold in USA and Canada.

Lord, give us the grace and love to be Your light in the darkness.

So many places, so many people, Lord help us to make a difference, one by one, each day. Amen

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, December 18, 2014

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. – John 13:34

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. – Matthew 11:29

I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. – John 12:46

The news this week has left me crying with the bereaved relatives and friends of 137 school-children and 5 teachers in Pakistan, “ENOUGH!”

  • In Gumsuri village, northern Nigeria, 33 people were murdered by Boko Haram and another 200 taken captive.
  • 51 people are confirmed dead and more than 50 are still missing after a mud-slide in Java, Indonesia.
  • The worst drought in over 80 years is stalking huge areas around Sao Paulo, Brazil.  Heavy rainstorms have temporarily broken the drought in California, USA but have not refilled the vastly depleted water table.
  • Australia is recovering from the siege in a Sydney cafe which resulted in 2 deaths and others injured and is now looking to improve its gun-controls.
  • Tugs and ships are being used as floating arsenals for private security firms fighting pirates in several areas of the world.  The ships are often registered to countries which have no record of control or management of such items causing major concerns over security and accountability.
  • Greece is in turmoil, and is seemingly unable to appoint a new government leading to more chaos and insecurity.
  • The Russian ruble has gone into free-fall leaving ordinary Russians to pay the price.
  • Five people have died in Japan following heavy snowfall and vast tidal surges caused by unexpectedly low barometric pressure.
  • The fighting and political manipulation continues in Syria, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, the West Bank, Israel, Afghanistan, Somalia and so many other countries…
  • And we all live in the same small world, inter-connected, needing and being needed by each other. When will we stand together like the people of Pakistan and say, “Enough!”  Where now, India, which has been antagonistic towards Pakistan since its inception, is now tweeting in the thousands messages of support under the hashtag IndiawithPakistan. A bereaved parent in Peshawar, Pakistan said “the smallest coffins are the heaviest ones to lift.”
  • The USA has dropped its decades long isolation policy against its near neighbor Cuba. At the same time as admitting that the torture and rendition policies used after 9/11 were ineffective in producing intelligence. Something that history made clear long ago. Other countries including the United Kingdom, Jordan, Egypt, Poland and others all were involved too although now desperately trying to shed responsibility or blame.
  • A young boy is being shunned in his village in China because he was born with HIV – a common reaction to those with this disease in China.

Lord, have mercy and forgive us our cruelty and lack of love for each other especially when we encounter differences.

Thankfully we hear of people celebrating differences and difficulties transforming them into challenges. The nativity plays put on by children with multiple health and learning disabilities, goes to the truth and heart of Advent and Christmas.  Christ comes for us all, black, white, brown, yellow, male, female, transgender, able-bodied and those with life-limiting conditions whether of body or mind. So often, the worst things that happen are done by those who are deformed in their soul, but Christ is born for each one of them too.

These prayers from different faith traditions have helped me refocus on God, our hope and source of life.

  • Bahá’í – Be a breath of life unto the body of humankind a dew upon the human heart, and a fruit upon the tree of humility.
  • Christian – Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. Blessed be the Peacemakers, for they shall be called the Children of God.
  • Confucian – First there must be order and harmony within your own heart. Only then can there be peace and harmony in the world.
  • Hindu – Oh God, lead us from the unreal to the Real, from darkness to light, from death to immortality. God’s peace, peace, peace to all.
  • Jain – Peace and universal love is the essence of all the teachings. Forgive do I creatures all, and let all creatures forgive me.
  • Jewish – Oh come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, that we may walk the paths of the Most High. And we will beat our swords into ploughshares and our spears into pruning hooks.
  • Muslim – Praise be to the Lord of the Universe. Who has created us and made us into tribes and nations that we may know each other, not despise each other.
  • Native African – For you are one who does not hesitate to respond to our call, you are the cornerstone of peace.
  • Native American – Give us the wisdom to teach our children to love, to respect and to be kind to one another that we may grow with peace in mind.
  • Sikh – Know that we find God when we love, and only that victory endures in consequence of which no one is defeated.
  • Zoroastrian – We pray to God that understanding will triumph over ignorance, that generosity will triumph over indifference, that trust will triumph over contempt, and that truth will triumph over falsehood

God of Advent, / among refugees and outcasts / you breathed your first breaths. / In the cry of a newborn child you proclaimed / Emmanuel, God-with-us. / Come, God of the margins, / breathe into us the spirit of longing for your Kingdom. / Come this Advent to make us dream of / and work for / a better world of justice and freedom. / Come Lord, come. / Amen. (Dave Broom, Iona Community)

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, October 9, 2014

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

 John 1: 1-5. 14

 The news in its various forms has left me agitated and sad, confused and dejected, angry and inspired.  The maelstrom of reaction to what is happening around us, near and far, wherever we are on this wonderful planet given to us to live on, forces me back to basics.  John echoing Genesis, puts it all in perspective.  The light is here for each one of us and has not and will never be put out or overcome by darkness and evil.

So, let us begin our time of prayer with thankfulness, trusting in the love and mercy of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

 

The peace of the Lord be with you always

 ALL: And also with you.

God of grace, we may not wish to follow in your steps or be open to your lead.  We separate ourselves from your support and healing.  Forgive us for all we have done or left undone, all we have said or left unsaid.   You call forth eagles to bend wings in adoration.  But there are times in life when we are unable to appreciate the gift of your creation in this world or in ourselves.  We name before you the secret seventh round of negotiations between the EU and the US to benefit transnational corporations at the expense of,  among other issues,  democracy, food safety, the environment and banking legislation. Already one Swedish company is suing the German government for business losses following their decision to close down all nuclear energy plants after the Fukushima reactor plant exploded in Japan.  There is the toll on human lives as well: the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the US, Canada and Mexico caused the loss of one million US jobs over 12 years, instead of the hundreds of thousands of extra jobs that were promised.

Lord let your light shine in the dark and secret places…

ALL: Let there be light.

Christ our Savior, sometimes we feel unable to walk with you.  We grow faint and exhausted with life.  Sometimes we want to give up.  We name before you the continuing devastation,  famine and war in South Sudan.  We also name the continuing war in Syria, Turkey, and Iraq, Afghanistan and on the Kashmiri border between Pakistan and India,  as well as pray for the 53 students who disappeared  in Mexico… The list could be endless.  But we do not despair.  Instead we join together and give thanks for all those courageous selfless people seeking to bring light, truth, hope and care where there is so little or none.

Lord let your light shine in the dark and secret places…

 ALL: Let there be light.

 Spirit of God, when we are weary and tired, unable to soar in the sky of life, we can look only to you for healing and renewed energy.  And so,
God of strength, thank you for your grace and forgiveness. Fill us with energy for each moment of life you give us. Help us to choose to trust you not just for this moment, but for the rest of our lives. Let Your light shine in our lives and illuminate with truth and love all that we seek to do as individuals, as communities and as states and we will acknowledge you as Lord, Creator and Redeemer of all.

AMEN

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, July 17, 2014

Precious Lord, take my hand,
Lead me on, let me stand,
I am tired, I am weak, I am worn;
Through the storm, through the night,
Lead me on to the light,
Take my hand, precious Lord,
Lead me home.

 

Even as we sing, even as we pray, Precious Lord, our thoughts turn to those for whom ‘home’ has become an uncertain and unsafe place, for whom ‘home’ is but a hope-filled dream. For those of us who know this place of safety and comfort, our minds strain to comprehend what its loss means to so many, and so we turn our thoughts and hearts and hope to them this day.

 

  • To all those in the path of Typhon Rammasun in the Pacific- the people of the Philippines who have already experienced its devastation and the people of coastal China, where its track is headed.

 

Have mercy, Lord, and lead them home.

 

  • To the 450 children in Zamora, Mexico, who have been removed from a children’s home because they have been subjected to sexual abuse and forced to beg on the streets by the very people who were to be caring for them.

 

Have mercy, Lord, and lead them home.

 

  • To the Palestinian people of Gaza, that ancient land, where the death tolls mount and 100,000 have been warned to leave their homes by the Israelis, in preparation for another bombardment.

 

Have mercy, Lord, and lead them home.

 

  • To the forty detainees on hunger strikes at the Bagram detention facility in Afghanistan, detained in secret by the American military, with no legal rights and whose families are kept in the dark about their whereabouts and condition.

 

Have mercy, Lord, and lead them home.

 

  • To those suffering with the soaring temperatures in England and Wales, on the eastern coast and southwest region of the United States.

 

Have mercy, Lord, and lead them home.

  • To the people of Syria, Ukraine, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gaza, where so many have been forced from their homes and the lives they have known, only to become homeless refugees in strange and often-hostile places.

 

Have mercy, Lord, and lead them home.

 

  • To the refugee children from Central America, fleeing violence and extreme poverty in their homelands, in the hope of a new home and welcome in the United States, only to be often met by hostility and anger and fear.

 

Have mercy, Lord, and lead them home.

 

  • To the United States Navy nurse who has risked his career and the animus of others by refusing to force-feed hunger strike prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

 

Have mercy, Lord, and lead them home.

 

  • To all of the countless others, unknown to us but surely known to you, Benevolent God: those who roam the streets of cities everywhere with no place to lay their heads and nowhere to call their home; those in the grip of dark depression who have lost all hope of ever having a meaningful life; and those of us who are so far removed from the suffering of our sisters and brothers that we remain oblivious to what is their everyday reality.

 

Have mercy, Lord, and lead them home

 

When the darkness appears
And the night draws near,
And the day is past and gone,
At the river I stand,
Guide my feet, hold my hand,
Take my hand, precious Lord,
Lead me home.

 

Lead us all, home, Precious Lord, lead us home. Amen

 

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, June 26, 2014

“I will create a pathway in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:19

Beloved Holy One,

Amidst the muted roar of nighttime and early morning traffic on highways, the stench of diesel and gasoline, the noise of human living, You are here. YOU ARE. Praise be!

Whatever our situation – in town, village, city, desert or on the high sea, in peacefulness or war – calm us, Lord, as you calmed the storm, and help us to rest in Your holiness and wholeness.

Be still, for the presence of the Lord, the holy One, is here;
Come bow before him now with reverence and fear
In him no sin is found we stand on holy ground.
Be still, for the presence of the Lord, the holy One, is here.

We read of war, and rumor of wars, in Syria, Iraq, Somalia, the West Bank, Egypt, Afghanistan, Ukraine, the sad litany seems endless as does the suffering of our brothers and sisters… Might as ever tries to inflict its right over all who differ from them … We name before you Meriam Ibrahim and her family currently released for a second time in Sudan and all who are suffering fear and persecution whatever their faith or none.

We hold before you in sorrow so many young people being deceived by false teachings to lose all sight of love, peace and compassion.

You are our suffering Lord and even in the darkest place, your inextinguishable Light and Love offers hope and release. Be very close to all who suffer in body, mind or spirit, and hear our soul-deep cry to lighten the darkness around so many of us.

Be still, for the glory of the Lord is shining all around;
He burns with holy fire, with splendour he is crowned
How awesome is the sight our radiant king of light!
Be still, for the glory of the Lord is shining all around.

Beloved Holy One, we give unbounded thanks and praise for so many unsung folk, young and old, rich and poor who unstintingly day in and day out love, care and enable so many others around them to survive and even develop their potential. Bless them, multiply their work so it becomes like an unstoppable tide of love and life throughout the world.

We give thanks for the beauty all around us, if we can only open our eyes to see, our ears to hear and our senses to perceive. My latest teacher is a small long-tailed bird who sings and goes ahead of me and seemingly checking I am following – every time I cut through the garden here at Burnham Abbey near Windsor, UK. This small house of prayer, beneath a flight path to Heathrow Airport, shines out like a beacon not due to its size but because each person here is seeking, however imperfectly, as are we all, to unite with Your heart.

May each one of us grow ever closer to You, today and all our todays however many or few they may be. Help us to become the persons You have created us to be in You, through You and for You.”

Be still, for the power of the Lord is moving in this place:
He comes to cleanse and heal, to minister his grace
– No work too hard for Him. In faith receive from him.
Be still, for the power of the Lord is moving in this place.

We ask this in and through the power of Your Holy Name, AMEN.

 

World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, June 19, 2014

Dearest One,

How can I ask forgiveness for letting a person die?
How can we ask forgiveness not just for ourselves, but for the whole world?  Not just for this moment in time, but for all of human history, for all lives to come?

Four sleeping homeless people were run over – apparently deliberately – by a truck in New Mexico, United States.  One died – a woman who liked to read, her friends said; the “guys” in the truck have not been caught.  In Paris, France, a lynch mob attacked a teenage Roma (Gypsy) boy, leaving him badly injured.

How can we, who were not in either of those places, ask forgiveness?  Dear God, what have we done, or left undone, that let this happen?

Last week, for the first time in human history, a global summit was held on ending sexual violence in conflict.  (In fact, it’s only been since World War II, that the international community generally accepted the concept of crimes of war.)

How can we ask forgiveness for the thousands of years, and regimes, and places where the horrors of war were taken for granted as part of the very nature of war?  How can we ask forgiveness for those who still glorify rape, pillage, murder, and terrorizing of non-combatants and children?  How can we ask – nay, plead – for those who have been raped to be given the grace of self-forgiveness?

The United Nations is appealing for more than $1 billion to aid South Sudan,  warning that tens of thousands of children affected by the past six months of civil war could die this year without this assistance.  In Myanmar, a senior U.N. official says she witnessed a level of human suffering she had never seen before in camps for some 140,000 stateless Muslim Rohingya. At least 50,000 Syrian refugee children in Lebanon are working, often in dire conditions and for 12 hours a day, to pay for food and shelter for their families. In Kenya, child labor and trafficking keep millions out of school.

God, how can we bear the burden of knowing this is going on, and of being powerless to stop it?  How can we look at our own children – and ask forgiveness that there are so many little ones who are not free to embrace learning and growing in health and safety and joy?

Iraq appears to be descending into civil war.  Afghanistan is increasingly unstable.  The Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda have both sent extra troops to their shared border after gunfire broke out, ending months of relative calm.  Hundreds of Pakistani families have fled from a surge of fighting between Pakistani government forces and militants into neighboring Afghanistan.

How can we ask forgiveness for not stepping in to end these conflicts?  How can we ask forgiveness for the damage done, when we do?  God, how can we ask forgiveness when we are still uncertain about what is right?

Dearest God, sometimes following you can be so unsettling, when all we want is peace.
Thank you…for consciences that make us ask questions like these.
Thank you…for allowing us to be uncomfortable, when there are no easy answers.
Thank you…for making us in your own image, longing to take every hurting person under our wings.

Thank you…just for being God.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, May 29, 2014

Go up to Gilead and take balm. — Jeremiah 46:11

“There is a Balm in Gilead” – American Spiritual

There is a balm in Gilead
To make the wounded whole;
There is a balm in Gilead
To heal the sin sick soul.

Some times I feel discouraged,
And think my work’s in vain,
But then the Holy Spirit
Revives my soul again.

There is a balm in Gilead
To make the wounded whole;
There is a balm in Gilead
To heal the sin sick soul.

If you can’t preach like Peter,
If you can’t pray like Paul,
Just tell the love of Jesus,
And say He died for all.

He won’t quit or give up until he brings justice everywhere on earth, and people in foreign nations long for his teaching.

I am the Lord God. I created the heavens like an open tent above. I made the earth and everything that grows on it. I am the source of life for all who live on this earth, so listen to what I say. I chose you to bring justice, and I am here at your side.  I selected and sent you to bring light and my promise of hope to the nations.
Isaiah 42:4-6   Contemporary English Version (CEV)

 Sometimes I feel discouraged hearing or reading the news…

  • The completely dishonorable “honor killing” of Farzana Parveen and her unborn baby outside Lahore High Court, Pakistan observed by police who took no action.
  • The 219 Nigerian school girls still held captive by Boko Haram terrorists.  We give thanks that it is claimed another 57 girls have managed to escape their captivity.
  • The election of right wing racists in France to the European Parliament, and increasing loss of confidence in mainstream parties in several other European countries, including the UK
  • Yet another multiple slaying by a troubled young man in California, USA

God of Love, remove our blinkered vision, unblock our plugged up ears, and melt our stony hearts so we will love as You love us.

  •  the continuing violence in so many countries including the Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, Mexico…
  • the women and girls marginalised and oppressed merely because of their gender even suffering death
  • the overlooked in our society – the homeless, those seeking but unable to find work, those without meaning in their life, those ill in body, mind or spirit and the often very limited resources available to those seeking to help alleviate these “unsexy” issues… As though value relies on perceived “sexiness”…

God of Love, remove our blinkered vision, unblock our plugged up ears, and melt our stony hearts so we will love as You love us.

Give us the courage to face our fears which so often cause us to have knee-jerk reactions to defend what is often indefensible:

  • fear of someone next to us with a different language, culture and perhaps skin color
  • fear of loneliness, weakness and vulnerability and most especially that which we dare not mention – death
  • fear of economic meltdown, violence, difference in so many forms which often makes us aggressive and uncaring of others as we protect ourselves and those whom we know and love

Remind us again and again, Lord, and bring us up short when we want to ignore these difficulties that this is part of our need for wholeness.  We cannot be whole if any are excluded, or marginalized or oppressed or suffering injustice.  You call us to wholeness in You.

God of Love, you came for each and every person to whom You have given life.  Take us up into the mystery of your redemptive will, so that aggression, anger and fear can be dissolved in the incomprehensible transforming action of agape-love.  Bring to birth reconciliation and peace, where currently there is intransigence and hatred. Remind us through Your Holy Spirit that You died and rose again for all. No exclusions! No-one is a nobody in Your eyes. So, how can we dare to think otherwise?

In Jesus Name, we pray.  AMEN.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, April 3, 2014

In the presence of our Creator, we seek renewal, wisdom, and inspiration.
In the presence of our Beloved, we bring our true selves, our desires, and our fears.
In the presence of the Holy Mystery, let us gather our hearts in prayer.

O Beautiful Presence, open our eyes to all that surrounds us so that we may walk through each day with mindful hearts and grace-filled words. Open our ears to your whispers so that our thoughts and actions may reflect your love. Release us, we pray, of all that bogs us down so we can be your light and your love in the world.

Holy God, we are saddened by the pain and suffering in our world. In solidarity with all who seek your healing and your grace, we offer you our prayers.

We hold in prayer:

  • all who have lives have been touched by the earthquake in Chile.
  • all who have been affected by the deadly Ebola outbreak in Guinea which is said to be an epidemic of an unprecedented scale.
  • the civilians and attackers who died in a suicide bombing in north-east Nigeria.
  • the people in the Ukraine.
  • the people in the Middle East.
  • the people of Washington State in the USA who were killed in a mudslide.
  • the African and European leaders who are meeting in Brussels to work for peace in the Central African Republic.
  • for those killed outside a ministry building in the Afghan capital of Kabul.
  • for those killed and those wounded by bombs that went off near Cairo University.
  • for those traumatized again by an active shooter on the Ft. Hood military base in Texas (USA).
  • and we pray for those whose needs are known to you alone.

Merciful God, grant all who suffer your healing peace.
Compassionate God, grant all who are able the courage and the resources to work for peace.
Faithful God, grant us the grace to bring your warmth and justice to light this day.
In the name of Love we pray. Amen.

 

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, March 20th 2014

 

 

Thursday, March 20th 2014

“If God is your co-pilot, swap seats!” (cartoon)

“Purity does not come in separation from but in deeper penetration into the Universe … Bathe yourself in the ocean of matter; plunge into it where it is deepest and most violent; struggle in its currents and drink its water.  For it cradled you long ago in your preconscious existence: and it is the ocean that will raise you up to God.”
Teilhard de Chardin “Hymn of the Universe”

 Jesus said to her (the Samaritan woman at the well), “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”
John 4: 13 – 14

 So many stories in the news this week seem to center on the in-crowd and those marginalized in so many societies and situations. This reflects the gospel story of Jesus’ remarkable extended conversation at the public well with the Samaritan woman whose sexual behavioral choices has cast her out to the margins of her society.  Jesus chose not to conform to the accepted patterns of behavior by not only speaking with her in public, but engaging in deep and frank conversation with her, expressing God’s love for each person regardless of their nationality, gender or history and pointing the way to a truly fulfilled and purposeful life.

 Come Lord, come light, come love.
Come down,
Come in,
Come among us.

 Lord, we so often want to play it safe, to be approved of by others, not to rock the boat too much – fearful of ostracism and the consequences of being excluded and marginalized. Help us to discern what we should do according to what is right in Your eyes, and so worship you in spirit and in truth in our actions and daily choices of living… But give us grace and humility as well as integrity and strength of purpose, and fill us with your light and love…

 Come Presence, come peace, come power.
Come down,
Come in,
Come among us.

 We pray for all those from many countries still waiting for news of their missing relatives and friends on the missing Malaysian Airlines flight… for those involved in the search … for compassionate treatment of those stuck in the quicksand of not-knowing the fate of their loved ones . . .

Those facing uncertainty through the planned mega-dams on the Brahmaputra both in Tibet and India which could cause untold consequences for millions…

The flooding of the Mid-West of the USA with very cheap heroin smuggled in from Mexico . . .We pray for protection of the thousands of young teenagers trying it and becoming hooked. . .

The carnage in Syria, the Central African Republic, Afghanistan, Iraq, the unrest in Ukraine, Crimea, Brazil, Taipei, and so many other countries. . .

 Come Grace, come glory, come goodness.
Come down,
Come in,
Come among us.

We pray for all those fighting corruption wherever it is found:

Charges placed against President Zuma of South Africa, some senior politicians in China, a few policemen in the UK, allegations of bribery and corruption in so many sporting fields and organizations.

We give thanks for so many quietly working often without publicity to try and bring reconciliation, justice and peace rather than war, bitterness and brokenness. . .

We give thanks for those courageously blowing the whistle on what so many try to keep hidden…

We give thanks for millions in the UK involved in so many events this week for Sport Relief to help people improve their own lives in the UK and throughout the world.  We especially give thanks for the children and young people who give of their time, energy and creativity to try and help others in so many ways in all our communities.

 Come Creator, come Redeemer, come Strengthener.
Come down,
Come in,
Come among us.

 Help us, Lord, to get down and dirty in the often messy confusion of our lives and those of our neighbors both in our own communities and far away… Remind us daily to have You as our Pilot and not co-pilot! That we may do everything we can to make sure everyone has clean water to drink and to know they are loved by You.  Use us as Your hands, your touch, your channel of love, healing and peace. . .

 Come Father, come Son, come Spirit.
Come down,
Come in,
Come among us.
                                             David Adam “Border Lands”

 AMEN