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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.

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, April 4, 2019

“Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing…” ~ Isaiah 43: 18 – 19a. (NIV)

“For now my place is in him, and I am not dependent upon any of the self-achieved righteousness of the Law. God has given me that genuine righteousness which comes from faith in Christ. How changed are my ambitions! Now I long to know Christ and the power shown by his resurrection:

….I leave the past behind and with hands outstretched to whatever lies ahead I go straight for the goal—my reward the honor of being called by God in Christ. “

~Philippians 3: 8-10, 13b -14. (J.B. Phillips New Testament)

Thank you, Holy One, for giving us such promise and hope. You have told us repeatedly throughout history and scattered throughout the scriptures, that you are calling us forward to new life, new beginnings, new ways of being and doing – in You, for You, through You. Yet as ever, we are mired in the trappings of the familiar, however pleasant or unpleasant, and fear of change holds us back. As we reflect on our shortcomings whether personal, national or international, help us to admit our crippling fears and failures, to throw ourselves on Your everlasting mercy and loving forgiveness. Then lead us to a new way of thinking, being and relating to each other and especially to You.

Holy One, hear our cries.

Change and fear of change is sweeping through so many of our countries ]including Algeria, Venezuela, Canada, the UK, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Japan. Authoritarianism and seeing everything and everyone in binary terms increases fear, division and hopelessness. Open the eyes and ears of each one of us, to listen to the stories of others, discerning our common humanity rather than focusing on perceived and often illusory fears born out of ignorance and conjecture. You are the Creator of all and when you looked on it you saw that it was all VERY good. How then can we despise, belittle and denigrate people you have created?

Holy One, open us to Your understanding of this world by the inflowing of Your Holy Spirit.

The darkness swirling around is almost overwhelming: when a “game” is made widely available to play act as a sociopathic Rapist; when the Sultan of Brunei implements this week Sharia law where a first offence of burglary will result in a hand amputation; where LGBT love is to merit stoning to death; when government agencies in so many of our countries arbitrarily operate outside the law: protect all who shine the light of justice, truth and righteousness.

Holy One, lighten our darkness and help us to individually choose to follow Your will and way. By Your Spirit, enable us to be channels of Your love, light and grace.

We give thanks for all working quietly and often without mention to make the lives of others better, to ease loneliness and the sense of being marginalized and unwanted. You saw that all that you made was VERY good. We give thanks for the women in Madagascar marginalized and ostracized for having obstetric fistulas following prolonged labor without medical intervention who, having received free treatment, are helping others break the taboo of getting help. Also those from the divided communities of Turkish and Greek Cypriots using a building in buffer zone to reunite a bitterly divided island. We give thanks that for all the efforts meeting the continuing desperate needs of communities devastated by natural disasters on all Continents.

Holy One, may we become one as You are one – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. To this You have called us. AMEN.

marginalised and ostracised for having obstetric fistulas following prolonged labour without medical intervention who having received free treatment are helping others break the taboo of getting help. Also those from the divided communities of Turkish and Greek Cypriots using a building in buffer zone to reunite a bitterly divided island. We give thanks that for all the efforts meeting the continuing desperate needs of communities devastated by natural disasters on all Continents.

Holy One, may we become one as You are one – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. To this You have called us. AMEN.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, March 7, 2019

“Safe in the shadow of the Lord

beneath His hand and power,

I trust in Him,

my fortress and my tower.”

– paraphrase of Ps 91 by Timothy Dudley-Smith

Heavenly Father, Your word and being is of compassion, merciful care and everlasting love to all, regardless of merit. The response to this has to be our choice. But, if we come choosing to trust You in your nature and openly admit with contrition where we have fallen short or turned away from You, Your everlasting mercy erases our failures and unites us with Your heart. We long for this acceptance and healing.

Lord, I trust in You and give thanks and praise.

“My hope is set on God alone though Satan sets his snare,”…

The temptation to be obsessed by becoming “successful” and gaining material wealth and power too often based on exploiting others and the world You have created is seen as being mainstream and so seductive. We think of our cheap, instant fashion created by people in sweat shops; our flowers often out of season grown in developing countries using chemicals not allowed in our own home states; cheap palm oil at the expense of deforestation and loss of habitat for wildlife and endangering the ecosystem of the entire planet. Our rubbish, whether technical, plastic, or ships and vehicles, dumped overseas where they are stripped by people in desperate need of work, often in very dangerous conditions, and contaminating their environment.

Lord, open our eyes to the convenience of our lives so dearly paid for by others we don’t see or rarely think of. But, these too are our brothers and sisters, created and loved by You.

I choose to trust in You, God, to keep each one of us in Your care and make us more aware of how we are co-dependent one on each other, regardless of where we live on this small, beautiful, but fragile planet.

“From fears and phantoms of the night, from foes about my way”…

The widespread use of violence in word, attitude, and action wounds, marginalizes, and even kills people. Anything that is “other” than what we are is portrayed as being negative and even not worthy of being allowed to exist. We remember people of faith being persecuted for being Christian in Pakistan, Syria, Somalia, Northern Nigeria, Iraq and even in Europe and the UK if people of other faiths chose to become Christian; for those Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Jehovah Witnesses and others who are routinely targeted by hatred and thoughtless violence in word and action and even torture in Russia, the US, Canada, Australia, the UK and many countries in Africa, South America and Asia. Our fear of difference and love of the same as ourselves distorts so often into ugliness and hatred of others.

We give thanks for projects, such as that led by Dr. Paula Green in Massachusetts, USA, bringing people together from across whichever divide exists in our communities for conflict resolution. Helping to put faces to the depersonalized hate or feared group of people, and to really listen to each other are major starting points.

I choose to trust in You, God, by darkness and by day. Forgive us our smallness of mind, heart and understanding and open us by the in-pouring of Your Holy Spirit.

“His holy angels keep my feet secure from every stone;”…

Fake news abounds throughout the media and the world, built on fears and trying to cause division and confusion. In Venezuela, Israel, the Middle East, Europe the UK and Northern Ireland over Brexit; countries, politicians, multinational companies trying to manipulate others through media disinformation and lies, breaking down trust, increasing the sense of helplessness and hopelessness in so many: we recall the Chinese telecoms corporation, Huawei, Facebook, Twitter, most major newspaper groups in the UK, and so many of our own governments who are involved in this to varying degrees. We give thanks for the individuals and groups daring to challenge, often at great personal cost, even of their lives, and hold to account those perpetrating such destructive practices. You are the God of truth, justice and what we rarely speak about now, “righteousness”.

I choose to trust in You, God, and with Your help, unafraid go on. Keep hope alive for all those who look and trust in You so others too may come to know You and Your love.

“Strong in the everlasting name, and in my Father’s care”…

The widespread epidemic of violence of gun and knife crime, and using sex as a weapon of violence is destroying lives and communities throughout the world but with especial focus on India, Canada, the UK, the USA, South Africa, and the Middle East.

We give thanks for many initiatives both at national and local levels to combat this globally including Boston, USA as far back as 1995, inspiring others in Scotland and now England.

I choose to trust in You, God, who hears and answers prayer.

Daily, let our prayer be that in all we seek to be and do as individuals and communities, we choose to be safe in the shadow of You, our Lord, our God and Redeemer. Possessed by Your divine love, help us to trust in You and meet Your unfathomable love with our puny and sometimes swithering love and, so, be participants in transforming and transfiguring all of Your Creation of which we are part. Power in Your terms is Love. May we become people of such power. 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, August 23, 2018

God of compassion

God of green earth and snow
God of darkness
And illumination
God of new things
And of things torn apart
God of waters and maker of dry land
God of tender souls clinging
God in this moment and across all sunrises and the universe

Help us to understand our place in this troubled world, this vast and complex mystery. We ask for a deepening of our caring for our neighbor.

Be with the people of Kerala, India, with nearly 800,000 living in 4,000 emergency relief camps. Sustain them as monsoons continue to cause massive flooding, landslides, and strain resources. Be with rescue teams as they move people to safety. Support community leaders as they discern where to turn their attention in this catastrophe – to straining dams, deforested areas, impassable roads and railways. Comfort those who mourn the over 350 dead and missing.

Bring comfort to the people of Ghazni, Afghanistan, under siege as war continues. Be with those fleeing, those in harm’s way and those unable to leave. Have mercy on the suffering and be with those who have lost over 400 loved ones. Comfort those in the Shia neighborhood of Dasht-e-Barchi who mourn the 34 people killed in a suicide bomb attack in front of the education center in Kabul. Bring relief to the injured and those who mourn as a cease-fire offer receives further rocket launches, killings and abductions.

Come Holy Spirit, walk the streets of Pacaraima, Brazil, as residents are attacking migrant encampments of people fleeing Venezuela. Open the borders of our hearts to recognition of the universal need for a home.

Care for your people in Indonesia and especially on the quaking island of Lombok. Landslides, unstable and stressed buildings, people moved to living in tents, so much loss in this catastrophe. We ask for your compassion for those who mourn for the dead, 436 and rising. Sustain the hearts and hands of those who rescue and tend.

Teach us to love in powerful ways, in earnest ways that speak out against malice, prejudice and injustice. Bring wisdom, right action and compassion during the unprecedented worldwide displacement of over 68.5 million people. Protect and sustain the 44,000 people newly displaced today and each day around the world. Open the hearts of those who want to deny refugees a place of safety – in the US, for example, where President Trump’s administration is rumored to be considering a second sharp reduction in the number of refugees who can be resettled in the country.

Be with the people of Assam, India, as their leaders sort citizens from non-citizens. Help us to grow in humanity, called insaniyat in Hindi.

Sustain the teams who courageously work at the wildfire front lines day and night, with nearly 2 million acres burning in the US and 2,500 hectares in Canada, with yet more fires around the world, from The Great Dividing Range, Australia, to the coast of Greece. Comfort those who flee waiting to return uncertain of what they will find. Bring strength to those involved in the longer-term care, as overwhelming anxiety and grief is sorted and sense made of loss. Protect the wildlife. Protect us all from the consequences of the ashes spreading through the atmosphere, even to places distant from the fires themselves.

Holy Spirit come beside us. May we speak words that offer dignity and R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Inspire us even in these times of dread to make a joyful noise and walk in your light.

God of Love
God of fields and harvests
Of clouds, rivers and forests
God of night
And of broad noonday
God of the broken, sick and near death
God of the healed
God in this moment and across all sunsets and the universe
We call to you with these prayers for the people.

Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 2, 2018

On God alone I wait silently;
God my deliverer, God my strong tower.
Paraphrase from Ps. 62, John L. Bell*

When all efforts have been made to cope with natural disasters:
the earthquake in Lombok, Indonesia;
the wildfires in California, USA, Sweden, Siberia, Russian Federation, Greece,
water shortages in Yemen, the UK, Syria, Kenya;

On God alone I wait silently; God my deliverer, God my strong tower.

When people are exhausted from the struggles against injustice and terror:
those forced to care for the children of imprisoned gang members in El Salvador;
the Zimbabweans fearing their Presidential election has been hijacked again;
refugees in the US, Sweden, the European Union, Canada, India, Bangladesh, Turkey, Australia and so many other countries;

On God alone I wait silently; God my deliverer, God my strong tower.

When people seek to care for their fellow human beings in need:
Maria Makrogianni (Mama Maria) of Samos, Greece, still feeding refugees from
home having been forced to close her restaurant due to threats on her life;
firefighters (including prisoners) and people of all faiths and none helping those
burned out in Shasta County, California US;
all who act as care givers (paid or unpaid), medics, police, firefighters,
those who keep our communities clean and safe, often with little thanks;

On God alone I wait silently; God my deliverer, God my strong tower.

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; and we believe you have
a purpose for every season, even the waiting one.

On God alone I wait silently; God my deliverer, God my strong tower. Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, July 5, 2018

This week’s prayers are adapted, with permission, from a prayer written for U.S. Independence Day 2018 by Leslie Barnes Scoopmire.

(Inspired by the Preamble to the United States Constitution)

In peace, we pray to You, Lord, God:
from our rising to our resting
we give You thanks and praise for all your blessings.

We give you thanks for the 12 boys and their coach found alive after being trapped in a cave in Thailand by rising waters, for the divers who reached them with food and supplies, for all who are working to rescue them, and for the millions throughout the world who have held them in prayer during the search.
We give you thanks for the breakthrough in-vitro fertilization technique that may save the Northern White Rhino species – now down to two surviving females and no living males– from extinction; for all the gifts of this Earth, and all who work to protect and preserve them.

May we seek to form a more perfect union
with You and with each other,
loving our neighbors as ourselves,
sharing each other’s burdens,
seeking to relieve each other’s wants.

We pray for an end to the posturing and tit-for-tatting in the tariff wars started by U.S. President Donald Trump against Mexico, Canada, China and the European Union. We pray for sanity, caution, compassion and courage among U.S. leaders as Trump threatens to pull out of the World Trade Organization and violate its rules with impunity. We pray for all whose livelihoods are at stake.
We give thanks that all 329 municipalities in Bangladesh have agreed to join the United Nation’s Making Cities Resilient Campaign. Low-lying, densely populated Bangladesh is one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries, hit every year by cyclones that are becoming more frequent and more intense due to climate change. The UN Campaign will develop local action plans and improve infrastructures to prepare for disasters.

May we establish true justice as our foundation,
justice that builds and creates
rather than subjugates and destroys,
and work for an end to oppression, poverty, and prejudice,
remembering always the many mercies
we ourselves have received.

We pray for those who would want to make national criticism illegal. We pray for Poland, which has reduced the penalties in its controversial law against accusing the Polish nation of complicity in the Holocaust. In response to international pressures, jail time is no longer among the penalties.
We pray for the five people killed in a shooting at the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, Md. (U.S.), and for the courage and commitment of the remaining staff in getting out that day’s newspaper anyway. We pray for the countries where a free press is banned, for those who spread fake news and inflame the public against the media, and for all truth-seekers and truth-tellers everywhere.
We pray for the day when ethics will outweigh profit-making in every business venture. We give thanks that Kenya’s public prosecutor has ordered the arrest of two farm managers and several government officials over a dam which collapsed and killed more than 47 people in May. The dam had been constructed by unqualified staff and also broke environmental laws.
We pray for the day when compassion will universally be valued more highly than conformity. We pray for North Korea, where a high-ranking military officer was executed for giving out extra rice and corn rations to his troops.

May we ensure tranquility
by defending and protecting each other
in compassion and mercy,
that true liberty may be a blessing for all
grounded in our common life together.

We pray for the success of the peace agreement signed this week between South Sudan and rebels, where the past five years of fighting have displaced one in three South Sudanese from their homes. We pray that the promised ceasefire holds, that safe passage is indeed provided through which food, water and medicines can reach those in desperate need.
We pray that Russia, the U.S., and Jordan will use their influence to broker an immediate end to the fighting in southwest Syria – as they did last in persuading the Syrian government and rebels to create a de-escalation zone along the Jordanian border.
We pray for the eventual safe home-coming for the Rohingya people, still trapped in exile in the no-man’s-land between Myanmar and Bangladesh. U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres visited the camps earlier this week, hearing “unimaginable” accounts of atrocities.

May we work for the welfare of all
by giving of ourselves in unity, gentleness, and sacrifice,
rooted in God’s love,
grounded in the call to welcome and protect
those who turn to us for help or refuge,
and protecting the least among us always.

We pray for those whose homelands are no longer a place of safety. We pray for those from Africa trying to reach Europe, for those from South and Central America trying to reach the United States, for the many refugees trying to find someplace – anyplace – where they will be welcome.
We pray for the countries in the European Union that have reached a deal in principle on how to handle African refugees and migrants, but differ sharply on the implementation details, with no country yet willing to set up the “secure migrant processing centers” called for in the agreement.
We pray for the families separated by the U.S. “zero-tolerance” policies against would-be immigrants and asylum seekers. We pray for the children – some as young as toddlers – expected to represent themselves in immigration court.
We pray for all who have settled into new countries, only to find that those, too, are not places of safety. We pray for the 3-year-old refugee in Boise, Idaho (U.S.) who died after a man with an extensive criminal background stabbed her, five other children and three adults at her birthday party. We pray for all migrants who face distrust and anger, and all who harbor suspicion and hatred towards them. We pray for all who want to live together in peace.

May we secure the blessings of life, liberty, and happiness
and free ourselves
from all that chains us-
fear,
want,
suspicion,
jealousy,
division,
injustice-
and fully embrace and celebrate each other
in all our diversity.

Bless us and keep us, O God,
that we may dwell in peace, equality, and security all our days. AMEN

World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., April 26, 2018

“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” ~ 1 John 4:7

“Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.” ~ 1 John 4:20-21

Beloved One, it is all about love. You are Love beyond our understanding, beyond limit, merciful and creating. Truly all things come from You. You give us life and all that we have and set us free to use our will, given by you, to choose whether to grow towards You in learning the depths and challenges, joys and sorrows of loving. Alternatively the choice is ours to assume Your position of God and make all decisions without love based on self-interest and power. Our ego reigns supreme and brokenness ensues.

Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy.

You call us to love as shown in Jesus the Christ by his life and being the Word from before Creation. Yet we so often choose which parts to hear or interpret according to our mind rather than that revealed by Your Holy Spirit.

Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy.

Boundaries. Borders. Invisible lines separating people, communities, nations. ‘We’ are this. ‘They’ are that. Perspectives defined by sound bites, propaganda, fear. False news, formerly known as ‘lies,’ destroys trust. And sometimes, when we are afraid, we may puff up our image of who ‘we’ are, and develop a deflated image of who ‘they’ are.

We can insert names, people and situations across the world only too easily in the silence….

Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy.

Help us instead, dear God, to see the world as You ARE CREATING it:
beautiful lands inhabited by brothers and sisters who are different, who are practicing caring for each other, each one filled with potential.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. ~ 1 John 4:18a

Lord teach us to love as You love us.

Help us to see across the divisions that we impose, to resist the urge to create ‘comfortable’ distances that make it easy to label the ‘other’ as strange. Help us to think outside our usual way of doing things or having a ‘default’ reaction or action. Help us to find new ways, which may well turn out to be better than what is our ‘accepted practice’.

We give thanks for the courageous and restrained example of the Canadian policeman who peacefully detained the Toronto car mass murderer.
We give thanks for the Hindu priest in Hyderabad, India, who made headlines for carrying a Dalit (formerly known as untouchable) man on his shoulders into the temple’s inner sanctum, to show people that everyone is equal in the eyes of God.
We give thanks for the thousands in Germany – including people from the far right to the far left as well as the Turkish communities – who rallied in support of the Jewish community after an anti-Semitic attack earlier in the week.
We give thanks for the new National Memorial for Peace and Justice that opened this week in Montgomery, Alabama, U.S., commemorating the black victims of the more than 4,000 “racial terror” lynchings in the U.S. between 1877 and 1950, bringing this horrendous and rarely acknowledged legacy into public view and opening the way for conversation and reconciliation.

We remember all who grieve and mourn and fear at this time.

Lead us by the light of Your wisdom.

Lord God, we know that in the death and resurrection of Jesus all forces of outer darkness intent on our destruction have been defeated. We lift up those forces still so prevalent in this world to Your care and Healing, that they may be converted in the Light of Your merciful love, transformed and work for the Healing of all Creation.

May we know You in all our ways and trust Your promise to show us how to live and love for Your Name’s sake. We ask these prayers in the name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Amen.

This week’s prayers are adapted from one written by Ann Gerondelis, an author, architect and educator from Atlanta, Georgia, that is published in her book “Open Our Eyes : Daily prayers for Advent”, Wild Goose Publications 2016.

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

Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that thou art:
Thou my best thought both by day and by night,
Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light. (Irish Traditional, Tune SLANE)

O Light of the World, we stumble around in the darkness of this world which confounds us and causes us to live in fear, and through tear-filled eyes we see the pain and struggle in this world:

the President of the Philippines, Duterte, withdrawing the country from the International Criminal Court rather than own up to injustices committed;
sex slavery rampant in Nigeria and Libya, with kidnappings of young women continuing regularly;
the recent plane crash in Nepal with at least 49 dead and many others injured;
Soviet-era nerve agents being used to strike down double agent, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter in England, resulting in the ousting of 23 Soviet diplomats from the U.K.;
the extreme cold weather affecting the Eastern United States and the United Kingdom.

Be thou my wisdom, and thou my true word;
I ever with thee and thou with me, Lord.
Thou my souls shelter, and thou my high tow’r.
Raise thou me heav’nward, O Pow’r of my power.

But you continue to shine light into the darkness, Holy One; you continue to speak in a voice both wise and true, and so we can lift our hearts and voices in gratitude and rejoicing for:

the life and work of Stephen Hawking, the incredible scientist who overcame great physical disability to come to symbolize the power of the human mind, as he sought to explain some of the most complicated questions of life;
the possibility of a summit between Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe and North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, with the hope for maintaining peace in East Asia;
the thousands of young people throughout the United States who, on the one-month anniversary of the high school shooting in Parkland, Florida, organized a walk-out to raise awareness about gun violence and to hold their legislators accountable;
Viola Desmond, known as Canada’s Rosa Parks, becoming the first black person to appear on Canadian currency, announced on International Women’s Day;
the countless ordinary citizens who are choosing the difficult path of running for office in order to do justice, to love kindness, and to assure equality for all people.

Riches I heed not, nor vain, empty praise,
Thou mine inheritance, now and always;
Thou and thou only, the first in my heart,
Great God of heaven, my treasure thou art.

Great God of heaven, open our hearts and minds and eyes to see this world and its peoples as you see us, always through the lens of Love, incarnated in Jesus the Christ and in us, your own beloved children.

Let this be so. Amen.