Afghanistan – Page 4

World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs. Sept. 10, 2015

Go down, Moses, way down in Egypt land. Tell all Pharaohs to, “let My people go.”

Oh God, our God, and God of every suffering refugee, we join in prayer to ask for the wisdom and the courage to name the pharaohs that make life intolerable for so many people in the world. We recognize that:

for lack of safety,
for lack of opportunity,
for lack of basic life essentials,
for lack of food,
for lack of water,
for lack of political representation,
for lack of leadership without corruption,

thousands and millions of people are driven to abandon the homes they’ve known. They are driven to risk their own lives. They are even driven to risk the lives of their children.

We pray for the situations in Syria, in Afghanistan, in Eritrea, in Nigeria, in Pakistan, in Somalia, in Iraq, in Sudan, in Bangladesh, and in Gambia, countries that as of this week have produced 90% of the refugees who have crossed the Mediterranean Sea seeking refuge. We have seen the inadequate craft that have carried them. We have seen how overloaded the boats are. We know that thousands have died mainly by drowning in the attempt to escape. We pray for the other places in the world where the local pharaohs make life intolerable and drive people to attempt the indescribable.

When Israel was in Egypt land oppressed so hard they could not stand, you sent Moses to thunder, “Let My people go.”

In some manner we pray you send us to condemn the intolerable, to demand that those who enjoy the titles and the perquisites of leadership stop cynically trying to find narrow advantage in manipulating suffering. We ask that rich nations, especially, use their wealth wisely both to mitigate the problems that create refugees and to provide safe destinations at the end of their awful journeys.

We have seen brutal responses from governments, from individuals, from communities, and sometimes from ourselves. We pray for a larger vision and a larger compassion. We pray that we live in the expectation that we must explain what we were doing when these things happened. We must explain to ourselves and to our children and to theirs as well as to the refugees themselves and their children and theirs.

We pray that we may be able to relate how we were part of the many thousands who have responded with generosity like the Icelanders who have declared a 12,000 household willingness to harbor refugees, like the German government whose declared capacity to house refugees staggers the imagination, like the NGOs and individuals who have ramped up ongoing efforts or creatively initiated new ones.

Thus spoke the Lord, bold Moses said, “Let My people go. If not I’ll smite, your firstborns dead.” We pray for our personal ability and for the world’s ability to understand that how we welcome the strangers, that refugees are forced to become, declares what kind of people we are.

We pray that one way or another we remember the messianic utterance, “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” When we vote, when we write checks, when we donate or help collect donations, we pray we remember.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 6, 2015

Today is the 70th anniversary of the atomic bomb dropping on Hiroshima, and three days later over Nagasaki. At a ceremony to mark the anniversary, which included Caroline Kennedy, U.S. Ambassador, Mr. Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan, said “Seventy years on I want to re-emphasize the necessity of world peace.” The Church of England published this prayer.

Today, as the United States congress debates a nuclear deal with Iran we remember how many times the world has been embroiled in a “war to end all wars” and we recognize that negotiation and diplomacy might end war in our time but undoubtedly not forever.

Today we hear that up to 200 migrants, crossing the Mediterranean Sea in an overloaded fishing boat, drowned when it overturned. Fleeing murder, violence, war, and trying to find a better life, this sea is rapidly becoming a mass graveyard not a route to mass peace and contentment.

Today, it is highly likely that wreckage now washing up on Reunion Island is from missing Flight MH370. What must be in the minds of the grieving relatives, especially those who think they are, once again, being misled? Are they expecting only news of violence, terror, and the backlash of war.

Today we hear a fence is being erected around Hungary. As if the Berlin Wall had not fallen; as if the Israeli wall of separation hasn’t taught us enough.

Today there are terror attacks in Gaza, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia; the world is obsessed with violence. Today, whatever the day, the good news never makes the headlines, only the evil that is done.

Today we hear that a deep el nino event might be building – but does this make headlines? Something of the glory and might of a powerful earth event returning to the Pacific.

Today we hear that, possibly, the “world’s biggest coal mine” in Queensland is put on hold following a court case. So that of the glory of the Australian barrier reef is retained.

Today and in the week ahead the Perseid meteor shower displays something of the glory of the heavens.

Today a little more of the interaction between the San Andreas and San Jacinto earthquake causing faults have been understood, displaying a little more of the glory of the interconnectedness of our world.

Today – the world is full of glory; full of violence; ever-changing and forever our world.

Ever-changing God, you have seen our constant obsessions – the reveling in violence and the demand for a war to end all wars – bringing peace in our time. You have seen how we yet seek to understand more of the environment of our planet beneath our feet and above our heads. All the wonder and the glory we see revealed are only reflections of your glory; all the violence we see is but a shadow of what your might would do if you unleashed it on earth. May we tremble at your glory and fall before your might so that our world and all that is in it will know peace in our time – even if just for today.

Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, July 23, 2015

Do we believe we are made in the image of God, or is our God made in our very finite image?” –Rhoda C. Martin

“God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.
Glory to God in the church!
Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus!
Glory down all the generations!
Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes!” (Eph 3: 20 – 21 The Message)

“Give your gift, whatever it is, great or small – God will bless and use it…” Anon.

God, creator of us all, who breathed life into each one of us, forgive us when our narrowness of understanding of you and your heart leads to our spreading hatred, abuse and negativity about people who are our brothers and sisters. As Jesus suffered and died from this outpouring, so others die today throughout the world.

We grieve and remember the homosexual men murdered by ISIL and others for their sexual orientation, the women and children abused by men who think they count for nothing, and others in positions of influence and power such as in the United Kingdom, India, Iran, Afghanistan, Chile, and so many other countries who prevent the perpetrators from being held accountable. We pray for honesty and openness where all such events are being investigated.

Lord, bring justice for the oppressed and change the hearts of the oppressors.

As Jesus gave thanks and taught us to follow his example, we offer our gratitude for those who continue to respond to the needs of those–often our neighbors–who lack food and basic provisions. We give thanks for the many throughout the world still helping those in Nepal and other areas of natural disaster to rebuild homes and schools, planting crops for food. Often this starts from one or two in local communities setting up small fund-raising projects and, in turn, inspiring others to look outwards and join in.

Lord, give us eyes to see how much we have to be thankful for.

Remembering how Jesus, Mary and Joseph fled for their lives and became refugees, we give thanks for those who, despite terrible strain and difficulties, continue welcoming the homeless, stateless and refugees. Strengthen these fleeing from danger and violence or from economic deprivation and the lack of basic clean water and sanitation. When we take going to our place of worship for granted, remind us that for so many, it could cost them their lives.

Lord, help us to be compassionate and caring for the vulnerable and weak. Grow us to be passionate about tackling the issues which force so many to flee their homes.

Lord, help us to remember we, small as we are as individuals, are made to live in community with each other and you and to be channels of your love, grace and power. Help us not to be afraid of the endless possibilities living our lives open to your grace entails, and instead of wanting to fix everything according to our own understanding, help us to be whom You want us and have created us to be, thereby enabling the transforming power of your Spirit to flow through us into your world. Lord, let there be light, love and peace rather than darkness, hatred and violence. In your name we ask it, Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., July 16, 2015

“Be still, and know that I am God!
I am exalted among the nations,
I am exalted in the earth.”

-Psalm 46:10 (NRSV)

In the midst of the tasks of life, the busy-ness, the rush, the never-ending to-do lists, it is easy to lose sight of you, O God. Still us now, so that we may hear your voice. Calm the storms in our lives so that we may see your kingdom, even as it slowly creeps through the cracks and crevices of our lives.

Help us to know that you are God:

even as four United States Marines were killed on US soil, and as countless others lost their lives around the world, never to make headlines
as peace talks in Afghanistan gain the support of Taliban leader Mullah Omar
even as at least 33 people have been killed in on-going terror attacks in Nigeria
as officials in France were able to thwart an alleged terror plot
as Iran and the US have come to a historic agreement, signaling the hope for a peaceful future

In our stillness we seek to understand where you are working, Divine Trinity. We long to see you exalted in our nations, and in the earth. Until that day, we rest in knowing that you are God. And we wait, and we watch. We wait, and we watch until the dawn of your kingdom…

Amen

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, April 30, 2015

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
– Romans 12: 12

I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding; I
will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding.
-1 Cor 14: 14 – 16

Pray continually
– 1 Thessalonians 5: 17

Prayer Tree
Prayer gives us rootedness,
Reaching out …
Discovering in darkness
Sources of nourishment;
Pushing with patient insistence
Against obstacles;
Drawing from strange places
Strength for life that
Grows in light;
Holding us as we bend,
And when we break, offering
Hope, that from the
Unimaginable dark,
New shoots will spring.

Ann Lewin in “Watching for the Kingfisher” (2009)

And so we pray for

the thousands in Nepal, India, and Afghanistan struggling to deal with the devastating aftermath of the massive earthquake with more anticipated
the continuing exodus pf peoples from the Middle East and North and Sub-Saharan Africa who face violence, hunger, disease and loss of life as they seek refuge
the unresolved hostility and violence between police and black/ minority groups in the USA, especially in Baltimore following riots protesting the violent death of Freddie Gray within an hour of his arrest
the continuing drug war in Mexico, giving thanks that drug-related murders are significantly down for the third year in a row, well as news of the largest seizure in British history of 3 tons of cocaine off the shores of Scotland with 9 Turkish men arrested
Malala Yousafzai and her work promoting education for girls and women and 10 men jailed for life in Pakistan after attempting to murder her in 2012
Thousands having to evacuate their homes and farms after Chile’s Calbuco volcano erupts again, even as the forecast of heavy rain threaten more destruction through mudslides.

We give thanks for

The eradication of Rubella (German Measles) from North and South America – the first region of the world to achieve this – who have reported no home-grown cases for 5 years.
The fun and joy of thousands of percussionists of all ages gathered in Peru to break the Guinness World Record for playing the cajon
The progress Mark Jacobsen and others have made at Stanford, USA to devise quiet, small, light weight drones capable of flying up to 100 km to drop 1 or 2 kg of food or medicines to places beyond human help in Syria.
The 460 Nigerian captives rescued from Boko Haram camps, while still praying for the 300 schoolgirls who are still missing.
The massive 50% reduction in child and maternal mortality rates in Rwanda over the last 15 years despite its poverty and unstable political climate

Lord, teach us to pray with our spirit, our understanding, our soul, our mind and the way we live so that “your will may be done on earth as it is in heaven.” AMEN

World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, April 9, 2015

Loving God,

we pray for the opportunity to join you in the work of creation. The Bible declares that creation occurred first with light, when the world was full of emptiness and disorder. We look around and see disorder of our own time:

in the United States, we are shocked by the cell phone recording of a white policeman gunning down a fleeing black man, especially when we compare it to the reports which the officer and others filed. We had hoped we could trust the agencies of law enforcement.

in Afghanistan, someone dressed as a soldier (was he a soldier?) shot and killed one and wounded others, this incident occurring shortly after a significant diplomatic visit. What was the purpose? Who was the real target?

in Kenya, widespread grief follows the murderous attack on Christians at Garissa University. When did religious identity become a way to identify victims instead of unifying your children?

All these events and many others empty our families, our societies, ourselves, and our world. Our need to join in the work of creation is all too evident.

But hovering in concern over all that needed to be filled and brought in order, you first created light. Even today light is still being created. We see light, light that we pray that together with you, we may call “good”:

in the possibility that the discussion and diplomacy may replace war and war profiteering in Iran and throughout the Middle East.

in robust conversations in public and private spheres in the United States undertaken in the hope that a larger justice, a more loving kindness, and a deeper humility may inform the entire nation.

in Cuba and the United States as they continue to plan steps of rapprochement in upcoming meetings in Panama.

We pray for light in our hearts and minds. We pray for light to see our way into a future that has less discrimination, less poverty, and less injustice.

The light of resurrection stirs Christians in this Easter season. The light of Passover liberation inspires Jews. The light of possibility shines for all your children throughout the world, dear God. Give us strength to follow the light as it leads us forward. Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, February 26, 2015

“In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.” – John 14:2-4 (NRSV)

God of all places, God of all times,
we come to you today,
travelers in your world.

Sometimes we are far from home,
strangers in a strange land,
mystified by the myriad of new sights, sounds, smells and experiences.

And we realize that we are always traveling,
experiencing this world, which is not our home,
with all its sights and sounds and wonders.

We continue to journey, explore, enjoy,
and yet,
we long for our home with you, God.

We are thankful, Gracious One,
that you do not leave us alone, abandoned, forsaken.
Rather you walk with us, on the mountaintops and in the valleys.

We are thankful for stories of hope, like:

a young woman from the United States, who travels, taking pictures to give to people who might not otherwise ever have a photo of their child, mother, father, or grandparent
the news that Liberia has reopened its borders and relaxed curfews, signs that the threat of Ebola is diminishing
the joy of seeing young men and women learn, grow, and mature

We offer to you stories of heart-break, like:

the families who are grieving the deaths of their loved ones as a result of avalanches in Afghanistan
the families of those who died at the hands of a gunman in a restaurant in the Czech Republic, and for the family of the gunman who took his own life
the sorrow of young boys and girls sold into slavery and war around the world

We offer to you, O God, this world that is not our home,
with its joys and heartaches, triumphs and sorrows.
Sustain us as we travel this earth, until you call us to our true home.

Amen.

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.