World in Prayer

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019

Sometimes I feel like a motherless child,
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child,
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child,
A long way from home.     – African-American spiritual

Mother-Father God, we come to you when we feel lost. We come to you when we feel discouraged. We come to you when our strength fails us. We come to you when injustice seems to have the upper hand. We come to you on our knees when we can no longer stand on our own.

Hear us, O God, and heal our hearts and our world.

Our hearts are broken as Israel continues to plan to annex one-third of the occupied West Bank, virtually negating any future peace process. Our minds are confused as we seek to understand Japan’s government considering dumping radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear plant clean-up into the Pacific Ocean, even as area fishermen and the government of South Korea protest.

Hear us, O God, and heal our hearts and our world.

Our hearts are broken as we think of the 14-year-old schoolgirl in Kenya who hanged herself after being shamed in class because her uniform had been stained by menstrual blood, in spite of the 2017 law to provide free sanitary products to schoolgirls, and we cry out, “Enough is enough!” Our minds are confused as we see the continued lockdown of Kashmir by India, as food and medical care and supplies reach crucial levels, as men are killed or simply “disappeared,” putting women at high risk for violence, threatening the well-being of countless children.

Hear us, O God, and heal our hearts and our world.

Our hearts are broken as we learn that large parts of this planet have already passed the crucial climate threshold of 2 degrees Celsius of warming, as we see the people of The Bahamas attempting to recover from the devastating effects of category 5 Hurricane Dorian.

Hear us, O God, and heal our hearts and our world.

Mother-Father God, we also come to you when we feel gratitude. We come to you when we see things which give us hope. We come to you when our hearts are overflowing with joy at the actions of our fellow humans which inspire us. We come to you with our arms raised, reaching out for your ever-present hand to hold and guide us.

Hear us, O God, and fill us with hope.

Our hearts are filled by the prospect of justice by a lawsuit filed in Virginia (USA) on behalf of three couples, challenging the decades-long statute that requires a couple to declare their racial backgrounds in order to get a marriage license; challenging, too, the 1924 Virginia Racial Integrity Act known as “The Act to Preserve the Integrity of the White Race.”

Hear us, O God, and fill us with hope.

Our hearts are filled by the fight for human rights which continues with the pro-democratic protesters in Hong Kong, as they call for the intervention of the United States in their months-long struggle for self-rule and self-determination.

Hear us, O God, and fill us with hope.

Our hearts are filled by the actions for human rights of the California legislature which passed a bill that paves the way for Gig economy workers to get the benefit of holiday and sick pay.

Hear us, O God, and fill us with hope.

Our hearts are filled by the Poor Peoples’ Campaign in the United States, led by Rev. Dr. William Barber, as they begin a nine-month tour across the country to organize and mobilize low-income people in the lead-up to the 2020 election.

Hear us, O God, and fill us with hope.

Mother-Father God, as you look upon our world with its sorrows and struggles and still see beauty, help us to see with your loving eyes; to not lose hope in the midst of what seems hopeless; to stand strong and true, filled with your love of justice; to join hands with our siblings everywhere – each and all your children – to make this world the place you intended it to be. Your reign come, O God. Your realm come, and let it begin with each of us.

Let it be so. 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 29, 2019

Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. – 1 Peter 4:8

God of love, you created the world and everything in it. You created the beautiful rain forests, the colorful sunsets, the innumerable animals and leaving creatures, human beings, and most of all you created the love which flows through all of it. We see your hand in every living thing and we mourn as we see your creation lose life in all of its forms. Help us to be comforted by your incredible love and may it wash over every hurting being in this world.

May your love flow through, Oh Lord.

Lord, we ask that you be with your creation in the many places which are being destroyed. We pray for the Amazon rain forest as it burns away causing Brazil to be forever marked by destruction. We pray for all places where fire continually consumes your creation in Siberia, Indonesia, Greece, the United States, Russia, South Africa and so many other places in your world. We ask for your presence to be with your incredible trees, plants, and animals which are dying and in need of your healing. We ask that you be with all of those in the Caribbean and United States who are affected by hurricane Dorian. As your creation fears for the loss of life and homes we ask that you breathe life as well as hope back into your creation.

May your breath flow through, Oh Lord.

God of our hearts, may you release the anxieties which fill our world. Be with the people in Hong Kong as more troops are sent into the streets where your children work, play, and are trying to live. We pray for your people in the Jammu and Kashmir region of India as they contend with detention and as many suffer severe injuries. We ask that your love be spread also to the people at the border in the United States as your dear people suffer and many die as they are turned away. Lord, we ask that your love be spread throughout all regions where your dear people only long for safety and love in a world which is filled with conflict.

May your protection be a shield, Oh Lord.

God of us all, may you open our hearts to be filled with more love than divisiveness. May your love spread out as a calm breath, a protective shield, and a flowing stream. May you teach us all that while we may never know the right thing to do, we always know it is better to share your love rather than spread hate and violence in your creation. As you soothe all of your children’s hearts, may you continually teach us that above all else we shall only spread love which is a comfort to all things in all time.

Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 15, 2019

There is a Love that is deeper than love,
that fills the world,
that fuels the world.

O, give thanks and sing.

From Genesis 18:16-23 (Paraphrased):

The Lord, having heard much outcry about the sins of the two cities, was prepared to destroy them, and all the people in them. But Abraham challenged the Lord: ‘Suppose there are 50 righteous within the city; will you then sweep away the place and not forgive it for the 50 righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked…Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?’ And the Lord said, ‘If I find 50 righteous in the city, I will forgive the whole place for their sake.’ Abraham answered, ‘Suppose five of the 50 righteous are lacking? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?’ And he said, ‘I will not destroy it if I find 45 there.’ “What if there are 40?” asked Abraham. “Or 30? Or 20?” And each time, the Lord conceded. Then Abraham said, ‘Oh do not let the Lord be angry if I speak just once more. Suppose 10 are found there.’ He answered, ‘For the sake of 10 I will not destroy it.’

Holy one, can we – dare we – become like you, willing to be swayed when we want to wipe out an entire group of people?

In today’s world, where Saudi Arabia just declared that all atheists are terrorists,
and two charity-operated boats full of rescued migrants remain off the coast of Italy,
overcrowded and in unsanitary conditions, unable to disembark because of feuding between Italian leaders,
while Kashmiris are once again caught between the territorial claims of India and Pakistan,
and North Korea again refuses peace talks with South Korea…

Holy one, can we – dare we – welcome those who speak with the bravery of Abraham, calling even those who seem as powerful as gods to rediscover their better natures?

We watch as 16-year-old activist Greta Thunberg of Sweden sets sail across the Atlantic on a hyper-efficient yacht, to draw attention to climate change. We read of the court in Belgium that is investigating an orphanage for alleged abduction and trafficking of children from the Democratic Republic of Congo, taking young children from their parents in the guise of giving them a holiday and instead illegally sending them out of the country for adoption. We hear calls for Google to better police the ads they accept, as studies show that Google Maps is overrun with as many as 11 million false business addresses and ads per day.

Holy one, can we – dare we – love like you, forgiving all if there are even a few righteous among them?  

When the Israeli Women’s Under-19 Lacrosse team noticed that their opponents from Kenya were slipping all over the field because they didn’t have shoes with cleats, they didn’t have them removed from the game (even though playing without cleats is against the rules). Instead, they purchased shoes for every single member of the Kenyan team, and delivered them with hugs and friendship.

A group of Palestinian Authority young men wrote a moving message to the family of a 19-year-old Israeli student, after he was killed in a stabbing attack by Hamas-linked terrorists earlier this week.

A man with no family lost his wife in the El Paso, Texas, U.S., shooting two weeks ago, so he invited the public to her funeral – and more than 1000 have said they will attend in support.

Holy one, how can we ever doubt that there are righteous among those near and far to us, among both our friends and foes?

There is a Love that transcends the deepest love,
that fills the world,
that is ready to heal the world.

O, give thanks and sing.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 8, 2019

‘Truly the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him on those who hope in his steadfast love..’ ~ Ps 33:18

‘Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen…..  By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.’  ~ Hebrews 11:1 and 8

God beyond all definition, in our finite humanity we like to pin everything down, delude ourselves into thinking we are in control, we claim to be logical and strain to understand all that is and all we experience.  We forget too often that all things come from you, and of your own do we give you. You are the creator of all life and all that makes our planet and universe.

God of wonder and power: give us the humility to be open to your presence in all its forms.

This world is a beautiful place, yet we humans too often make it fearful, threatening, damaged and damaging for each other and all the creatures and environments you have given us. We recall the devastation following fires, droughts and floods in the Arctic, Zimbabwe, USA, various parts of Europe, India,  and Asia. We give thanks for the scientists coming together to warn world leaders, and all of us, of the calamitous environmental changes wrought by our stripping the planet of resources needed to combat climate change and absorb the carbon contributing to this. May we learn how to nurture and live in harmony with nature, taking only what is essential to life, not our greed.

Come fill us with your light, love and wisdom: so we may be channels for you to lighten the darkness where we are.

As warring madness and violence escalates, even by the young and towards the young, and all who are deemed to be vulnerable and ‘other’, help us to stand up to the bullying tactics in language, attitude and deeds in all walks of life and by leaders as well as people like ourselves.  We remember all those killed and grieving through acts of violence, in  El Paso, TX, and Dayton, Ohio, USA, in Kabul, Afghanistan, in Syria, in Cape Town, South Africa, and so many other countries around the globe.

God, draw near and comfort those who grieve, care for those wounded. Strengthen and encourage those trying to bring peace to our communities and neighborhoods. We give thanks for all those of good heart and love, and those of faith or none who nevertheless live a life of love and peace and reconciliation in all that they do and are.

Lord hear us, and answer our prayers.

We remember those political representatives throughout the world, their families and staff being threatened because of their role in serving their communities. We hear of threats against Members of Parliament in the UK, leaders in the US, in Russia, Australia, Latvia. Sadly the list is endless. Governments too often incite this through false propaganda on social media.  May we learn to engage our brains before spreading rumors and gossip which poison minds and relationships.

Lord hear us, and answer our prayers..

We remember the parents in Russia being threatened with having their children removed from their care – just for participating in peaceful protests allowed under the 1993 Russian Constitution. We also remember the illegal change in the status of Kashmir by India and the continued fighting and tension between them and Pakistan.

Heavenly Father, you take the long-term approach, while so many in politics go for the short-term option, not thinking out the possible consequences of their words and actions.

Mothering God, you gave us life. Teach us to value it in all whom we meet and all that we seek to do.  May this be incorporated into all our institutions and goals.

Lord hear us, and answer our prayers.

In the words of Martin Luther King, ‘all that it takes for evil to flourish is for good people to do nothing.’  May this truth enter our beings. Forgive us when we are judgmental and full of unrighteous belief that we are right and others have to change to be like us.  Instead let each one of us change, to be like you and as revealed especially to us in the incarnate Christ.

Purify our hearts, and by your Holy Spirit, transform us into people of love as you are Love. Teach us to live and love all whom you have created, and all that you have created. May we touch each other and the earth lightly as sacred gifts from you. You God are our Rock, our Life and everlasting love. AMEN

 

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 18 July 2019

As a mother comforts her child,
so I will comfort you;
you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
Isaiah 66:13

Mother God,

How grateful we are, Lord, for your constant presence in our lives as we walk as little children on this earth.  As we look around this world and see the awful things which happen to your children, we ask that you remind us to be more like curious babes who look at their parents with love.  Help us to adore you as a newborn baby looks at their mother for the first time.

Teach your children to love you, Lord.

God, we pray for all those who suffer in this world from disease and malnutrition.  As your dear children die in the DR Congo from the second largest outbreak of the ebola virus, we ask that you be with those suffering as they watch their family and friends die around them.  Soothe the cries of those suffering and heal your dear children.

Heal your children, Lord.

God, we ask that you be with those who have no place to call home.  We ask that you be with all immigrants and refugees who suffer and live in fear.  We pray that your loving presence may always be with your children who cry out in fear of not knowing what may happen to them next.

Be with your children, Lord.

We pray for your children who are experiencing very warm temperatures and are suffering from lack of water due to droughts in India, Zimbabwe, France, and many other places your children call home.  May the water return to nourish and heal the babes who are parched with thirst and are in need of new life.

Soothe your children, Lord.

We are your children, Lord.  We come to you in gratitude for all of your children and new little babies who are only just learning about this world.  Guide us on your path so that we might be ever closer to you. May you always be our Mother God, and may you teach us how to be the best children we can be.  We know, Lord, that you are the ultimate giver of life and love. May we always come to you, dearest parent of us all, so that we might receive your nourishing love this day and always.

Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, June 13, 2019

Wherever you are right now, take a moment to feel God’s presence and center yourself in that presence.

Holy One, our faith journeys reveal new things to us each and every day. Each journey is different, and each journey brings forth feelings of both faith and doubt, of both righteous anger and of peace. Help us to recognize that no matter what we may be feeling in this very instant, You are with us.

Creator of all life, remind us that we are created in Your own image. And that each and every person we come across is also created in Your image. Fearfully and wonderfully made by you. As we pray for the world, may we realize that these are not just places, but that they are made up of people who are beloved by You.

May your presence be felt among the protesters in Hong Kong, who have been met with tear gas and rubber bullets and arrests. May they be safe and unharmed as they stand up for justice. We also lift up prayers for the justice system in China as a whole, and for the Chinese government. May it be guided gy righteousness rather than fear or control.

May your presence be felt by the thousands affected by the drought in India who have had to evacuate their homes and villages. And for the ongoing problems of drought year after year in these same areas. We pray for your land and for your people, that they may find some aid and comfort in community.

May your presence be felt by all those who have been shut out of houses of worship because of who they love. On this 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising in New York City, we recognize how far we have come and how far we still need to go toward equal rights for the LGBTQ+ Community. We forget that in many parts of the world, homosexuality is still punishable by prison or even death. We lift up the people of Botswana, where same-sex relationships have just been decriminalized, and pray for the day where Love is Love all over the world.

May your presence be felt by our children, as we pray specifically for the 5-year-old who died of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the 6 migrant children who have recently died in custody at the United States-Mexico border. May we learn to value all of our children, who are our greatest hope for the future.

And, finally, we pray for all those places in the world that so desperately need to feel Your presence, O God. May they feel the presence of Justice; may they feel the presence of Compassion; may they feel the presence of Love. And may we each be vessels of Your presence all the days of our lives. Amen.

World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, 6 June, 2019

“God of grace and God of glory
on thy people pour thy power…
Grant us wisdom
grant us courage
for the living of these days.”
(Hymn, Harry Emerson Fosdick)

Holy God, we sing our hymn of faith with faith, sometimes in the spirit of the modern proverb to “fake it ‘till we make it”. Our hymns, our prayers, our sermon, and teachings and studies, our very worship strive to reach your grace, your glory, your power, your wisdom and your courage, for the living of these days.

Lord God, in these days we have seen the pomp and circumstance in England among President, Queen, and Prime Minister. We hear the echoes of hope and horror from China’s 1989 Tiananmen Square. We remember the sacrifices of D-Day when so many entered the Valley of the Shadow of Death, yearning to end a great evil. We marvel at the exercise in democracy in India, and yet worry about democracy’s fragility in the face of the most strident fears. We watch the migration of hopes and dreams across borders and seas, escaping violence and poverty and oppression. We hear the voices of protest and the response of gunfire in Nicaragua, Sudan, and Venezuela.

Loving God, yes, we see and hear and feel and marvel and worry and watch. And pray. We pray that your Holy presence will be known in every circumstance. We pray that your grace, glory, and power, of which we sing so hopefully, will bless those whose lives are so frail, or empty, or lost.

And we pray that you will grant us wisdom, and grant us courage, for the living of these days. For those in power and those without, for the 1% and not, for the privileged and the denied, for the believers and the doubters, for the whole and the broken, be our Redeemer, our Messiah, our Savior, our Strong Deliverer, our Trinity of all that is Holy. Amen.

World News The Week in Prayer- Thursday, May 30. 2019

(6/1/19 Apologies to our readers. Due to my own sheer stupidity – aka, forgetting to restart the emails after changing a setting – the prayers didn’t email on schedule this week. Mea culpa!  -Andee, World in Prayer founder)

Holy One,In our prayers, we seek you and in our praying, we feel the air stirred by your Spirit.

Our spirits rise to meet you, and even in the rising, we find you descending as a dove to meet us.

Our hearts drop into disappointment, and even in the falling, we find your wings beneath us, lifting and carrying us forth.

Reveal your Spirit to all who need your presence. Carry us forth to pray for the world.

Reveal your Spirit to those who live in Israel, Britain, India, and other places contorted by frustrations with leaders and wounded by political maneuverings.

Reveal your Spirit to those who live in Nigeria, as they pass the 4 year anniversary of the kidnapping of the Chibok girls and as kidnapping blooms as a business.

Reveal your Spirit to the family and friends of Terrill Thomas, who died of profound dehydration in a United States jail cell, after officials turned off his water supply; reveal yourself to all those who care of someone being held in prison or a detention center—and reveal your Spirit to the prisoners themselves.

Reveal your Spirit to those in Bangladesh riven with despair, anger, and grief over the death of Nusrat Jahan Rafi and the sixteen men charged with killing her.

Reveal your Spirit to those negotiating and debating over the increasingly tense relationship between Iran and United States, Israel and Gaza, and other places of fear, loathing, and historic violence.

Reveal your Spirit in the walking and the words of Hyppolite Ntigurirwa, a genocide survivor, as he walks through his country of Rwanda, hoping to unite the country in remembering and healing from the 1994 genocide.

Reveal your Spirit to those people whom we do not name or even know, but who are held by love in your heart.In all these places, make your presence known.To all these people, reveal your self.

Bear each beloved child on the wings of your abiding Spirit, until all might realize that, no matter what happens, you will never let them go. We need you, O Holy One. So we pray. Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 23 May 2019

Creator of the universe, the same yesterday, today and forever and yet new every morning:

You made the world in beauty.  Open our hearts to your power that moves around us and between us and within us, until your glory is revealed in our love of all communities. Transform us and all communities by your justice and compassion, and bring healing to all that is broken.

We pray for those who fail to make headlines:

  • those caught up in Ebola crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo;
  • those who, least able to afford it, suffer the effects of trade tariffs through dearer clothes and shoes;
  • those who, living with threat of job loss caused by over production, are made to feel it is their fault as we remember especially the 25,000 connected to British Steel in Great Britain; and
  • those who live with the tornado season, the fire season, the alternation of drought and flood.

As we fail to notice the aftermath of violence and hatred on our streets and fomented in hearts, open our eyes and ears so that truth might not go unspoken and good news might not go unheeded.

In all the interconnectedness of politics, elections, and economics which go unnoticed when no one has the courage to speak out, the interests of multi-nationals muzzle truly free speech with non-disclosure.  We give thanks for the everyday, unheralded, heroes:

  • those who give of their time, talents, and treasures to support Mozambique following Cyclone Idae and Cyclone Kenneth;
  • those who rush into areas even as terrorist attacks are happening;
  • those who bring justice to minorities despite the prevailing social climate in their region, such as the mother who fought for justice after communal riots in Gujarat, India and the judges whose decisions brought that justice; and
  • those who seek rational answers in the face of superstition and fear, such as the scientists in France investigating the seismic activity off the small island of Mayotte.

We give thanks for those who are never satisfied with the accepted wisdom and want to research further, to know more, to understand.

We pray that your Kingdom of justice and peace will come as we learn more and understand each other better.   Amen.

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