Iraq

World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs. January 16, 2020

Dear Friends in Prayer,

Did you ever have one of those sleepless nights? When, after three hours of perfectly wonderful, refreshing sleep, you are suddenly awake, wide awake, for no apparent reason? And when, despite watching a couple of shows on your Kindle Fire (or whatever you resort to during wakeful hours), your mind is still filled with the fires in Australia…. the opioid crisis… the volcanoes erupting in the Philippines and Mexico…. the families being separated at the border between the U.S. and Mexico…. the refugees being rejected from more countries than we can count…. hungry, homeless people… hard-working families, struggling to pay their monthly bills… people with pre-existing health conditions, unable to pay their medical bills… police and military people and first responders committing suicide because of what they have seen and heard and done… children living day-to-day with food insecurity… wars and threats of war in Libya, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen and other countries… teenagers being bullied by someone who is telling them they are not enough…. people fleeing gang violence in Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras… poor women seeking family planning advice and unable to find it because clinics are being closed… preschoolers with no one to read to them because everyone in their family is working so hard just to stay above water, or never had a chance to learn to read themselves… LGBTQ teens being rejected by their families for being who they are… churches whose doors are narrow and their welcome conditional…. extremist religions like the “Christian” sect in Panama that killed seven indigenous persons in a ritual intended to force them to “repent their sins”… the oceans being polluted with our discarded plastics…. the discovery that the million+ common murres (seabirds) that died between 2015 and 2016 probably were killed by a blob of hot water in the Pacific Ocean (what will global warming do to our furred and finned and feathered friends?)…. those who continue to deny climate change, in spite of the increasing evidence and the warnings of environmental scientists… the impeachment trial of U.S. President Donald Trump…. Russian President Vladimir Putin trying to wrest control from the Russian government and turn the country into a dictatorship… the 2020 elections which will determine the paths of our countries for years to come….

Did you ever have one of those nights when every attempt at prayer seems to fall on empty ears…. when God seems far away and you feel very alone? And when you utter the Serenity Prayer for the tenth time, and find that your heart and mind are settling in, and you finally feel bathed in, encompassed by God’s grace, and sleep feels possible once again?

If you have, dear friend, know you are not alone…. That the writer of this week’s prayers, and all who pray them, and many other wayfaring pilgrims have been and are with you in the darkness, holding out a trembling hand to clasp yours, and together, we’ll make it through the night, God-in-flesh for each other.

Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – January 2, 2020

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above.
James 1:17

Oh Lord, there are many things that concern us and call us to prayer.

We open our hearts to you in gratitude and wonder.

We pray for those who rage and are quick to anger, for those who seem to be eaten up by intolerance. We pray for those who express their contempt and fury in violence to themselves and others. We grieve at those who have lost their lives to aggression due to fighting, war, criminal violence, and terrorism. We call out the names of nations so rife with conflict, so often in the news — Afghanistan, Mexico, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, South Sudan, India, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Central African Republic, Pakistan, and the Philippines. We call out the nations that make the weapons of war that fuel decades-long conflict and destruction: US, Russia, France, Germany, Spain, South Korea, China, the United Kingdom, Israel, Italy, and the Netherlands and many more. Help us to see beyond the headlines to stand up for the women and children, the families, the victims, those starving and displaced. We call out for your mercy. Safeguard the journalists who bring the news, relate the stories of the imprisoned, the refugee, those made invisible by war, bigotry, and hatred. Safeguard the whistleblowers. Sustain us as we examine our own hearts, shed our own contempt and learn the practice of peacemaking in our homes and communities.

This season can be a time of anxiety as well as anticipation. We can sense tension and disharmony instead of peace. Many feel depression and despair instead of wellbeing and belonging. Help us to understand and accept those who suffer in mind, body, and spirit. They may be close or far away. Help us to learn compassion and to practice generosity, consideration, kindness and mutual regard. We pray for those who are without homes, who are estranged from their families who feel alone and isolated. May we grow in our practice of charity and give beyond counting. Guide each of us to do the right thing in our own special way for the need is great.

As the past year turns into this new decade in the tumultuous millennium help us to shed despair and the sense of heaviness that the need is unending and insurmountable. Sustain us with the words of healing. May we be reminded that around the world literacy is increasing, childhood deaths are declining and people are being lifted out of deep poverty as never before known.

May the hope born in Advent light the way through the minutes, hours, days and months to come.

May your love-come-down-among-us strengthen and steady our steps, telling us that we are not alone.

Amen.

World News in Prayer – Thursday, 26th December 2019

As we approach the end of another year, we tend to reflect and look back over the last year or decade but unless this informs our choices and behaviours going forward it is in danger of being an empty and futile activity. So many have expressed frustration, anger or disconnectedness with the political process in so many countries for a variety of reasons but there is an upsurge in an expressed awareness of our shared humanity and planet and the need to protect this for our future survival.

Lord God, hear us and guide us to open our hearts and minds to follow you rather than the latest demagogue or social media influencer.

In the Incarnation, you came as a helpless baby, in an occupied country, to a skilled artisan and his fiancée, not even married. The family became refugees to save your life. No palace or big country pile, no soft, cushy number but a life of graft and community, growing and learning; but it had purpose, dignity, time spent building a relationship with you, love and service. Galilee was not a high status and sought out part of the country, but in the difficulties and challenges Jesus grew in years, knowledge and understanding. Lord, more people in the world today experience similar circumstances than the much vaunted and sought-after high income, high consumption, cushioned life of the powerful and elites.

Lord God, forgive us when we fail to recognise and value the dignity and humanity of all who share our small planet. So easily anything could happen to any of us, if not already done so.

: those who are homeless.

: those living with physical or mental illness or addictions.

: those struggling to make ends meet and even put food on the table, clothes on their backs, heating and lighting, clean water and sanitation, education for their children, health care and safety from violence. We name among them those in Yemen, the refugees and stateless in Europe, Mexico, the Asian sub-continent.

: our neighbors, when often their distress is hidden behind closed doors

: those who slip through the safety nets (where they exist) for those in need,

: those out of work and finding jobs hard to find especially ones which provide regular income and a sense of worth and dignity; we name those in Iraq freed from ISIS but feeling abandoned by the corruption endemic in their government systems relying on charitable micro start-ups.

: those facing economic and natural disasters. Among them those in Australia, the US, the Philippines, Greenland, Vanuatu and other low-lying countries in Micronesia.

: those suffering injustice and living in fear or war; including Chile, Yemen, Syria, and Myanmar

: the seemingly world-wide endemic of violence against women and girls: we give thanks for those highlighting this and struggling to make changes often at great personal danger and cost in India, France, Spain, and so many other countries.

: those in power who seek self-aggrandisement at the expense of belittling and dehumanising others who generally have less access to the megaphone of the media.

We give thanks for the courage and endurance of those politicians, lawyers, community advocates and others of faith and none shining the light of truth challenging these life-sapping deceits. We name among others those in China, Hong Kong, Russia, Venezuela, the UK, the US, Mexico.

Lord God, we pray that the way of the Prince of Peace may prevail. This newborn babe, grew into the Servant King living daily in his actions and attitudes the equal worth and vulnerabilities of all people springing from a love for all, and all your creation.

We give thanks for the many who share their time, energy, gifts and skills in enabling others to survive and hopefully start to achieve their God-given potential.

May the hope brought by the Incarnation inspire us.

May the joy of the new-life witnessed by so many, give us optimism and the challenge of a new way of living the future.

In the words of one of the verses of the Austrian carol, “Still, still, still”,

“Love, love, love. No greater love than his;
While ‘Christ the Lord’ the angels name him,
We with fervent hearts acclaim him.
Love, love, love. No greater love than his.”

AMEN

World News this Week in Prayer – Thursday, 24 October 2019

Creator God, we give thanks for the privilege of praying. Hear us as we try to pray for our world.

Our world seems to be surround by protests.
We pray for those in Chile and Ecuador who protest against income inequality.
We pray for those who protest about corruption in Iraq, Egypt, and Lebanon.
We pray for those who protest for political freedom as in Hong Kong, China, and Barcelona, Spain.
We pray for those who protest activities leading to climate change from New Zealand to Europe.

In all these protests and many others friendships form and strengthen. We give thanks that it takes time to grow old friends. We give thanks for the new friends we meet today for the first time.

We pray for those who need friends, for whatever reason, as we recognise the interweaving of the causes of these protests. Help us to share the friendship of Jesus who saw income inequality, corruption, political constraint and the devastation of human action and overturned tables in protest.

Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, October 3, 2019

God,

We lift in prayer this week:

Political leaders and all people in Hong Kong, China; North Korea and surrounding neighbors; Baghdad, Iraq; Paris, France; the United States of America and all Central American countries;
The family of Botham Jean and all impending fall-out from the sentencing of Amber Guyger;
The families of those who died following a WWII B-17 bomber crash in Connecticut, U.S.;
Those involved in the process of the impeachment inquiry in the U.S.;

The threads do not wane, the ever-present dangers of living are real, the power to create chaos and confusion exists. So, come into these places and speak your word that will rip open the threats, siphon off the danger and tame the ungodly, unjust powers of the world.

We lift in prayer this week our local and community concerns: (spoken and silent prayers may be offered)

Make your presence known, God, in this brave space and all spaces. Present to us calmness in our need to distort, that we may have the courage to depart our seduced world where we call evil good and good evil.

We thank you for the yes’s in our lives and with a grateful heart we pray, Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, March 28, 2019

Holy One,

In the dark of the night when tears become our prayers, we believe the Spirit intercedes for us, breathing through our lament.

In the light of the day when fears hushes our voice, we believe that Christ listens to all that we carry in deep within our hearts.

In the midst of life’s cacophony, we believe that you draw us close, even when we struggle to draw close to you.

Not a word is on our lips that you do not know completely. And yet we must pray. We must offer up the yearnings and desires of our heart. We must pray for the world as it is and name the world that we long to see, the one that lives and moves and has its fullness in You, in your love and grace, peace and justice.

Thus, hear our prayers, oh loving, living Lord. Imperfect and incomplete as they might be, hear our prayers and make your presence known to us now.

Hear our prayers for the southern parts of Africa living with the aftermath of Cyclone Idai. We lift up to you all those who are struggling with flooding and fires, devastation, disease, and death. Be with the people of Mozambique, Malawi, and Zimbabwe as they strive to rebuild their homes, their lives, their sense of well-being. Be with aid workers, doctors, civilians, and all those who are working alongside each other to bring healing help.

Hear our prayers for those living within tumultuous and transitioning political systems around the world, including Britain, India, and Venezuela. Where people are driven by anxiety, bring forth signs of your hope. Where rage and hatred seem to have the last word, speak again your astounding word of peace. We pray for those who are mighty in power and privilege, who are making decisions for those who are the lowly, the lost, and the least among us.

Hear our prayers for those living in the aftermath of the shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand. We pray for all those who step into their mosques, synagogues, and places of worship with trepidation. May all places of prayer become safe spaces for those who need them. We pray for those whose daily lives have been upended by violence in the past week, including in Yemen, Iraq, Gaza, and Israel. Be with parents, children, students, and civilians who live in the midst of gun violence, from villages in central Mali to subdivisions in the United States.

Through all these prayers, we rediscover again that we are not the saviors of the world. You are. We lift up our hearts to you, praying that our hands and feet might further the work of your kin-dom, today, tomorrow, now, and forever.

Amen.

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

“Safe in the shadow of the Lord

beneath His hand and power,

I trust in Him,

my fortress and my tower.”

– paraphrase of Ps 91 by Timothy Dudley-Smith

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, June 21, 2018

World Refugee Day was observed on June 20. Let us remember that a person’s dignity, worth, or humanity does not depend on their citizenship. May we be filled with the deep understanding that Jesus calls us to welcome and love the stranger.

Let us pray:

God of compassion, we are torn apart by the cruelty Your people are facing at the United States–Mexico border. We pray for the successful reuniting of families after thousands of children were separated from their parents and sent to “tender age” shelters in the US. We are grateful for the courage of those who are willing to stand up against injustice, like American, Frontier, Southwest, and United Airlines, who are refusing to transport these children away from their families.

God of love, our prayers are with those in Hungary, where parliament passed laws that criminalize offering help to immigrants seeking asylum. We pray that what is legal becomes more like what is just.

God of every Nation, we pray for Italy, as one of its Ministers vows to count and expel thousands of the nomadic Roma minority. And for the more than 600 refugees who risked their lives in search of safety and were turned away in Italy last week. We are thankful that they were accepted into Spain. May all countries be moved toward hospitality.

God of all people, we lift our hearts in prayer for the 20 war orphans in Baghdad, Iraq, who were invited to a restaurant for Eid al-Fitr, their fast breaking from Ramadan, but were rejected at the luxury shopping mall it was inside. May Your love move us to open our arms instead of closing our doors.

God of reconciliation, lead us to a day when we no longer see each other as aliens, as illegal, or as anything other than Your beloved children. May we know that all people are Your people.

We pray for the day when peace fills our hearts, our world, our universe, that these prayers may be made real. This we ask in your many Holy names. Amen.
——
Because of our many Hispanic readers, we are including a Spanish translation of this week’s prayers.

El Día Mundial de los Refugiados se celebró el 20 de junio. Recordemos que la dignidad, el valor o la humanidad de una persona no dependen de su ciudadanía.. Que seamos llenos del profundo entendimiento de que Jesús nos llama a recibir y amar al extraño.
Dejanos rezar:
Dios de compasión, somos destrozados por la crueldad que tu pueblo enfrenta en la frontera entre Estados Unidos y México. Oremos por la reunificación exitosa de las familias después de que miles de niños fueron separados de sus padres y enviados a refugios de “tierna edad” en los Estados Unidos.
Estamos agradecidos por la valentía de aquellos que están dispuestos a luchar contra la injusticia, como American, Frontier, Southwest y United Airlines, que se niegan a transportar a estos niños lejos de sus familias.
Dios de amor, nuestras oraciones están con aquellos en Hungría, donde el parlamento aprobó leyes que penalizan a ofrecer ayuda a los inmigrantes que buscan asilo. Oremos para que lo que es legal se vuelva más como lo que es justo.
Dios de cada nación, rezemos por Italia, ya que uno de sus ministros jura contar y expulsar a miles de la minoría romaní nómada. Y para los más de 600 refugiados que arriesgaron sus vidas en busca de seguridad y fueron rechazados en Italia la semana pasada. Estamos agradecidos de que hayan sido aceptados en España. Que todos los países se muevan hacia la hospitalidad.
Dios de todas las personas, elevemos nuestros corazones en oración por los 20 huérfanos de guerra en Bagdad, Iraq, que fueron invitados a un restaurante para Eid al-Fitr, su ayuno del Ramadán, pero fueron rechazados en el centro comercial de lujo que estaba dentro. Que tu amor nos mueva a abrir nuestros brazos en lugar de cerrar nuestras puertas.
Dios de la reconciliación, llévanos un día en el que ya no nos veamos como extraterrestres, como ilegales o como cualquier cosa que no seamos Tus queridos hijos. Que sepamos que todas las personas son tu gente.
Oremos por el día en que la paz llene nuestros corazones, nuestro mundo, nuestro universo, para que estas oraciones se hagan realidad. Esto lo pedimos en sus muchos y santos nombres. Amén.