World in Prayer

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, July 2, 2020

The World in Prayer team member who wrote this week’s prayers has spent the past 6 weeks catching, taming, and finding homes for a litter of feral kittens. It has, she says, definitely affected how she understands God, and how she prays for the world. “You’ll have to forgive me,” she writes, “if these prayers are rather – well – kitten-shaped.”

I. Courtship. They appeared in my yard, the terrified but oh-so-proud young mama cat, and her four just-starting-to-explore adorable kittens. Me, I spent long hours sitting absolutely still. Marveling. Waiting. For them to get used to my scent. For them to get used to my presence. For them to get used to my voice.

And I thought with awe – and wonder – and thanksgiving – about God. Our God, who loves us with such patient adoration. Waiting, for us to notice God with us. Waiting for us to abandon fear, for curiosity. Waiting for us to dare to approach. Waiting for us to dare to be loved.

Holy and loving God, we adore you and we praise you, because you love with infinite patience even those that the world despises, ignores, or rejects:

  • The Oromo – the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia, where unrest has spread after the death and funeral of 34-year-old singer Hachalu Hundessa. His songs advocating their rights have become anthems in a wave of protests in that country.
  • More than 40,000 impoverished people have been evicted from their homes since March in Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia, primarily in communities already displaced by violence, droughts, or floods.
  • Strawberry pickers brought from Morocco to Spain are not considered essential workers, and are not being provided even the most basic hygiene needed to protect them against the new coronavirus.
  • Sex workers in Thailand (more than 125,000 of them, from Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam), as well as in Bangladesh (an estimated 100,000) – have been jobless and facing abuse from their dissatisfied brokers since the coronavirus pandemic forced bars and other entertainment venues to close. For many, this illegal work is the only way they can survive and provide for their children.
  • According to the United Nations, the pandemic is reversing progress on ending child marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM). An additional 13 million girls could be married off and 2 million more could undergo FGM in the next decade, beyond what would have been expected.
  • Indigenous Amazon communities in Brazil, who have no immunity to external diseases and whose communal lifestyle rules out social distancing – and who are not receiving adequate help during the pandemic from the Brazilian government.

II. Trapping. I put out food. Each day, moving a little bit closer. Each day, with breath held, waiting for them to come eat. Then the food went into the cat carrier, and if they wanted it, they had to go inside. And then one day, while they were eating, I gently shut the door, and brought them inside my house.

And I prayed…for all who don’t know if a sweet enticement will turn out to be a trap or an opening to a world of joy. For all who are trapped. For all who are being freed. For all who hold open doors to new life.

Holy and gracious God, whose will it is always to bless, stretch out your protecting arms over:

  • Hong Kong, as China’s new “national security law” for Hong Kong takes effect, criminalizing what had been protected speech (i.e., the right to criticize the Chinese government), and allowing mainland Chinese security personnel to legally operate in Hong Kong with impunity.
  • The dead, the missing, and the grieving after a landslide at a jade mining site in northern Myanmar killed at least 162.
  • The United States, where there are way too many people who believe their right not to wear masks or take other public health precautions to prevent the spread of Covid-19 is more important than protecting one another; and many others who cannot understand that the best way to have a healthy economy is to have healthy population.
  • Scientists in Canada, South Africa, and Zimbabwe who are helping Botswana try to determine the cause of the “completely unprecedented” deaths of more than 350 elephants since May

III. Delight. As I had known they would, the kittens came to trust. They learned to play, to pounce, to wrestle. They discovered that being petted was Very Good, Very Very Good. The legs grew longer, and the purrs grew stronger, and my arms or my lap were usually filled with a cuddle puddle. They learned to ask – often way too loudly, and way too early in the morning – for the food and loving they craved.

And I heard God’s prayer for us: What would this world be like, if we could hold each other in patient love? If we could trust, without pushing, that just loving and waiting in love were enough to transform the world? What if we could love enough to truly hear one another, and to answer – even if it’s momentarily inconvenient – with infinitely deep love?

Holy and delighted God, smile with us in pleasure, as the restorative power of the Black Lives Matter movement spreads across the world:

  • In France, where the global anti-racism protests led the armed forces ministry to provide local authorities with a guide to 100 Africans who fought for France in World War II, so that streets may be named after them. Presenting the list, Junior Defense Minister Genevieve Darrieussecq said, “the names, faces, lives of these African heroes must become part of our lives as free citizens, because without them we would not be free.”
  • In the United Kingdom,where the Lloyd’s of London insurance market apologized for its “shameful” role in the 18th and 19th Century Atlantic slave trade, and pledged to fund opportunities for Black and ethnic minority people.
  • In Nigeria, where leaders of the Igbo people hope the BLM movement will inspire similar change for their people, many of whom are the descendants of slaves and still face significant discrimination.

IV. Setting free. The time came. I wish I could have kept them all. I wish I could have kept that wild, but maybe-just-beginning-to-trust mama cat, and taught her how to be loved. I fell in love with the kittens, and wished they could have stayed with me forever. But they were ready. Feral mama, still very wary, was spayed and went to live on a friend’s ranch, where she will be cherished and invited into as much love as she can accept. The kittens were chosen with love, and this weekend will be on their way to wonderful families.

And I heard again God’s prayer for us: that incredible, deep, wanting all to be well with us. With every single one of us. With every single fiber of this planet, of this universe. With every single nation. Filling us with love…and then sending us forth, in love, to be love.

Holy and amazing God, rejoice with us at every tiny sign that your love is at work in the world, that the Kingdom of God is indeed at hand:

  • From Kenya to Tanzania, Ethiopia to Malawi, Liberia to South Africa, tens of thousands of ordinary African women battle Covid-19 in their communities. Recruited and trained by governments and charities, the unsung army of mostly female and mostly unpaid community health workers are going door to door in remote villages and urban slums, talking about the virus, showing residents how to wash hands or don a mask, patiently answering their questions. Regardless of the risk to themselves. They do it in love.

And God said, go forth in love, to be love.
Amen.

 

World News in Prayer – Thursday, 4 June, 2020

Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
So why has the healing of my dear people
not come about?  ~ Jeremiah 8:22

Is there no balm in Gilead, Holy God? For we, your people, desperately need a balm, a healing, a sense that the desperate pain we are feeling will come to an end. Even as people walk the streets of more than 75 cities in the United States of America, demonstrating against the deaths of African-American citizens: George Floyd, Steven Taylor, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbrey, among far too many others at the hands of the police, others are demonstrating in solidarity in London, England; Amsterdam, Netherlands; Berlin, Germany; Auckland, New Zealand; Paris, France; Copenhagen, Denmark; Milan, Italy; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Dublin, Ireland; Toronto, Canada; Perth, Australia; and many more places across the globe.

We need a balm, God of Love and Peace, a healing of the sin of racism. We need to be made whole.

All of this comes in the midst of the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic, which continues to sicken and kill people throughout the world, even as governments disagree on how best to contain and control the spread of the virus. Italy is reopening its borders, while the death toll in Brazil has passed 30,000, and cases in the African continent exceed 160,000, even as statistics every-where are uncertain and knowledge of the behavior of the virus remains the subject of intense medical and immunological research.

We need a balm, God of All People, a healing for our troubled bodies and spirits.

Around the world, situations of pain and threat demand our attention, and yours, O God. We grieve:

  • the death of Dr. Hu Weifeng in China, after four months of fighting Covid-19. He had been treating patients at Wuhan Central Hospital when he was stricken.
  • with the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and PiniKura People (PKKP) of Western Australia at the destruction of 46,000-year-old Aborginal caves by mining giant, Rio Tinto, last Sunday.
  • with the people of Mumbai, India, as Cyclone Nisarga makes landfall, with destructive winds and driving rains, threatening life and property.
  • with a barely-literate, poor Christian couple in Pakistan who have spent the past 6 years in jail awaiting an appeal of the death sentence they received for “blasphemy”, for allegedly sending text messages insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
  • the disappearances of two activists, Fang Bin and Chen Qiushi, in Wuhan, China, after their continued reporting about the Covid-19 crisis in that province, as families and friends fear they may have been killed.

We need a balm, God of Hope, a healing for the broken places in our world.

Driven to our knees by the loss and pain, our minds and hearts filled with questions and doubts, our spirits often at their lowest ebb in these recent days, we turn to you, Father-Mother God, in desperation, knowing that only in you can we find comfort, healing, a balm for those things we cannot seem to get right on our own. And, though we are not yet able to sing in our churches, we each and all can sing on our own, so we lift our quavering and tear-filled voices:

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

Sometimes 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.


Amen. Let it be so.

World News in Prayer – Thursday, March 25, 2020

Conversations will not be cancelled.
Relationships will not be cancelled.
Love will not be cancelled.
Songs will not be cancelled.
Reading will not be cancelled.
Self-care will not be cancelled.
Hope will not be cancelled. *

Beloved, how are we to pray in these times of pandemic, when country after country imposes stringent stay-at-home orders? When schools and restaurants and businesses are closed, and all public gatherings banned? When what we do to relax and let go of tension…when the ways we come together to celebrate birthdays and weddings and graduations…when what we rely on to grieve and reassure and comfort one another in funerals and hugs and touch….when these have all been closed off?  When life seems to be increasingly put on hold while we shelter in place, and even those who like long stretches of time alone are finding the walls starting to close in?

Breathe.
Lord have mercy.
Christ have mercy.

Beloved, how are we to pray when fears start to consume us? When we can’t shake our worries about our own safety and the safety of those we love? When we are daily reminded of the risks taken by health care workers and grocery clerks and delivery people and emergency service providers and all other essential personnel? When closed borders (between U.S. and Mexico, between Germany and the rest of Europe) leave migrant agricultural workers unemployed, while farmers lose their crops and food shortages threaten for lack of harvest labor? When too many are desperate for income as their work places are shut down and jobs eliminated?

Breathe.
Lord have mercy.
Christ have mercy.

Beloved, how are we to pray when the number of Covid 19 illnesses and deaths keep rising exponentially? When these stop being safely anonymous numbers, and start being stories about real people: the doctor in China who first recognized and spoke out about the impending epidemic; the priest in Italy who gave up his respirator so someone else might live; the nursing home residents in Spain who died alone after having been abandoned by their caregivers; the first known case in Zimbabwe; the first teen who died in the U.S., shocking those who thought only “old folks” were at risk; the relative – of a friend – of one of your online acquaintances, who is now on your prayer list…?

Breathe.
Lord have mercy.
Christ have mercy.

Beloved, how are we to pray when there are still those (even among our own families!) who believe and spread wild and provably-false conspiracy theories? When seemingly-rational adults claim they have a right to ignore the personal and public safety rules? When there are a handful of religious leaders who endanger those they are pledged to care for, by insisting on holding public worship services in the midst of the pandemic? When too many government leaders still deny the seriousness of the situation and refuse to act, or demand to put profits before human lives? When there is a real risk in other countries that temporary measures put in place for public safety will lead to cancellation of elections, extended government control, totalitarianism?

Breathe.
Lord have mercy.
Christ have mercy.

Beloved, how are we to pray when nearly every country in the world has insufficient Covid 19 tests, medical masks, respirators, ICU beds, morgue space? When many people lack access to even basic medical care, or can’t afford it? When we know it would take but a single spark to make the epidemic run rampant among the homeless, those in jail, refugee camps, or the many others in the world who simply can’t take the basic precautions of frequent handwashing or social distancing, because they don’t have access to soap and running water, or live in overcrowded conditions?

Breathe.
Lord have mercy.
Christ have mercy.

Beloved, how are we to pray when our prayer lives are so cramped by worries about the virus, that we can barely take in the fact that there was a major earthquake in Croatia? That the Great Barrier Reef in Australia has suffered another mass bleaching? When we know that there must be so much else going on in the world – both good and bad – that merits prayer, only right now neither the media nor we, ourselves, have the energy to focus on it?

Breathe.
Lord have mercy.
Christ have mercy.

Beloved, how are we to pray when hints of goodness and love creep into our tightly-closed-in lives? When governments in India, United Kingdom, and Canada promise payments to assist the poor, the self-employed and/or unemployed during this crisis? When banks and other lenders promise not to foreclose on mortgages and extend the time for monthly payments? When homes become festooned with Christmas lights, or candles or stuffed animals in front windows to cheer the neighborhood? When churches and synagogues and mosques learn to worship and minister to one another via the internet, and schools move classes online or send work home for their students? When free web-based courses in just about every subject, and virtual museum and park tours, and music, and dance performances, and amazing photography proliferate and go viral? When grandparents can meet their loved ones through closed windows, and we check in with one another with love, and clergy administer pastoral care (and even last rites) via phone?

Breathe.
Lord have mercy.
Christ have mercy.

Beloved, how are we to pray when we remember that You are with us always? That You are full of mercy – no matter whether we are angry, frustrated, fearful, sad or full of joy? When we believe – or so much want to believe – that “Love will not be cancelled. Songs will not be cancelled…Hope will not be cancelled”? When we trust that Your love for us will never be cancelled?

Breathe.
Breathe.
Lord, you are full of mercy.
Christ, you are full of mercy.
Lord, we are filled with your mercy.
Breathe.

 

*Excerpt from a 3/15/2020 blog post written by Jamie Tworkowski, founder of the non-profit “To Write Love on Her Arms,” https://twloha.com/blog/hope-will-not-be-cancelled/. Reproduced with permission.

Note: There are many, many churches that now have Sunday worship online, with many also offering weekday services. If your own church doesn’t offer this, or if you don’t have a church or are feeling isolated and would welcome this kind of support during this time of Covid 19 crisis, just do a Google search and you’ll find a wealth of options to choose from. And take heart – sampling the many services, as Bishop Megan Traquair (Episcopal Diocese of Northern California) joyously proclaimed last week, is “like hearing Pentecost take place right here in March!”

World News this Week in Prayer, Thursday, March 19, 2020

From a distance the world looks blue and green

And the snow capped mountains white

From a distance the ocean meets the stream

And the eagle takes to flight*

Holy One, during this time of social distancing and lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic, remind us that we are still connected to one another. We pray for those impacted by travel bans, those unable to connect with loved ones, those who have insurance, those who do not, those who are getting treatment, and all those who cannot get a hospital bed.

We pray for all of us, who are anxious and afraid. Remind us that we are infinitely connected to you, and we can come to you in prayer at any time, in any setting.

From a distance there is harmony

And it echoes through the land

It’s the voice of hope

It’s the voice of peace

It’s the voice of every man

Help us to be the Body of Christ that you call us to be in this moment.

May we be your hands and feet right now, in neighborhoods, farms and small towns, hospitals and clinics, tribes and large cities as we work to safely feed each other, heal each other, look out for each other, and act as your instruments in this ailing world.  Be with the very young, the school-age children as they watch this world around them.

Guide the healers on each continent, in each country, in each city around the globe, and be with them and each of us as we struggle to navigate new things in new ways.  Sustain the researchers, virologists, laboratories and medical transport teams.

From a distance we all have enough

And no one is in need

And there are no guns, no bombs and no disease

No hungry mouths to feed

All economies around the world have been terribly affected over these past months. We pray for each of the ways it is impacting the small business owners, investors, our elderly, our homeless, the middle class, all of us in vastly varied ways. May we rebuild together without rank of who is worthiest, but, instead, guided by your light and filled with your love, stronger than we can imagine.

From a distance we are instruments

Marching in a common band

Playing songs of hope

Playing songs of peace

They are the songs of every man

May we hear your songs of hope ringing from the balconies of Italy. May we hear your songs of a common band like the Lummi Nation in the US Pacific Northwest as they have planned for months to protect their members.  May we hear your songs of peace in the “caremongers” of Canada who out of kindness, not fear, have created online groups searching out need (#iso) and/or providing help (#offer). May we know that these are the songs of all of us, your beloved children.

God is watching us

God is watching us

God is watching us from a distance

May God watch over us, and may we watch over one another, from a distance.

Amen.

*Excerpts taken from From a Distance (Written by Julie Gold, sung by Bette Midler)

World News in Prayer – Thursday, 12th March 2020

Every little thing is sent for something, and in that thing there should be happiness and the power to make happy. Like the grasses showing tender faces to each other, thus we should do, for this was the wish of the

Grandfathers of the World.   Black Elk, (1863-1950)

Oh God, we read these words from a holy man who lived not so long ago. We have heard in the Gospel of Matthew Jesus’s words to his disciples of certain strength in the meek. We are reminded of his teachings to care for the poor and the least or marginalized. We remember that Jesus came humbly and joyfully into Jerusalem on a donkey with her colt – not the horse a symbol of war.

The ways and acts of peace are tender. They seem fleeting and small. Help us like the very grasses to act with hearts shining toward each other. As we turn to each other we ask that we may we see the other.  Help us to pass the peace and love you have offered us through your son Jesus Christ.

We are grateful for the communication systems that connect each country through reporting and analyzing data to understand the nature of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is on our minds night and day. 

We are grateful for the common sense public health measures and call to action of simple hand washing not hand wringing. 

We pause in our hearts. We grieve for the families whose elders have been swept away by the virus. Replace fear during increasing lockdowns with focus and quiet action. Help us in unforeseen ways to grow in our understanding of our connectedness. Safeguard the emergency and health care teams and families exposed across the continents. We name them out loud thinking of the peoples in locked down regions…knowing the list will grow. 

Africa – Algeria, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa

Americas – Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Dominican Republic, Ecuador,   

Guadalupe, Mexico, United States

Eastern Mediterranean – Afghanistan, Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates

Europe – Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Herzegovina, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia (23%), San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom

Southeast Asia – Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand

Western Pacific – Australia, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, New Zealand, North Korea, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Russia (77%), Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam

In celebration of International Women’s Day this past Sunday there comes singing, clapping and dancing, tears and laughter. Help us to receive the wisdom from indigenous women of the Ecuadorian Tribal Nations of Kofan, Siona, Siekopai and Waorani peoples as we hear their voices: “We are at the forefront of our peoples’ struggles and victories against the exploitation of our natural resources of extractive industries. From monitoring our territories and confronting emerging invasions to leading sustainable economic alternatives to resource extraction and shaping a vision for the education of our children and grandchildren, we are creating solutions for the long-term protection of a forest we all depend upon for life. And now, we are also training to become journalists and filmmakers in order to share our stories and struggles from a female perspective.” Lord we ask you to amplify their words: “We come with love and peace, we, women from four indigenous nations of the Western Amazon in Ecuador, are fighting against the threats to our forest.” 

We end this weeks prayers for the hungry – the over 820 million people who have suffered from hunger in 2018, the greatest number since 2010 as reported by the World Meteorological Organization released this past Wednesday.

We ask for your mercy in these times.

Increase our compassion. 

Sustain us in doing your will. 

Amen. 

World News This Week in Prayer — Thursday, 12 December 2019

During this season of Advent, this season of waiting, we are called to anticipate the fulfillment of God’s reign. Advent is a chance for each one of us to practice the reign of God in the way we meet and treat one another. As we prepare for this time of prayer, let us anticipate the coming light.

Holy God, our hope, we rejoice that your word became flesh and made his dwelling among us and we long for your reign. As we wait, our hearts overflow with gratitude for the beauty of your creation and for signs of peace and reconciliation.

We lift our hearts in thanks for the inspiration that Greta Thunberg has been to so many and celebrate with her as she has been named Time Magazine’s Person of the year. We value the hope that she has encouraged across the globe as we work to honor and restore your planet more and more.

We feel joy and expectation as the world’s first fully-electric commercial aircraft took flight for 15 minutes over Vancouver, Canada this week.

As we celebrate the coming of Jesus as a poor, helpless child, we also yearn for the day when there will be no more sorrow or pain.

We lift our hearts in prayer for the small South Pacific nation of Samoa, where a measles outbreak has infected 83 people and killed 71 people to date. We pray for your help and healing.

Even as we make strides toward preserving your earth, we remember the many victims of natural disasters. We pray for the people of New Zealand, where the Whakaari volcano erupted with at least 47 visitors from around the world on the White Island, some of whom have died and many of whom are in intensive care. We also pray for those affected by the landslides on the South Island, which has left thousands stranded. We pray that all affected are met with aid and support.

As we pray for justice and peace, we lift up the United States, where two articles of impeachment have been filed against President Trump. We also pray for the victims of a shooting in Jersey City, NJ where six people were killed and others injured. May your people move forward with a sense of hope and purpose.

O God, whose will is equity for the poor and aid for the afflicted, let your herald’s voice break through our hardened hearts to announce the coming of your kingdom. We know there are wonderful and terrible things happening in the world around us, and we are grateful to have a faith with room to hold it all, and room to hold us all. We pray that our complacency gives way to conversion, oppression to justice, and conflict to acceptance of one another in Christ. We ask this in the name of the one whose coming we celebrate this season, and whose life we strive to model in all seasons.

Amen.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

               

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

 

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 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,
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.