Iraq – Page 3

World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., April 14, 2016

“While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.”
–Luke 24:15-16

Risen one, you are here. Here, as we look at the video released this week by the Boko Haram group in Nigeria, that appears to show some of the 276 girls kidnapped two years ago in Chibok are still alive. You are here, among those girls – and among the 400 others kidnapped seven months later in the Nigerian village of Damasak, an attack that virtually no one heard of until now, because the survivors were too frightened of reprisals to speak out. You are here, among the kidnapped, among the parents, among the kidnappers.

Risen one, be known to us in the breaking of the bread.

Risen one, you are here. Here, as we read a UNICEF report issued this week that says that over the past two years, 1 in every 5 Boko Haram suicide bombers has been a child, three-quarters of them girls, many drugged. You are here as we see videos and interviews of ISIS child soldiers – 7 and 8 year olds, laughing, thinking killing other human beings with a rifle is as much fun, as much a source of pride, as building a tower of Legos or hitting a softball home run. Child soldiers – in Jordan, Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine. You are here, laughing, killing, playing, dying.

Risen one, be known to us in the breaking of our hearts.

Risen one, you are here. Here, in Attawapiskat, a Canadian First Nation town of barely 2,000 people in Northern Ontario, where some 28 people, mostly teens, attempted suicide in March, with 11 further suicide attempts just this past weekend. You are here among the desolate, the hopeless, those filled with unbearable pain. You are here among those trying to stem the tide – family members and friends hastily removing knives and guns and medications from reach; the mental health workers hastily dispatched to the area; the police now on 24-hour suicide watch patrols.

Risen one, be known to us in the breaking of our dreams.

Risen one, you are here. Here, in Mozambique, which this week announced a national plan to end child marriage, a practice which affects nearly half of the country’s girls. You are here, in the girls as young as nine who are taught how to please a man in bed. You are here, in the men who take them as brides, and the parents who assent. You are here in those campaigning to break the cycle by improving girls’ access to education, reproductive health services, and legal reforms.

Risen one, be known to us in the breaking of our ways.

Risen one, you are here. Here, in The Philippines, which this week launched the world’s first public dengue immunization program, with the goal of reaching 1 million students across the country this year. Dengue, also known as “breakbone fever”, has spread rapidly around the world in recent decades, and about half the world’s population is now at risk. You are here in the healthy, the suffering, the ill, the recovering; in the doctors and caregivers and researchers.

Risen one, be known to us in the breaking of our bodies.

Risen one, you are here. Here, in India, where a stray firework from a nearby celebration exploded at a Hindu temple in Kerala, killing more than 100 people. You are here, in the village of Nanniyode 50 miles away, where more than half of the 500 families either own or work in the fireworks manufacturing businesses located there. Here, where in preparation for upcoming Indian festivals, this should be peak production season, but all the factories are shuttered, and many fear they will lose their livelihoods.

Risen one, be known to us in the breaking of our lives.

Risen one, you are here. Here, among the farmers in the drought-torn nation of Burkina Faso. You are here, among the “plant doctors” trained as part of the innovative international Building Resilience to Climate Extremes and Disasters (BRACED) program. You are here, as the farmers stand in line in the market places to get the advice of the plant doctors on how to keep their plants – and families – alive, despite the drought.

Risen one, be known to us in the breaking of our land.

Risen one, you are here. Here, in Vatican City, where this week the participants of a first-of-its-kind Vatican conference have bluntly rejected the Catholic church’s long-held teachings on just war theory, saying they have too often been used to justify violent conflicts and the global church must reconsider Jesus’ teachings on nonviolence. Archbishop John Baptist Odama of Gulu, Uganda, one of the participants, said, “It is out of date for our world of today. We have to sound this with a strong voice,” said the archbishop. “Any war is a destruction. There is no justice in destruction. … It is outdated.” Risen one, you are here. Here, in the call to non-violence. Here, in the nations still embattled. Here, in the nations still suffering the aftermath of wars that ended decades or even centuries ago. Here, in the fearful. Here, in the enraged. Here, in the hope-bearers. Here, in the peace-makers.

“When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him.”
–Luke 24:30-31

Risen one, be known to us in the dawning of our joys.
Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, January 21, 2016

Jesus, in the synagogue, read
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

(Luke 4:18-19)

Forgive us when we are so languid in our Christian life we fail to understand that each one is called to do what we can within this mandate. Like some sort of katabatic air, we seek to cool down the Christian fire for fighting unthinking, immoral and unethical behaviour.

We pray for the members of the Episcopal Church, and all branches of the Anglican Communion, following the mix of compassion and disagreement at the meeting of Anglican primates. We remember the letter to the Corinthians, “For in the one Spirit we were all baptised into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.”

We give praise for the serendipity which led doctors in Sheffield, England to discover that patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) are showing “remarkable” improvements after receiving a treatment usually used for cancer.

We are flabbergasted that at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, 80 or more pharmaceutical companies called on governments to develop new ways of paying them to develop antibiotics. The world faces more and more diseases which are resistant to standard antibiotics, yet disgruntled companies say the value of antibiotics “does not reflect the benefits they bring to society.”

A report by the UN aid mission in Iraq, obtained by the United States government, states that the so-called Islamic state/Daesh is holding over 3,500 girls and women, predominantly Yazidi, as sex slaves. We give pray for those strong enough to face death rather than pander to concupiscence.

This week, NASA scientists reported that 2015, partly due to the El Nino event, was the hottest year on record – already raising world average temperature by one of the two degrees the recent Paris agreement projected. We wonder whence this came and how it can end.

Creator God, may we proclaim your good news to the world, in the ways we are each able to and in ways which can be heard by those around us. May the fire of your spirit live within us declaring your glory, the year of your favour. Amen.

World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, January 7, 2016

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;…”
“I have summoned you by name; you are mine. Do not be afraid, for I am with you;” Isaiah 43: 1 & 5

“Why did he come? He came down that we may have love, … peace, … joy.” Cameroon (Africa) Carol

As we celebrate the Baptism of Christ our Orthodox brothers and sisters, those of the Coptic Church in Egypt, Ethiopia and elsewhere in Africa are celebrating Christmas (7th January). We give thanks for the insights and depth of spirituality they share with us giving differing insights into our shared faith. We pray for those suffering oppression in Egypt, Somalia and Ethiopia as well as those millions of Iraqi Christians together with many Muslims, Yazidis and other faith groups, forced to flee the barbaric violence of Islamic State fundamentalists. So many refugees are starving in Iraq, in Syria and so many other places in our beautiful shared blue planet. As you and your parents were refugees, spur us to care for our brothers and sisters who are homeless, jobless, lonely, without hope or resources – and children going barefoot and hungry, often in deep snow.

Why did you come? Lord, you came down that we may have peace. Let peace start where we are and with those around us and reach out to those in need. Lord, hear us and help us.

Lord, forgive us for misusing and twisting the wonderful truths you have revealed to us especially through the Incarnation. Help us to understand the radical re-thinking of what is powerful in your eyes, a life of love.

We give thanks for the inspired approach in Nigeria de-radicalizing Boko Haram members in prison using sport (banned by BH), simple math education and teaching them how to think for themselves and not just parrot-like repeat teachings whether religious or political. Continue to help all those working with people seduced by false messengers that truth and justice will prevail. We rejoice for all opportunities given to those who feel as though they are nothing. Help us to value each other, encourage and enable each of your children – regardless of creed, color, culture or gender – to be the best they possibly can be. We give thanks, too, for the efforts of President Obama of the US to increase the responsible ownership of guns and reduce the epidemic of killing, especially of our young people. Sometimes we find it hard to recognize the need to limit our own wishes or desires for the greater good of all, especially the voiceless.

Why did you come? Lord, you came down that we may have peace. Let peace start where we are and with those around us and reach out to those in need. Lord, hear us and help us.

A few days into a new year and already there is economic turmoil with chaos in the China market hitting global share values. Help us to make economic decisions based on justice and equity, without exploiting others less protected than ourselves so we can have greater “convenience” in food, clothes, technology, and so many areas of our lives. We give thanks that Pope Francis is fighting to abolish child labor wherever it takes place describing it as an “authentic plague” even when in Uganda some children, to pay for their schooling, are being exploited on church-owned land leased by tea companies. Help us with the complexities of life.

The news continues: different countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iran, representing separate strands of Islam, fight each other and seek to obtain Africa’s loyalty through trade agreements. In Libya, police recruits are bombed and murdered. China seeks to encroach on neighboring countries’ territories. Questions simmer over a possible North Korean hydrogen bomb explosion. And the routine violence against women is still a major issue in many parts of the world especially in Asia, Latin America and Africa.

Remind us of “the apocalypse of God’s love”, in Archbishop Justin Welby’s memorable phrase: the Incarnation, Love born as one of us, that totally explodes the myths supporting our cruelty towards each other rather than the challenging and life-changing as well as life-affirming choice to live according to God’s rule – of loving one another as He has and continues to love us.

Why did you come? Lord, you came down that we may have love. Let love start where we are and with those around us and reach out to those in need. As we try with your help to do this, reveal to us your joy. Lord, hear us and help us.

AMEN.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, December 17, 2015

Almighty God, we worship you, as you make your way into the world as a weak and vulnerable infant. Prepare us to receive you in our country, in our home, and in our heart.

We pray for all those who are weak and vulnerable, and who need help from those around them. As we look at them, may we see you, incarnate, given to us.

We pray for all refugees. We pray for those fleeing their homes due to warfare and strife. We pray for refugees from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Eritrea. We pray for the children from El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and other Central American countries that flee to the United States where they are held in detention.

We pray for mothers and children, for parents and step-parents. We pray for those traveling home, that they may find a place of welcome and love. We pray for those who suffer abuse, that they may find a place of safety. We pray for those who are homeless, that they may find shelter. And we give you thanks for all those who work to care for those in any need or trouble.

Almighty God, we thank you for coming into this world, in the child Jesus, and in our lives. We pray that we may receive you both in triumph and in peace, and that we may serve you all our days.

Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, November 19

Violence is what happens when we don’t know what else to do with our suffering. – Parker Palmer

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. – Hebrews 13:2

“Do not be afraid,” the messenger from God said to Mary. “Do not be afraid,” the messenger from God said to Joseph. And time after time throughout the scriptures, the message of God to God’s people has been the same – “Do not be afraid”…and yet we are. We look around us at this world in upheaval and we are afraid – of weather and war, of terrorists and refugees, of everything and everyone unfamiliar to us, convincing ourselves and each other that if only we keep “them” out, if only we fight harder or make war more diligently or create ever more deadly weapons, we will be safe.

Oh God of Love and Hope and Healing, how much you must despair when we, your children, behave as if we had never heard your words of truth and comfort: Do not be afraid. And so we come to you, the Source, the Hope, the Love, the Truth, falling to our knees, even as we pray for your children – our sisters and brothers in so many places.

Out of our fear-stained hope, we pray for those killed in suicide bombings this week in Paris, France, in Nigeria, and in Baghdad, Iraq.

Out of our fear-seared hope, we pray for those at the mercy of recent atrocities in Syria, Palestine and Israel; in the Central African Republic; in Pakistan and Myanmar and inner-city America; and in other places too numerous to name.

Out of our fear-marked hope, we pray for those affected by the recent earthquakes in Japan and Kansas in the United States.

Out of our tear-stained hope, we pray for open hearts and minds and doors and arms, that all those who have had to leave the homelands they love might find welcome and hospitality and loving care in far-away places, with people they do not know, but who will love them in your name and for your sake.

God of Love and Hope and Healing, in our fear we turn to you. Open our ears to hear your words of truth and comfort: Do not be afraid, for I am with you.

And so, as the days shorten, as the darkness surrounds us and Fear threatens to keep us in its thrall, we pray, Gracious God, that your light might surround and fill us and all your children, in every corner of the globe, creating within each of us a space of welcome and acceptance and hope. Amen and amen.

The night is dark. Let our fears of the darkness of the world and of our own lives rest in you. The night is quiet. Let the quietness of God’s peace enfold us, all dear to us, and all who have no peace. – A New Zealand Prayer Book

World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs. Sept. 10, 2015

Go down, Moses, way down in Egypt land. Tell all Pharaohs to, “let My people go.”

Oh God, our God, and God of every suffering refugee, we join in prayer to ask for the wisdom and the courage to name the pharaohs that make life intolerable for so many people in the world. We recognize that:

for lack of safety,
for lack of opportunity,
for lack of basic life essentials,
for lack of food,
for lack of water,
for lack of political representation,
for lack of leadership without corruption,

thousands and millions of people are driven to abandon the homes they’ve known. They are driven to risk their own lives. They are even driven to risk the lives of their children.

We pray for the situations in Syria, in Afghanistan, in Eritrea, in Nigeria, in Pakistan, in Somalia, in Iraq, in Sudan, in Bangladesh, and in Gambia, countries that as of this week have produced 90% of the refugees who have crossed the Mediterranean Sea seeking refuge. We have seen the inadequate craft that have carried them. We have seen how overloaded the boats are. We know that thousands have died mainly by drowning in the attempt to escape. We pray for the other places in the world where the local pharaohs make life intolerable and drive people to attempt the indescribable.

When Israel was in Egypt land oppressed so hard they could not stand, you sent Moses to thunder, “Let My people go.”

In some manner we pray you send us to condemn the intolerable, to demand that those who enjoy the titles and the perquisites of leadership stop cynically trying to find narrow advantage in manipulating suffering. We ask that rich nations, especially, use their wealth wisely both to mitigate the problems that create refugees and to provide safe destinations at the end of their awful journeys.

We have seen brutal responses from governments, from individuals, from communities, and sometimes from ourselves. We pray for a larger vision and a larger compassion. We pray that we live in the expectation that we must explain what we were doing when these things happened. We must explain to ourselves and to our children and to theirs as well as to the refugees themselves and their children and theirs.

We pray that we may be able to relate how we were part of the many thousands who have responded with generosity like the Icelanders who have declared a 12,000 household willingness to harbor refugees, like the German government whose declared capacity to house refugees staggers the imagination, like the NGOs and individuals who have ramped up ongoing efforts or creatively initiated new ones.

Thus spoke the Lord, bold Moses said, “Let My people go. If not I’ll smite, your firstborns dead.” We pray for our personal ability and for the world’s ability to understand that how we welcome the strangers, that refugees are forced to become, declares what kind of people we are.

We pray that one way or another we remember the messianic utterance, “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” When we vote, when we write checks, when we donate or help collect donations, we pray we remember.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 13, 2015

God, in the trouble of this world, in the confusion of rumor and news, in the anxiety of daily life, we pray that you will give us wisdom, that we may discern between good and evil.

Give us wisdom in selecting our leaders. We pray for Sri Lanka as they prepare for their Parliamentary election; and for Turkey where an unclear election result has led to an uncertain outcome. Give our leaders and those who have power over us both wisdom and compassion.

Give us discernment as we follow the daily news. Help us to have perspective. Help us to be open to new information. Help us to listen to differing voices, especially those of the powerless and the oppressed.

In the news this week, we pray

for China, where a blast at a warehouse killed at least 50 people; and where the devaluing of the yuan has affected economies worldwide.
for Greece as their leaders vote on a new bailout agreement.
for Iraq, where a truck bomb in a market killed at least 67 people.
for Argentina, where heavy rain and flooding has caused 11,000 people to be evacuated from their homes in the Buenos Aires province.
for the Democratic Republic of Congo as they respond to a deadly measles outbreak.
for Uganda as hundreds of LGBT people participated in a gay rights march in a country where homosexuality is illegal.

We give thanks for all those who use their gifts and talents in celebration and joy.

for participants in the Little League World Series as teams from around the world meet to play in Pennsylvania, United States. May their competition yield friendship and respect.
for the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim participants in the Interfaith Summer Course in Switzerland. May their dialogues yield peace and understanding.

May we be inspired by your wisdom, O God, to greater depths of knowledge, of mercy, and of faith. Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer- July 30, 2015

Heavenly Father and Mother, be with us today and in all times.

We call upon you in our most vulnerable moments. We call for you to bear witness to our lives, to help us take the steps needed to serve you with love, compassion, faith, and understanding. Continue to remind us that it is our greatest duty to serve you and all God’s people all over this beautiful and hurting world…to serve with hearts of grace and souls stitched with the love that you teach us and show us every day.

God of protection, please stand with Sandra Bland and her loved ones. Please stand with all the bodies that are destroyed by injustice, blindness, racism, and cowardice. Break through the boundaries that continue to tear the United States apart, traffic stop after traffic stop, this nation still suffering from the consequences of the sin of slavery.
God of comfort, please watch over the community of Lafayette, LA in the USA, and all those affected by the shootings at the Grand Theater. Show us your dream of a world where there is no more gun violence, where you can wipe away the tears from this world. Help us to be healers.
God of justice, as the people of New Orleans, LA, in the USA remember the tenth anniversary of the devastation of their city wrought by Hurricane Katrina, continue to fill them with hope for the future and fill us with the determination to never again permit such wide-scale neglect and failure to respond to need happen anywhere in your world.
God of healing, please bring strength and wisdom to the medical community as they work to bring healing to all those struggling with illness— chronic, acute, or mental. Open our awareness to those especially struggling with hepatitis C, which caused more than 15,000 deaths in 2013. Please bring funding and attention to a disease that is so expensive to treat and leaves so many suffering.
God of strength, we need your protection for the innocents from ISIS and the Nusra Front, for the 230 people who were captured next to the Khabur River in northeastern Syria, for the nearly 600,000 Syrian Christians have had to flee their own country, for the 3.1 million displaced Iraqis who need our prayers. And we pray for all of the religious minorities suffering in Iraq and Syria.

We believe in understanding…and we have hope. Hope for the Nuclear Deal the U.S. has made with Iran; hope that there can be greater cross-cultural understanding.

God of mystery, we have hope that you will continue to work in mysterious ways. As we look forward to Pope Francis’ visit to the U.S. in September, we fervently hope that his talks with Congress and the United Nations can connect us more as one people, people of God.
God of creation, we are thankful for the beauty that surrounds us each day. We grieve the killing of Cecil the Lion in Zimbabwe, as well as for the on-going destruction of so many of your creatures. Inspire us to walk upon this earth more gently…a little more tenderly. Let us remind ourselves and one another that only by passing through the darkness can we understand light; that only by bearing witness to each other’s pains and stories can we truly walk hand in hand.

Let us lend our hands to those who need healing, and our hearts to those who need our touch. Let us fall to our knees when we are lost, becoming humble in your presence, God, and opening ourselves with your love.

Let us break through the fear of misunderstanding and suspicion to a world where we can all support each other a little bit more. Let us be enraptured by wonder and embraced by your presence. Let us move with you, as you move in and through us.

Heavenly Father and Mother, be with us today and in all times. Amen.

World News In Prayer, Thursday, March 26, 2015

Archbishop Oscar Romero was murdered at the altar in a hospital chapel 25 years ago. He wrote: “We have never preached violence, except the violence of love, which left Christ nailed to a cross, the violence that we must each do to ourselves to overcome our selfishness and such cruel inequalities among us. The violence we preach is not the violence of the sword, the violence of hatred. It is the violence of love, of brotherhood, the violence that wills to beat weapons into sickles for work.” -Oscar A. Romero, The Violence of Love

In this week with the joyous celebration of Palm Sunday ahead, we celebrate our freedom to celebrate a joyful solemnity. But Lord, we think of those who hear of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and then hear about the wonders of the resurrection at Easter, and never hear the story of Jesus’s passion: his violent death by torture on a cross, his descent into Hades and that he did it all for “me”.

This week we pray:

For those who mourn following the crash of a “Germanwings” plane in the Alps, enroute from Germany to France, killing all 150 people aboard; for those who deal with the aftermath and trauma, and for those for whom bitter memories are revived
For the people of Tulsa, Oklahoma, US, following a tornado, the violence of the weather
For the people of Yemen and Saudi Arabia, in the violence of dispute, the rumor of war
For the people of Tikrit, Iraq, a battleground in the violence of war
For the people of Norfolk Island, external state of Australia, where they may “lose their parliament and gain Australian taxes” in the violence of politics
For those still facing the violence of deadly disease in the ebola hit countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone
For all victims of sexual violence, as the first arrest takes place following the rape of an elderly nun in West Bengal, India
For all whose work endangers life, in the violence of earning a living, as 14 workers in Vietnam have been killed by collapsing scaffolding
For those trafficked, in the violence of slavery

We have changed our world, so unintentionally, doing violence to the climate, to the land, to the seas. We pray for the people of Chile, seeing wildfires burning out of control in 3 national parks at the same time as there is unprecedented flooding in the Atacama desert. Too often this century, in too many countries, on too many continents, we have heard of uncontrolled wild fires and unprecedented flooding, and how these cause untold violence in the cumulative aftermath.

Teach us Lord, in the holy week ahead, to understand the violence of love.

Amen

“If we are worth anything, it is not because we have more money or more talent, or more human qualities. Insofar as we are worth anything, it is because we are grafted onto Christ’s life, his cross and resurrection. That is a person’s measure.” Oscar Romero.

World News in Prayer, Thursday 12th March 2015

World News in Prayer for March 12, 2015

For God so loved the world…

Gracious and holy one, God of all creation, God of all people everywhere,

it is so easy, as we journey through this season of Lent, to get lost in the wilderness of pain and sorrow we see in the world around us. Our sight scans across the globe and we readily fixate on the ugliness: the expressions of hatred and prejudice, the violence of wars, the brokenness of relationships at the personal and national and global levels. Our gaze locks on Hungary, Greece, India, Israel, Iraq, the United States, Syria, Somalia, Sierra Leone-– all places in which the darkness has taken hold, places in which the light of truth and justice seems but a flickering candle threatened by the winds of hopelessness.

And yet, the words of John’s Gospel remind us that you look at us and our world always with eyes of love.

For God so loved the world…

And so, God of love and justice and truth, God of hope and beauty and creativity, as

we lift our gaze to the reality of your love enacted on the cross of the Christ, we hear your call to look around us with the light of wonder in our eyes to behold the goodness which is abounding in our world, the goodness which your love will not let remain in darkness, but which you call into the light.

Looking with newly-opened eyes, we see and rejoice in:

The rescue of Baby Lilly in Utah in the United States, found after fourteen hours in a wrecked automobile in the river, alive in spite of the death of her mother.
The daring of Rima Karaki, a TV presenter in Lebanon, in ending an interview with Islamist Sheikh, Hani Sibai, after he spoke to her disrespectfully and demeaningly, even after she had donned a veil out of respect for him.
The condemnation by the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights of the murders of albino citizens in Malawi, Tanzania.
The green toilet being developed by Oxfam and the University of the West of England and being tested in Britain which uses urine to generate electricity, so it can be used in refugee camps to provide both sanitation and light.
The nation of Brazil opening their doors to nearly 2,000 refugees of the war in Syria.
The overwhelming response to the documentary, India’s Daughter, the story of the rape and murder of medical student, Jyoti Singh, by five young men, which is changing opinions about sexual violence against women in India and throughout the world.

And so, the words of John remind us that you look at us and our world always with eyes of love.

For God so loved the world…

Now, may the peace of the Lord Christ go with you; may God guide you through the wilderness and protect you through the storm; may God bring you home rejoicing at the wonders you have seen and experienced and known, today and every day as you stand in the light of God’s love. Amen.