Ethiopia

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, March 4, 2021

As most of you know, World in Prayer is written by a team whose members take turns writing the prayers. And I, who am writing this week – I ran out of words a long time ago. Trapped in what seemed like near-isolation by the pandemic; anguished by its resulting ever-growing number of deaths and illnesses, poverty, homelessness, job loss and starvation; drained by the constant threats to human rights throughout the world, I ran out of words in which pray.

A nature photographer by avocation, I fled, desperate for the solace of distraction, to spend long hours in solitude at nearby wildlife refuges. For long months, it felt as if I’d lost the ability to pray. It took even longer for me to realize that the images seared into my mind and camera, of sunsets and migrating waterfowl, winter-bare trees and the early hints of spring, had been heart-felt prayers for the world all along.

As the sun sets, the sandhill cranes return from foraging in the fields to settle in quiet shallow ponds where they will be safe from night predators.

Holy one, your glory shines forth in the sunset and the sunrise. Open our eyes, that we will see with awe every person, every place we encounter each day; that we may find safe places to rest, and healing for our hearts. Fill us with joy – joy such as imbues the viral video of Gurdeep Pandher of Yukon, Canada, who was so happy to get his Covid-19 vaccination that he went to a frozen lake to dance Bhangra on it “for joy, hope and positivity, which I’m forwarding … for everyone’s health and wellbeing.” May we all dance with such joyous abandon!

When the leaves are gone, all you can see are the bare bones – and strength.

The Covid-19 pandemic has stripped away so much that we thought we needed, O God. It has brought us back to the realization that family, community, connections between one another, the basics of touch and hugging and face-to-face communication – those are our roots and our strength. Bring us back together, across borders, languages and economic divides. As more vaccines are approved and enter production and distribution, please, dear God, hasten the day when we can share birthdays and weddings, comfort the ill, grieve together with the dying, take comfort in common worship, and rejoice in common meals. As the pandemic eases, let us not forget our roots. Hold us fast, above all, to love.

Thousands of geese migrate through and over-winter in Central California.

What can we learn from your geese, O God? They cover the fields, nibbling and gossiping. Then one, then another, leaps into the air. At first small clumps, then with a rush, nearly all take off, milling uncertainly in the air until one takes the lead and they head out in the classic “V” formation. Watch closely, and you’ll see that it is not a single leader who leads the group the whole way, but rather an intricate weaving that moves the birds from one position to another, so that none get overtired, and the whole flock is preserved. How do they know whether the first to take flight is foolhardy or wise, and whether the few that remain behind are greedy for one last bite, or accurately discerning that there was no real danger in the first place? How do they know when it’s time to move on, and where to go next?

Guide us wisely, as leaders and as followers, and as we move back and forth between those roles. Enable us to put the needs of the human “flock” above our own desires and inclinations, and the wisdom to choose leaders who will do the same. Grant us the courage to change, when change is needed, to stand up against oppression when endangered, to maintain that which is good – no matter the pressures against us. Inspire us to take our turn, to share in the responsibilities, of weaving our communities together. Especially this week, we pray for:

El Salvador, after this past Monday’s legislative elections. President Nayib Bukele’s Nuevas Ideas party appears to have achieved the 2/3rds majority needed to pass laws, appoint the next attorney general and members of the supreme court. Although his promises to the nation were popular, this would eliminate all checks and balances over his power, and observers warn of the possibility of the country becoming an authoritative dictatorship.
United States, as many leaders in the Republican party continue to spread the lie that the election was stolen from former President Trump, and appear more determined to consolidate power than to work for policies that polls show are highly popular among their own constituents.
The many countries that consistently block internet access during protests or elections – thereby also blocking millions of people from working, studying, accessing health care, getting vital information about the pandemic, or buying essential goods or making payments. Among the worst offenders in 2020, according to a report just released by Access Now, were India, Yemen, Belarus, Myanmar, and Bangladesh.

Help us to know when to wait, when to rise, whom to follow, and where You are calling us to go. Help us to be the flock you are calling us to be.

So many different species sharing a narrow spit of land!

Dearest One, you give us so many models of different species existing cooperatively together. A raft of many kinds of waterfowl. A stream where egrets, herons and sandhill cranes are fishing scant feet from one another. A utility pole with hawk eating its noonday frog – while smaller birds crowd the wires to and from the pole. How can we not pray for our lives to be rebuilt to make gracious space for all your people?

In Afghanistan, talks resumed this week between the Taliban and the government, with the Taliban maintaining that they want a political resolution and denying responsibility for the increasing spate of targeted assassinations of judges, journalists and activists.
In response to escalating allegations of human rights violations against Uighurs being detained in Xinjiang camps, the Chinese government is mounting a public relations campaign to discredit the female witnesses.
Before the pandemic started, Thailand had millions of migrants from Myanmar and Cambodia, who were the primary breadwinners for their families back home and who worked in areas as diverse as manufacturing, agriculture, and domestic work. Many are now stranded, unemployed and penniless; unable to find jobs in either their native lands or in Thailand.
As part of its efforts to wind down a Trump-era policy that required asylum-seekers to remain in Mexico while waiting for their U.S. immigration court hearings, the Biden administration on Friday admitted the first group of 25 migrants. The group included people from Honduras, Peru, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Cuba. Plans call for the pace to increase next week to up to 300 people per day. Instead of being held in detention centers, the migrants will be referred to local shelters and groups like Jewish Family Service for temporary housing during their Covid-19 quarantine period, before being released to join family or friends elsewhere in the U.S.

God, you have given us a vision of the human family, your beloved family, all gladly living side-by-side. Yet the logistics of finding enough shelter, jobs, and resources are daunting. Give us a vision of those details, too! Make it possible for every single human being to have a place to call home.

I was expecting to watch birds, when a river otter delighted me by climbing onto the bank and taking an ecstatic and wriggly mud bath.

Surprise us, O God, by your presence when we least expect it. Surprise us with more stories like those of 32-year-old Yenenesh Tilahun, who opened a beauty salon in the largest red-light district of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia – to aid sex workers who would not seek other help out of shame. But while styling their hair, they talk, and she has been able to keep many from being trafficked, while providing practical help and guidance to others.

Surprise us, O God, by your presence in those who care and help, who honor us with their stories, who walk beside us. Surprise us by your presence in those who mourn, and in those who dance with joy. Delight us, O God, in your ecstatic and wriggly presence.

Almost buried amid the rapidly growing spring grass, the tiny flowers were less than 1/2″ each.

Dearest One, it’s so easy to forget how much we need one another, to forget that the flowers need the bee every bit as much as the bee needs the flowers. And yet, as winter turns to spring, we take hope. We take hope as we hear that the research the led to the Covid-19 vaccines has also pointed the way to a promising malaria vaccine – the first in the world. We take hope as we learn that the state of Kerala, India, has started a program to install solar panels on 75,000 homes, in a way that will make them affordable for even the most impoverished. We take hope when we read about coffee farmers’ cooperatives in Nicaragua that are taking the lead in helping the farmers diversify, reforest, and improve the soil in response to the 2020 hurricanes that destroyed 10-40% of the coffee crop.

We take hope at the news that African countries have committed to restoring 250 million acres of degraded soil – an area the size of Egypt – by 2030. And that international investors have committed over $14 billion to restore the Sahel. In Niger and Burkina Faso alone, thousands of farms have regreened more than 12.5 million acres.

We take hope from the many across the world who are committed to making sure that the lessons of this pandemic do not go to waste. That inequities and injustices in health care, infrastructure, education and economies revealed by the crisis do not get swept under the rug again. That we remember that issues that we had long thought to be insoluble, in light of the urgency of the pandemic have already proven to be both immediately necessary and thoroughly possible.

Dearest One, we take hope from the lessons of the tiny flowers and the bee, the sunset and the still pool of water, the barren tree, the soaring geese, the resting ducks, and the unexpected otter. You are our teacher, our strength, our guide, our hope.

Blessed be your name, forever and ever.
Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, December 17, 2020

Come now, O Prince of Peace, make us one body.
Come, O Lord Jesus, reconcile your people. – Geonyong Lee (Tune: OSOSO)

With heavy hearts, we come to you during this time of waiting, this time of Advent as we prepare for the coming of the One who is God’s incarnated Love. Only this year, this time, looks and feels and is very different, as all the world shudders under the weight of the COVID-19 pandemic which has so far taken 300,000 lives in the United States…which has caused the flight of nearly 3.6 million from the city of New York…which continues to stress health care workers and facilities to their outer limits…which has caused the shutdown of all the theatres of London’s West End and New York’s Broadway…which is causing nationwide lockdowns in South Korea, Germany, and parts of England. And so, we hold them all in our hearts and ask your abundant mercy to shower down upon one and all in this hurting world. Come now, O Prince of Peace – for we ARE one body.

–Silence for reflection–

Come now, O God of love, make us one body.
Come, O Lord Jesus, reconcile your people.

Even as we pray for reconciliation and peace, we learn that more than 250,000 children, youth, and vulnerable adults have been abused in the faith-based and state care facilities in New Zealand over the past several decades, about 40% of all those in care, with the majority being Maori children, members of the indigenous peoples of that nation. We learn of the winter storm threatening the northeastern United States, bringing frigid temperatures and heavy snows to areas already bowed down by the pandemic, and threatening the lives of those left homeless. And so, we hold them in our hearts and ask your healing hand to rest upon one and all in this hurting world. Come now, O God of love – for we ARE one body.

–Silence for reflection—

Come now and set us free, O God, our Savior.
Come, O Lord Jesus, reconcile all nations.

Even as we long for reconciliation, we learn that nearly 2.3 million children in Ethiopia have been cut off from humanitarian aid, including food and medicine. We learn that half of Singapore’s migrant workers are COVID positive, despite the generally low COVID statistics in the population. We learn that Boko Harum has kidnapped more than 300 male students from a school in Nigeria. And we learn that Hungary’s parliament has passed a law prohibiting same-sex couples from adopting children, following their anti-gay policies begun earlier this year. And so, we hold them in our hearts and ask your reconciling spirit to fill one and all in this hurting world. Come now, O God our Savior – for we ARE one body.

—Silence for reflection—

Come, Hope of unity, make us one body.
Come, O Lord Jesus, reconcile all nations.

With hope-filled hearts, we gaze at our world and our hearts are lifted by the Electoral College affirming the results of the November Presidential election in the United States. We affirm the Giving Pledge initiative which is encouraging the world’s richest people to donate a large portion of their fortunes to charitable causes. We applaud the 370 major religious leaders worldwide who have called for an end to conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ people. And we cheer with 74-year-old Pat Ormond who has just graduated from college alongside her granddaughter at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga in the United States. And so, we hold them in our hearts and ask that your hope continue to life our spirits and those of all this hurting world. Come, Hope of Unity – for we ARE one body.

All of these things we pray, O God who Comes. Remind us of your incredible, unchanging love for this hurting, broken world, and fill us with the certainty that we are indeed ONE body.

Amen and amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., Dec. 10, 2020

Dear God,

We know this above all things – your steadfast love endures beyond all things here on this earth and beyond this earth. We know this, and yet we still struggle. We know that we are your people, and we also know that you most certainly are our God. Although we know we can rest in this certainty, Lord, there is so much more that we are so very uncertain about – so much that we don’t know. So much to worry about that we sometimes find ourselves frozen unknowing what to do next.

God, we give to you the things we are uncertain about, because many of us truly don’t know what may be next in each of our lives.

We are uncertain about our jobs, our livelihood, the things which allow us to not worry about where our next meals may come from and keep us safe in the places we call home. We are uncertain about our health and the health of the ones we hold dear. We have lost some of our dearest people due to all kinds of illnesses, including Covid-19. As the numbers of those infected and those who have died continue to climb in the U.S. and around the world to levels we never imagined, we are uncertain about our own lives.

Although we pray we may stay healthy – we are uncertain about how much time we each have on this earth. We are uncertain about how to take care of those we love – knowing that we must stay away in order to care for one another. We are uncertain about what our world is going to look like in the next weeks, months, and years, and how it will change and become a different place than we remember.

We are uncertain, Lord. Deeply uncertain, but as we look toward this next week in the season of Advent – we look towards this week which encompasses joy.

We find joy and hope even in the places where there seems to be no goodness. We see the tensions in Venezuela due to the election. We worry as we see more than 300 people in southeastern India hospitalized with an unidentified illness. Our hearts ache as we see violence in Ethiopia, Sudan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria. We grieve the losses, including at least seven people have been killed in ongoing violent protests in northern Iraq.

Even as we see violence and our neighbors being hurt, we find hope in the helpers. And even more, we find joy in you, and in those making a difference even amidst terror.
We see joy, Lord, in the faces that light up when a Zoom call is first opened and we see people we haven’t seen in a long time.
We recognize joy, as we see people come together to lift up marginalized voices.
We hear joy in our middle and high schoolers who choose to have difficult conversations about topics that matter.
We feel joy as we keep going – as we continue doing some of the things we enjoy in an altered way.

We have joy and hope, Lord. And for this joy we are so grateful. We have joy, Lord, because it is you who gives us the joy that runs through our bodies. The joy that you are greater and can give us more possibilities than we could ever imagine. The joy that we can be absolutely certain, that even if our world may be breaking, our very bodies might be giving out, our jobs may not be there tomorrow, our dearest friends and family may be unhappy with us – even with all of this – we are absolutely certain that you fill us with a joy that will lift us up. Help us, Lord, to spread this unbelievable joy to every single person we meet – so that we may not hold this for ourselves, but so that this world might have a glimmer of your infinite and amazing joy.

Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 26 November 2020

Creator God,

This year has been different. We know you don’t need us to tell you that – but it helps to get it off our minds and you have broad shoulders to carry our burden.

Easter was different, Eid and Diwali, too. And now Thanksgiving and next it will be Christmas. We know people’s circumstances are constantly changing, that over the course of our lives festivals have always gradually changed. But that was little by little and okay. There are the family stories about “when we moved …” across countries and continents and cultures. We learnt to do the New Zealand haka and we learned those big, dark birds were edible and called them turkeys. We found Norwegian brown cheese palatable but that there is no cheese at all in many tropical countries. So many changes, Lord, but why so many all heaped on us in this one year?

So, we give thanks.

We give thanks that 10 months of concentrated, dedicated work in many countries is being brought to fruition as viable vaccines for Covid19 are discovered and successfully tested.

We give thanks for the generosity of the purchase of at least a billion doses of one vaccine for distribution in developing Countries.

We give thanks that the unprecedented lockdowns across the world are giving the opportunity for fresh, green environment, restarts.

And at the same time we recognise that disasters these lockdowns are causing – the businesses closed; the jobs lost; the lives disastrously changed by diverted medical attention; the failure of human contact.

We pray –

: for the dedicated doctors and nurses working to exhaustion, risking their lives,
: for the ministers and pastors working in unexpected new ways and through unaccustomed media to support others,
: for those who mourn and those who weep,
: for the politicians unsure which science is correct; which advisors are right,
: for elderly family members unable to comprehend the depth and seriousness “Don’t kill Gran”.
: for those who are turned into unwarranted scapegoats,
: for our own families and friends,
: for ourselves.

While all this goes on, there remains the continuing battle of wars and rumors of wars, violence used against neighbours in word or action, and refugees everywhere. We hold in our prayers those in Ethiopia and Tigray province, Sudan, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Nigeria, the USA, and in too many corners of your world. We pray for listening hearts and minds unclouded by fear and fake news. We give thanks for all working to bring peace, truth, reconciliation and justice into our brokenness.

Lord, help us to take the road less travelled that we may make a difference for your kingdom. AMEN

World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020

In 1925, Pope Pius XI established the Feast of Christ the King, also known as Christ the King Sunday, as a corrective to a major worldwide shift toward nationalism. This feast day is included in the Revised Common Lectionary and is celebrated by most mainline Protestant denominational groups.

O Christ, what can it mean for us To claim you as our king?

What royal face have you revealed Whose praise the Church would sing?

Aspiring not to glory’s height, To power, wealth, and fame,

You walked a diff’rent, lowly way, Another’s will your aim.

Though some would make their greatness felt And lord it over all,

You said the first must be the last And service be our call.

O Christ, in workplace, church, and home Let none to power cling;

For still, through us, you come to serve, A diff’rent kind of king.

O Christ, What Can It Mean For Us

Evangelical Lutheran Worship #431 Verses 1 & 3 Text by Delores Dufner

O Christ, King of kings and Lord of lords, our world is full of examples of what makes a good king: ruthlessness, violence, vengeance, selfish ambition, and the accumulation of power. Even as we celebrate Christ the King Sunday, rightly claiming you as the center of the universe and center of our lives, we hypocritically bow down to many other kings: the King of Wealth, the King of Power, the King of Control. Help us to see these so-called “kings” for what they really are, feeble attempts to claim your crown in all times and places:

– In Afghanistan, where evidence of the murder of dozens of civilians by Australian special forces has been revealed;

– In Italy, France, India, the United States, Brazil, and other nations that have failed to control the spread of COVID-19 because of lack policies and selfish choices;

– In Ethiopia, where thousands of civilians are fleeing unrest in the Tigray region and entering Sudan on foot because of the violence and danger in their homes.

Pierce our hearts, O Christ, with your call to love and serve as you do, and remind us that true power lies in the repudiation of power, and true glory comes only through bowing low in service. Open our eyes to your work in our world:

– In Vietnam, where a rapid and coordinated response to COVID-19 has kept cases and death very low while supporting a strong economy;

– In Iraq, where the Yazidi community faithfully celebrate the naming of a new religious and spiritual leader for their people despite years of oppression by the Islamic State;

– In Saudi Arabia, where the first women’s football (soccer) league has been formed, reversing years of policies against the inclusion of women in sporting activities.

As we honor and praise you this day and every day, O Christ, purge us of our tendencies toward loyalty to the kings of power, wealth, and fame, and fill us with the servant leadership and servant love you embodied in your earthly ministry and continue to support in us for the sake of your beloved creation. We ask this in the name of the one who emptied himself so that we too might become children of God, serving all and loving all in your name. Amen.

World News this Week in Prayer, Thursday, November 12, 2020

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:3-10

Dear God,

We know we are blessed. We know you have given us more than we could ever have imagined. You have given us people in our lives who we care about, more than we could ever say. You have given us love, nourishment, and our very lives. We have been blessed with neighbors around the world who are our siblings in you. As we sit blessed with so much, we also sit with so many people in our world who are suffering. So many who need your help. So many who need your blessing.

God, we ask for your blessing and your healing to those who are sick because of Covid-19. Our prayers for your dear people cannot cease until all are healed and your children stop dying even as we hear of surges world-wide. We are in need of your blessing as we care for those who are sick. Shield and sustain the nurses and midwives who tend the world night and day in this the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife. We ask healing for our hearts especially as we grieve those lost to this horrible disease. Help us to hold up a candle signifying the light of abiding care as we celebrate this year the 200th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale.

God, we are grateful for a completed election in the US and as returns and counts and recounts continue. Sustain us. During this transition of political power, we ask that the burdens and sense of exhaustion be lifted for all of your children. We ask for your hope for a future that serves all people no matter who they are or from where they come. We pray that divisions are softened, knowing that love eternally prevails over hate. We pray for the transition in Bolivia as a new president is inaugurated. We pray that there might also be peace as new political leaders come into power. We pray that your people might have a blessed future of less division and more love.

We pray for your children in the UK as another recession is likely to occur due to Covid-19. We ask for all of those whose lives will likely change dramatically with the loss of income and jobs. We ask for your presence that you might bring a blessing to those who feel they have so little.

We pray for peace in Ethiopia as civil war unfolds again and a nation’s people are already spilling over borders for safety. As tensions continue to rise, we pray that somehow you may bring a blessing of peace to your dear people. May anxieties soften. May hope replace division and restore a community of love in your people.

We pray for those lives taken on a horrendous killing field in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique. Bring the world to action as we hear of the mounting heinous human rights violations in the name of combatting militants and opposition forces. We are sickened by the news of ISIS insurgents crimes as they set fire to several villages, beheading fifty people and chopping their bodies, while women from the villages were abducted. Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Awaken us to the crime of inaction or too-late action as occurred during the Rwandan genocide over twenty-five years ago. We pray that this not be repeated.

We are so grateful, Lord, for peace in Armenia as the Prime Minister announced a peace agreement was signed with Russia and Azerbaijan to end war. We are so grateful, God, for peacemakers and we ask for your continued blessing as we seek peace to break division in a world filled with so much chaos.

We pray for our dear people in Hong Kong as the remaining pro-democracy lawmakers resigned in protest. We pray God that somehow your people might receive the rights they deserve and might be blessed with hope for a better future.

God, we know we are blessed, and yet we know there are so many who are in need of your blessing and your infinite peace. Guide us Lord that we might have hope for the future while we dwell in you. You alone are our greatest blessing, and in you we find our ultimate peace.

In your blessed name we pray.

Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, November 5, 2020

Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD my God, you are very great! You are clothed with splendor and majesty, covering yourself with light as with a garment, stretching out the heavens like a tent. He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters; he makes the clouds his chariot; he rides on the wings of the wind; he makes his messengers winds, his ministers a flaming fire. He set the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be moved. Psalm 104: 1-5

Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.
Job 38:4

Oh, Lord,
We breathe in the verses in these scriptures. Awaken us. Be with us now. Stir our awareness. Strengthen our resolve and hope. Help us to focus on your creation beyond these times yet in the midst of these times. Let us not be distracted by grand schemes, nattering and judging of this and that, ways that divide and devalue, ways that twist us away from you. Turn our eyes toward your light. This great light is all around us. You revealed your truth and way to us through your son Jesus.

We light a candle or watch the sunrise or the afterglow as the day settles into dusk or gaze at the ascendent moon full and now declining in this first week of November 2020.

Everything seems at stake and our anxieties rise and rise. The news seems to pour over our lives — the world news this week challenges us, occupies our waking moments and even our dreams. We are so burdened and distracted. What foundations do we cling to that will fall, will disintegrate, will become dust? What ways of being no longer work, perhaps have never worked and must be let go of? In our everyday lives help us to loosen our grip on being right and judging others. You forgive us. Help us to forgive. This is a potent act. It returns us to love. Can we see into our neighbor’s eyes? What is our friend really needing right now? What would it be like to delight in the stranger as we would upon seeing a family member or friend walking towards us?

Help us to connect with those both true and false to us and we to them. Yes, all of our ancestors as we have remembered the dead on All Souls Day. Help us to see that our acts have consequences. Guide our understanding that we can change and perhaps soften. We can express kindness. We can produce a miracle with a change of heart, an apology can be communicated in a second, in word, behind a mask and with a light touch.

We pray for the love expressed as we hear of Elena S. of Caracas, Venezuela who dresses in PPE. A cafeteria worker at a kindergarten, she goes to her hospitalized father to clean his bed, feed and diaper him in the COVID–19 wing of a city, of a country destitute of health care workers. Lord in your compassion.

We take up our individual duties and jobs during this pandemic that has infected 48 million people. May we consider the sick, severely ill and dying. Help us to attend to this great suffering. Guide the health care work force. Position their every step and wrap them in appropriate PPE. Help our hospital administrations fight this pandemic and sustain their resources and mission. Let no patient be turned away. Help us to use our ICU beds, step down units, rehab facilities and skilled nursing facilities to take care of each and all even as some hospitals must divert patients to other facilities. Sustain those in training and gather our energies to fill the six-million gap in nurses needed around the world. We honor the over 7000 health care workers who have died world-wide. Sustain their families and communities in this great loss. We mourn the over 1,209,927 dead as of this week. Lord in your compassion.

We pray for justice and right action by the government of Nigeria as it sets up tribunals to hear and address the Lekki Toll Gate violence and murder of protestors. We are concerned of the independence of its judiciary. Sustain journalistic voice and those who testify on the crimes and losses even as they are held and beaten. Lord have mercy.

We pray for the people of Austria mourning as gunmen took the lives of four individuals and wounded 17 persons in central Vienna. We decry terrorism.

We pray for the nation of Ethiopia as it mourns the massacre of 54 men, women and children from the Amhara ethnic group attack by an armed group who then looted and set fire to the community. Lord have mercy. Remove the swords, bullets and weapons of terrorism. Let there be no collusion by governments of the people with paramilitaries and false liberation groups that kill.

Draw leaders close to their people. Draw them close to their suffering. Help them to see the promise of each child, the strength of youth who dream. Unlock the cages. Task those in power to protect the least with food and water not with armed guards in watchtowers. Challenge our implicit bias of who belongs and who does not. Send your messengers to those who would build structures that divide and deny. Remind us that our institutions like physical structures can act like walls and prisons denying human rights and causing terrible isolation. We pray mightily for justice.

Oh Lord your tent so vast as the universe we see at night it contains us in all times. This world is trembling. Call our faith. This world so broken. Call our active hope. This world is so tender. Call our love.

Amen.

The following prayer is offered for those of our readers who are fearful about the results of the U.S. election, and may wish to join in making this vow before God.

Today
I awake
Realizing that the election
will not be settled today.
Or tomorrow.
Not until all the votes (including the paper ballots) are counted,
And the results are certified by Dec. 14.
Not until the January 6, 2021 Joint Session of Congress to count electoral votes and declare election results.

Today
I awake
Knowing that I cannot hold onto my dread
for that long.
Choosing that I will no longer
Let my life be ruled by
fear, fostered by fear,
foisted by fear upon fear.
Today I choose Life.
Whatever the election may bring.

Today
I affirm
That nothing – but nothing – but nothing
Will change my commitment
To make this a world (and a nation)
That is safe, and just, and healthy,
and fruitful, and life-affirming,
for my LGBTQIA+ friends,
and my Black friends,
and my immigrant friends,
and my Muslim friends,
and my Jewish friends,
and my Latinx friends.
For my disabled friends,
and my homeless and underemployed friends.
For my youngest friends
and my oldest friends
of every color or shape
or ethnicity or national origin or gender
or religion (or lack of religion).

Today
I affirm my commitment
To make this a world (and a nation)
That is filled with compassion and justice
and hopes for the well-being
even for my political opponents.
Even for those with whom I disagree.

Today
Whatever happens in this election
Today, I choose love.

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, May 7, 2020

Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer,
we come to you in prayer today,
longing to see and sense your presence in these uncertain times.
We pray for your world,
as we seek to understand
and find a way to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Bring comfort to those who grieve,
remembering especially those in India who died
or are suffering due to the Styrene gas leak;
peace to those who are anxious,
caution to those who needlessly risk their health,
hope for all who are struggling
economically,
socially,
mentally,
physically,
and in any manner
because of this pandemic.

Lord of Lords, even as countries like
Peru, the US, and the UK
see a continued rise in cases,
other countries like
Germany, New Zealand and Australia
are lessening the restrictions on their residents.

Guide the leaders in government
and health officials
as they make exceedingly difficult decisions
in the days and weeks to come.

We give you thanks for the blessings we have seen,
for the rapid response of a lighting manufacturer
to create personal protective hoods for medical staff in Southampton, UK,
and offering the design free of charge online;
for time with family,
for the opportunity to reevaluate our choices
and how we allocate the precious resource of time.

We pray for the farmers and people of Africa, Healer of the World,
as they are experiencing a second,
larger surge of locusts.
As the insects rise to plague levels,
they are causing widespread destruction in
Kenya,
Yemen,
Somalia,
Ethiopia,
and other nearby countries.

In the United States we pray for justice
following the killing of Ahmaud Arbery,
a 25 year-old black man out for a run in his neighborhood.
May this tragedy bring a swift end
to the racism and discrimination
which plagues us all in every country of your world.

Also in the United States,
this weekend is a celebration of mothers
and mothering figures in our lives;
many students are completing their studies
under strange circumstances.

Therefore, O God, we offer these prayers:

We come to you today, O God,
honoring the mothers in our lives:
those who give us life,
who nurture us, care for us, love us and guide us.

We pray, Holy One, for women who can not,
or choose not to have children of their own,
women for whom this remembrance sparks pain, grief, and loss.

Comforter of the hurting, we pray for children
who have not known the love of a mother,
the nurture of a loving parent,
and women who have struggled to provide the care their children need.

God of the loving heart, we know
the care and love of mothering
extends beyond the boundaries of blood;
beyond the boundaries of biology;
beyond the boundaries of age;
beyond the boundaries of gender.

Your care and love, Eternal Giver of Life,
extends beyond the boundaries of space and time;
beyond the boundaries of creed and doctrine;
beyond all boundaries the human mind can imagine.

We join our hearts and minds in prayer,
Comfort of sufferers and Companion of the lonely,
seeking your peace and mercy,
your presence and comfort,
for those of us who grieve;
for the sick and hurting
and those who care for them;
for the poor and the oppressed,
and for the advocates who speak for them.

We celebrate with those who have recently or will soon graduate
from high-school, college, and all schools;
that they might feel you at work in their lives;
that they might stay safe
during this time of celebration;
that they might find joy in their future.

We pray for those for whom schooling is difficult,
who are working toward their GED or other exams;
who are struggling with trouble at home;
who must join the work-force too early just to survive.

Guide us, we pray, so that we may do your will,
today and every day.

Form us into a healthy, vital, growing followers of Jesus,
joined in purpose and vision;
united in our search for a deeper relationship with you,
Mighty God,
empowered by our salvation through Christ,
and guided by the presence of the Holy Spirit.

AMEN

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 27 February 2020

Jesus is a rock in a weary land,
A weary land, a weary land;
My Jesus is a rock in a weary land,
A shelter in the time of storm.
African American spiritual

God of forgiveness and mercy, God of grace and truth, we enter this season of Lent with both gratitude and trepidation. Evidence of your reign often seems so sparse that we can barely see it in light of the pain and suffering all around us. And yet, just as we move through this forty days with the knowledge that Easter awaits us on the far side of Good Friday, so too your strength bolsters us to move through this life so surrounded by death with eyes keen for glimpses of the longed-for resurrection.

Even as stock markets fall across the world, we see hope grown in the changes to the government and economy in Ethiopia that allow Ethiopians who have been living in diaspora to return home and open new businesses.

Even as panic and fear spread along with the COVID-19 coronavirus, we see faith grow in the creative ways quarantined people in China are working to connect to each other, like gyms that now offer online workout classes to their members to keep them busy and active during the quarantines.

Even as political unrest increases around the world in places like Haiti and India, we see love grow in big and small ways every day, like for the Rhode Island, USA, toddler who hugged the pizza delivery man, not knowing that the man, who had recently lost his teenage daughter, deeply appreciated the small gesture of thanks and connection.

Help us, O God, to be always aware of your presence. Fill our hearts with longing for you so that, throughout this time of repentance and contemplation, our hope, faith, and love might grow to reflect who you are and who you call us to be. In our waking and in our sleeping, in our stillness and in our movement, make us ever more hopeful, faithful, and loving, so that the world might see the good news of the resurrection and bring glory to you alone.

Amen.