Israel

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 21 January 2021

This opening Litany of Praise is from the Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity 2021 taken from the ecumenical service published by CTBI prepared by the The Monastic Community of Grandchamp. Switzerland.

Congregation: You who call us to be praise in the midst of the earth: glory to you!
Reader 1: We sing your praise in the midst of the world and among all peoples,
Reader 2: We sing your praise in the midst of creation and among all creatures.
Congregation: You who call us to be praise in the midst of the earth: glory to you!
Reader 1: We sing your praise among suffering and tears,
Reader 2: We sing your praise among promises and achievements.
Congregation: You who call us to be praise in the midst of the earth: glory to you!
Reader 1: We sing your praise in the places of conflict and misunderstanding;
Reader 2: We sing your praise in the places of encounter and reconciliation.
Congregation: You who call us to be praise in the midst of the earth: glory to you!
Reader 1: We sing your praise in the midst of rifts and divisions,
Reader 2: We sing your praise in the midst of life and death, the birth of a new heaven and a new earth.
Congregation: You who call us to be praise in the midst of the earth: glory to you!

Prayers for the World in Prayer community

Lord, do you really want us to do that? You mean sing your praise?! Really Lord, sometimes I don’t understand you. You know (don’t you?) that I try to do what Jesus said and prayed about. Especially his prayer that his followers would be one! And, anyway, what I really want to talk to you about is –
Why has Israel attacked the Gaza strip again?
Why has Indonesia seen so many natural disasters in one week, earthquake and flooding on 2 separate islands, as well as the loss of an aircraft?
And what about Syria – rain floods the many refugee camps, displaced people desperately search for food, and there may be ISIS “sleeper cells” waiting to take advantage of these disasters?

Lord, rend the heavens and answer.

He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)

Why is unrest over youth unemployment and Covid-19 restrictions in Tunisia suddenly escalating?
Why are there the Covid-19 surges in the United Kingdom and Sri Lanka as well as the tennis players ill or in quarantine in Australia to the detriment of Australians stranded abroad?
As we read that since the New Year daily Covid-19 deaths around the world, at least the minority of countries which announce them, has been running at 10,000+, what about the elite athletes still training for Olympics which might yet have to be cancelled?

Lord, rend the heavens and answer.

He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.

Well, then, Lord, where is the international will to deal with the long-lasting situations in Yemen and Somalia?
What about the spill of untreated sewage in Puget Sound, USA affecting the Suquamish shellfish programme, following in the unusual winds causing power outages? What about the wildfires in Chile, Nepal and New Zealand? What about the disastrous ground blizzard in Japan and storms across Great Britain and North West Europe?
It’s the 20^th January as I write, and by law the inauguration of the incoming President of the USA: renew the vision of caring, equality for all, love for each other with malice to none and care for all.
As the joint United Nations / African Union peace-keeping mission has ended in Sudan, where is there hope?

You give generously to all, Lord. Rend the heavens and answer.

He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Okay, Lord, there is good news – of the roll out of vaccines, of rescues from avalanches and landslides, of trapped miners found in China, of foodbanks still having food to operate and people willing to do it, that Egypt and Qatar have ‘agreed to resume diplomatic relations’ and much more that the media don’t bother to report.

I will attempt to sing your praises, forever more. May it be so. Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, January 14th, 2021

Dear God,

Today we long to be held. We long to be held, not by the hateful actions we see on our televisions. Not by a virus that continually kills thousands upon thousands. Not by our divisions and the things which cause us to break apart. We long to be held by your unbreakable, unshakeable, and infinite love. We long to be covered by you – that we can take a breath and step away from the chaos happening in our world. And yet we know that we too must do the work to make our community and world a place filled with your love and your justice.

Remind us, Lord, that this is your world, and that no matter what happens here to any of us, we always remain yours and belong fully and completely to you. We ask that you help us to embody you as we find a way to spread your justice in this world and in all of us who remain so broken.

God, although we long to forget the events of this week happening in our world, we still choose to lift up all of the feelings we feel in our bodies to you: our sadness, our anger, our helplessness, our confusion, our disgust, our desire to change ourselves and those around us, our longing to move on, our wish for hope. All of these feelings, and many others, we lift up to you and we ask that you take them as we also continue to work through them ourselves. We pray that we, and those around us, may have understanding as we all work through our feelings differently. We ask that you help us to find a way to sit with our emotions while also sitting with you.

We realize God that although we want to separate ourselves from the actions of others, we know we are part of it all too. We know this, O God, and so we ask that you forgive us and guide us to check ourselves for the hatred, the racism, the bigotry, and the lack of love that we show in the small and big ways that we don’t realize, or that we choose to ignore. Guide us Lord and deepen our hearts that we might realize that no matter how good we think we are, we need to make sure that we are embodying your love in every action and in every word we say.

God, as we mourn the events of this past week where hatred was seen at the United States capitol building, we also recognize all the suffering in our community, country, and world. We pray for Uganda, where the internet is blocked and security has been stepped up as counting gets under way after polls closed in a hotly contested election that has been marked by violence in which dozens have been killed. We pray for The Netherlands, where the Dutch coalition government is in danger of collapse over a scandal over child benefits lasting 8 years

We ask for your presence as the world experiences our single Covid-19 highest death toll – over 13,000 in one day (over 4,000 people in the U.S. alone). We pray for the places where the number of positive test results continues to climb all around the world, as lockdowns continue to grow longer. We pray for knowledge and support as a variant of the virus with much higher transmission rates has now been detected in 45 countries.

We pray for comfort in Indonesia, where all contact has been lost with a passenger jet that carried 50 people.

As war and violence continue across our world, we pray for peace and pray for the loved ones of the dozens killed in Syria by Israeli airstrikes apparently targeting positions and arms depots of Iran-backed forces located there.

We pray for comfort as we continue to experience losses of all kinds this season – the lives of so many, broken relationships, jobs and sources of income, as well as the anniversaries of so many losses which we remember and continue to mourn.

God, there is so much. So many things are happening in our world that we cannot wrap our minds around, and so we ask that you may help us. That you may hold us as we cannot hold ourselves. That we may find you in all of the little places, in all of the things we have to do in any given week – we ask that you walk with us and that we may find little pieces of comfort and joy throughout our week. Even when we are not strong and have so little to give – we know that you have so much to give. We ask that you may be the comforting presence to each of those in our community – that your unshakeable and infinite love will carry us through and hold us today and always.

In your name we pray.
Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 7 January 2021

Editor’s note: World In Prayer needs a few more writers and editors! Our team consists of 12-15 volunteers, from several different countries and continents. Each week, one person writes the prayers in response to international news. A second person then edits and posts the prayers online. Because we rotate who writes and edits, you would end up serving approximately once every five or six weeks.

Due to life changes, some of our team members need to cut back. So, we’re looking for people who deeply care about our world, see God’s hand at work throughout all creation and all persons, and are inspired to help write and produce these prayers. If you are interested, please send an email to worldinprayer@aol.com.

Though I may speak with bravest fire,
And have the gift to all inspire,
And have not love; my words are vain;
as sounding brass, and hopeless gain.

Though I may give all I possess,
And striving so my love profess,
But not be giv’n by love within,
The profit soon turns strangely thin. [i]

Our shining Child,
Out of the Nativity you call to all nations, all peoples.

Yet nations build walls, lay mines and militarize their borders. Watchtowers are built and billions in electronic surveillance deployed. O little town of Bethlehem, a beloved carol, is today a town suffering, partitioned. Help us to reconcile these injustices as land is taken, houses destroyed and people’s movement severely restricted. Walls comprise a growing Border Industrial Complex in 2021. We pray for the peoples in Israel where six walls exist; in Morocco, Iran and India each having three walls; South Africa, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Hungary and Lithuania each with two walls, and all countries who violate human rights in this new and growing apartheid.[ii] We pray mightily for the peoples of Syria nearly surrounded as five nations have put up walls for a people utterly displaced and ravaged. Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy.

We pray for those who seek asylum and are “neither here, nor there.” We pray for those who have traveled unbelievable distances and through unimaginable harms to be turned away, silenced, detained and imprisoned. Be with us in this complex suffering. It feels so upside down. We pray for those from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador the so called Northern Triangle where so many have fled due to record levels of violence, torture and death. Our spirits long as we hear how severe the terror must be for parents to send their children alone to flee.[iii] They cross into Mexico and the US. We pray for the Rohingya in Myanmar escaping genocide and now displaced in Bangladesh. Guard them. Sustain them. We pray for the leaders in all of these countries.

We pray for those who grow, harvest and transport food that we may take for granted in these times where shelves are stocked and gas seems plenty, … and in these same times where COVID and famine and war keep house together in Yemen[iv] and now South Sudan, Burkina Faso and northeastern Nigeria, and where 16 other countries are entering famine where children are the first to silently suffer and die. Though I may give all I possess.

We pray where reports of war, political instability, civil war, humanitarian strife and years of occupation are endured. We call out in prayer for peace in Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq, South Sudan, Somalia, Venezuela, Mali, Lebanon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central Republic of Congo, the US and Iran relations, the India and Pakistan conflict, North Korea, between Israel and Palestine, the terrorizing by the Boko Haram in Nigeria, the criminal violence in Mexico, the enmity of Turkey and Kurdish troops, Egypt, and Ukraine. Lord have mercy.

The news of the world is on our radios, TV, laptops, phones, newspapers and word of mouth. We hear of protests in streets. We hear of the breaking of curfews and mass gatherings as during a rave in France. We hear of rage and violence in the US, including the shocking invasion of the US Capitol by reactionary factions, who have been goaded on for months by the words of elected officials. Help us to remember and live out the truth that, in the words of U.S. Senate Chaplain Barry C. Black, “…words matter, and the power of life and death is in the tongue.” The news tolls of the police shooting of Andre Hill in Columbus, Ohio, USA as Casey Goodson, Jr. was being laid to rest after a sheriff’s deputy shot and killed him at the doorstep of his Columbus home earlier this month. We grieve and are angered, we march, we lay flowers and light candles. Help us to discern right action lest – My words are vain; as sounding brass.

The news tolls the deaths from COVID19, the overflow in hospitals, surge upon surge. We pray for the teams that know no border at the bedside, vaccine clinic, lab or as first responders. We are hopeful for the multitude of COVID vaccines coming to communities. We call for equity in vaccine distribution as developing nations manifest such a great need. May the wealthy countries dig deeper to stave off further crisis. Unify us in this time of horrendous loss of life and the devastation that has reached in some way into each of our homes and neighborhoods and circles the globe. Protect those in severe economic insecurity from further debt and eviction. Help us to universalize health care access. We pray in gratitude as increased access to women’s health care in Argentina is manifested. Comfort the grieving in every nation, in every town and village. Our spirits long.

We pray for the journalist teams that film, write and publish with risk of death as they give voice and document the injustices around the world. Help us to listen as they lift these tentative voices to the world’s stage. Help each of us to find our voice, and remind those of us with public platforms of our deep responsibility to speak the truth in love. Magnify the Good News. May it stream through all of these spaces – guide every deed.

Help us to honor the multitude of indigenous peoples[v] who keep the land and guard it’s teachings. We pray that the pressures of extraction that degrade rivers, displace tribes and communities, and cultivate institutional racism can be acknowledged for what they are – social and environmental and climate injustices – as they have been through the ages. The marginalized are among us and in the news daily. These transgressions trample our relationship to you, your kin-dom, and all of creation. Help us to hear and heed their warnings. Repair these wrongs. Reconcile us to right action. Come spirit.

Bring us to a new accounting and clarity in these opening days of 2021. Forgive us for the deeds done that cannot be undone, the sins and trespasses and willfulness that did not serve. Open our hearts to inward love, to one and other, nation-to-nation in a new way – in the Good News you gave to the world–of Christ’s birth, his baptism, journey to the cross and resurrection. Help us to forgive one another as we are sheltered and made whole by this great love. Help us to repair, restore and amend what is ours to do. Lord in your great compassion hear us.

Come, spirit, come, our hearts control,
Our spirits long to be made whole,
Let inward love guide every deed;
By this we worship and are freed.[vi]

Amen.

[ii] https://www.tni.org/en/walledworld

[iii] https://www.wola.org/analysis/children-fleeing-violence-central-america-face-dangers-mexico/

[iv] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/02/opinion/sunday/2020-worst-year-famine.html

[v] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_indigenous_peoples

[vi] Hopson

World News in Prayer- Thursday, October 15, 2020

1 Thessalonians 5: 1 – 3

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When they say, ‘There is peace and security’, then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape!

* Writer’s note: The writer to the Church in Thessaloniki was writing to a people who had thought the Roman empire would bring peace and security, but had found events turned out very differently. I reflect, Creator God, on my mother’s response to unexpected events. Her generation had, in the previous decade, lived through the 1939-45 war, supposedly the war to end all wars. So news of earthquake, volcanic eruption and armed conflicts sent her into fear that the world would dissolve in nuclear disaster.

What is it, Creator God, about humanity that we consistently desire peace but in our own image? We cannot seem to learn to live in your security, with a peaceful mind among disastrous events knowing that you have us engraved upon the palm of your hand.

There is a jumble of such thoughts and news in our minds at present, as we struggle to disentangle human engagement from natural disasters; otherwise we would be forced to face our own complicity in “natural” events.

We hold before you the floods and lives lost in southern India and wonder why the storm did not spin the other way over the fire on Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. We pray for Hyderabad, India and for the firefighters, residents and students in Tanzania in the area of the National Park; for those threatened by and those fighting the continuing wildfires in California, U.S.A.; for those on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. battered by yet another hurricane.

As tentative talks on the Lebanon/Israel maritime border begin, we await the outcome as it is already blighted by thoughts from Israel that talks are not worthwhile if Lebanon’s economy collapses. We pray for the diplomats in these talks.

Mehbooba Mufti, a former chief minister in Jammu and Kashmir, and other politicians detained by Indian authorities, following the revocation of the region’s autonomy last year, have been released. A year on from India’s scrapping of its agreement over Kashmir land-grabs and rising unemployment, we wonder about Nagorno-Karabakh: are there lessons the world should take there? We pray for the people of Kashmir and Nagorno-Karabakh.

As scientists say the Australian Great Barrier Reef is damaged beyond repair and dead sea life constantly washes ashore in Russia’s Kamchatka province, we pray for the scientists trying to turn the tide of our unwillingness to change our comfortable lives.

We thought pandemics didn’t happen in the modern world. Now, many European countries are returning to full or partial lockdowns and a number of pharmaceutical firms have halted their Covid-19 vaccination trials, and so we pray for all our world. Lord, hear our prayer and let our cry come to you.

Engraved upon my palms, yes, written on my hands in letters spelled out large for all to see, your name is marked forever, will never be removed. I’ll not forget that you belong to me.

As a mother tends her tiny child, I will care for you. You shall never be forsaken, never left alone. I’ll enfold you with my arms of love. I will comfort and surround

I love you with a love far greater than you’ve ever known. Right from the start I held you, I steadied your first steps, I led with cords of love that will not break, I took your hands and guided, I healed you with my touch. know I’ll be with you every step you take.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., Oct. 1, 2020

O God, why are you silent? I cannot hear your voice;
the proud and strong and violent all claim you and rejoice;
you promised you would hold me with tenderness and care.
Draw near, O Love, enfold me, and ease the pain I bear.
Marty Haugen/ Tune: Herzlich mich verlangen

O God, O Love, sometimes in these difficult days, it feels like you are both silent and absent. All around us in this world of ours, in this world of yours, there is pain and suffering, confusion and violence. It seems like the forces of evil are triumphing over good; seems like despair is winning out over hope. And yet, to whom else shall we go, Holy One? Who else will hear our prayers with love and compassion? Who else will understand our pain and hold us tenderly?

Through endless nights of weeping, through weary days of grief,
my heart is in your keeping, my comfort, my relief.
Come, share my tears and sadness, come, suffer in my pain,
oh, bring me home to gladness, restore my hope again.

It is because you love and understand that we can pray for this world and its peoples. And so we pray for the disabled people in India – most of whom are Dalits, the untouchables- who, especially during this coronavirus pandemic, are struggling to obtain the basic necessities of life: food, medical care, housing.

We pray for the people of Armenia and Azerbaijan where fighting has once again erupted over control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

As Covid-19 deaths worldwide reach one million, we pray especially for the people of Israel, Spain, Brazil, England, and Scotland, where an upsurge of the virus is causing more closures in response to increased cases and deaths.

We pray for the people of Rwanda, as- at long last- one of the long-time genocide suspects, Felicien Kabuga, is being extradited so he can be brought to justice for his role in the 1994 genocidal murders of nearly one million people.

We pray for the tens of thousands of women who continue to be raped in India each year, and for the work of activist and advocate Yogita Bhayana, as she works with survivors and provides a voice for them in court and with the government.

We pray for the protestors in Venezuela, as anger mounts over fuel shortages (with people waiting in lines for a long as 13 hours) and shortages of safe drinking water, while the government does little or nothing to provide assistance.

We pray for those in the United States dealing with the numerous wildfires in the West, with the results of the increasingly-strong hurricanes along the Gulf and East coasts, even as many leaders continue to deny the reality of climate change and its effects upon our planet.

Yet, despite the sadness and discouragement, we can joyfully pray for 7-year-old Cavanaugh Bell, who set up a GoFundMe page to raise funds and supplies to take trailers filled with COVID-19 supplies to the South Dakota Pine Ridge Reservation (one of the poorest places in the U.S.) because “they need things there.” May we be led to follow where a little child leads us- to a place of caring and hope and help.

May pain draw forth compassion, let wisdom rise from loss;
oh, take my heart and fashion the image of your cross;
then may I know your healing through healing that I share,
your grace and love revealing, your tenderness and care.

O God, O Love, even in these difficult days we know that you hear us, that you care, and we ask that your love and compassion and justice may be incarnated in us, as we go about the work of healing your world and all its peoples, to work for the coming of the your Reign on this earth. Let it be so. Amen and amen.

World New This Week in Prayer – Thursday, Sept. 17, 2020

“No hands, no feet on earth but yours.
Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world.
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good.
Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body.”
~ Teresa of Ávila

Dear God,

We are living in a world that is in deep need of your healing power. As we strive to be your hands and feet in a world which is staggering from hurt, pain, loss of life, loss of home, tiredness, and weakness, we need you, God, to hold us up when we have such little strength. You know more than anyone what our bodies look like right at this moment. You know the pain we are going through personally, the pain we feel for our neighbors around the world, the pain we feel for our family and friends who we cannot help. You know, God, what we are going through, and so we ask that as we do your work to show compassion, to reveal love, to help our neighbors, that you will also help us as we need to be filled with your peace just as we reveal your peace to others.

God, as we learn to be your body in the world, we ask for your presence in a world which is being ravaged by natural disasters. We pray for our friends, our family members, and our neighbors in California, Oregon, and Washington, U.S., where fires are devastating the homes, businesses, and lives of all these people. We pray that you might send a healing balm to quench this burning earth.

As a particularly harsh hurricane season continues, we pray for all of our people around the world who are in the path of so many hurricanes that are about to hit as well as those that are yet to come. We pray, God, that as we find ways to assist our neighbors that are in their paths, may they prove to hurt fewer of your beloved people, and may you be a shield of protection to them.

We pray for all of our friends and communities in Israel where so many feel unheard, and where injustices continue to hurt so many. We pray that peace may abound someday and all will be treated with dignity and love regardless of who they are. As violence continues in so many parts of the world, we pray that there are fewer casualties. May we find our own peaceful ways of fighting for justice for the poor and those without privilege.

As Covid-19 continues to ravage our world, with 29 million people around the world having been diagnosed and the global death toll being about 925,000, we see a world which is continually breaking. As we recognize that the numbers are likely much higher than this, we also recognize that so many other pieces of our lives have been devastated by this virus. As poverty increases and illness of all kinds continue to become worse due to loss of jobs and lack of healthcare, we also recognize the aid that is not going to countries that desperately need it. We pray for our neighbors in Yemen where aid cuts have devastated our neighbors there. As malnutrition doubles there, may you be with your beloved people who are in great need of food and supplies.

God, help us to be the hands and feet. Although it may seem that there is little we can do to make a difference, help us to start now.. Teach us to find ways to nurture and help those who need your healing. Grant us the wisdom to find a way to be your body in a broken and hurting world. While we may feel we can never do enough, help us to do what we can with what little time we have on this earth. Although we recognize we will never be perfect, teach us that by even doing the smallest of acts, we are spreading your love to your dearest children who need it most.

In your name we pray,
Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, September 10, 2020

May you be well,
And all whom you love,
And those you work with,
And all who eat of the crops you handle.

That has been my prayer/mantra at least one afternoon a week for the past month, as I joined with other volunteers to prepare 100,000 Covid-19 prevention kits to be given to agricultural workers in this part of California (U.S.). One washable cloth mask, one small bottle of hand sanitizer, several small multi-lingual instruction cards in each zip lock bag. One bag, one prayer. Fifty completed bags in each box; another prayer. Looking at the stacks and stacks of boxes ready to be delivered to the agencies who will pass the kits out; another prayer.

For all who face the risk of Covid-19, or extreme heat, or smoke, or drought, or flooding in order to feed themselves and others; for all who work in the fields, and harvest the seas, and nurture the livestock; for all who gather and transport and package and prepare the food we eat; for all who have barely enough food to survive, and those who don’t know where their next meal is coming from, and those for whom mealtime is a feast of abundance:

May you be well,
And all whom you love,
And those you work with,
And all who share in the fruits of the planet.

It is so, so hard to pray for those who want to hurt us or endanger the lives of those we love. The Russian and Chinese (and probably other) agencies using social media to foment unrest and influence elections in other countries. Whoever started QAnon, and all the social media and dark web sites that are allowing its conspiracy theories to spread. United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his government, who have threatened to override elements of the Brexit withdrawal agreement with the European Union – even though that would violate international law. The Niger army that, instead of protecting civilians, has now been accused by Niger’s human rights commission of executing dozens of civilians during counterinsurgency operations.

Countries treating dissent as treachery: China, arresting people in Inner Mongolia who protest against the edict that Chinese language textbooks must replace Mongolian language ones; opposition leaders in Belarus who have been terrorized, detained, and threatened with deportation.

United States President Donald Trump, who has made more than 20,000 lies or misleading comments during the past 15 months – including, it has now been proven this week, lying repeatedly about the severity of the Covid-19 pandemic, and repeatedly denigrating those who serve in the U.S. armed forces. And U.S. legislators who have failed to extend financial relief to the millions who have lost their jobs due to Covid-19 and are now facing eviction and homelessness. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro giving in to international pressure to protect the rainforest against fires by imposing a 120-day ban on fires and deploying the army to badly-hit areas – while simultaneously declaring the fires a lie.

It is so, so hard to pray for them. And yet, it is like watching a teenager engaging in a risky activity despite everything you can do to dissuade them: you hope, and hope, and hope they will come to their senses before anyone gets hurt. Despite being terrified and furious, despite the desire to lock them in their room without privileges until they turn 30 (at least), still you pray for them to escape the worst consequences of their rash actions.

And so we pray for all governments and corporations and individuals who are endangering lives, and for those whose lives are endangered:

May you be well,
And all whom you govern,
And those who rule over you,
And all who must choose ways to live together in mutual benefit.

In California, Oregon and Washington (U.S.), the skies are orange, the sun invisible, and smoke and ash from the 56 major wildfires currently burning over 3.7 million acres is making the air unhealthy to breath; thousands have been evacuated. Greece is struggling to find shelter for the 13,000 migrants who had been living in the overcrowded Moria camp on the Island of Lesbos, until it was destroyed by fire earlier this week. Sudan is trying to protect its 2,300-year-old pyramids in Meroe from unprecedented flooding by the River Nile, which has also made thousands homeless. Yet, experts have known for at least 20 years how to manage forests and grasslands to prevent massive wildfires. We know how to treat migrants with dignity and safety. We have learned how to restore wetlands and floodplains to mitigate flooding. We are learning how to plant and farm in order restore depleted groundwater and break the cycle of desertification.

For those who are fighting natural disasters; for those waiting to hear if their homes have survived, for those living in fear, and those wondering how they will once again find the strength to start over; for those whose warnings and advice have been ignored, and those who know what to do but not how to rally massive support and resources:

May you be well,
And all whom you want to protect,
And the earth that we cherish.

Several well-known figures died this week. Chadwick Boseman, the U.S. movie actor who starred as Black American icons Jackie Robinson and James Brown, and inspired audiences worldwide as the regal Black Panther, died at age 43. Through him, many Black children for the first time were able to see themselves as strong, beautiful, worthy, and able to change the world. English actress Dame Diana Rigg, who starred in Game of Thrones and as Countess Teresa di Vicenzo, wife of James Bond, died at age 82. But it was her role as Emma Peel in the original Avengers that led a whole generation of young women to imagine themselves as bright, inventive, funny, and powerful against evil. Top South African human rights lawyer George Bizos died at age 92. He represented some of the country’s best-known political activists during the apartheid years, including defending Nelson Mandela, and became one of the architects of South Africa’s new constitution.

And then there are the living heroes whom virtually no one has heard of. In Nigeria, math teacher Basirat Olamide Ajayi came up with a way to help 12th graders prepare for crucial final exams despite the Covid-19 school closures, by offering free, 5-minute video classes online via Twitter, WhatsApp and Instagram. She now has more than 1,800 students – and not only from Nigeria. Also in Nigeria, Anthony Mmesoma Madu, an 11-year-old male ballet dance student in a country where ballet is almost unknown, won the hearts of the world after a video of him dancing in the rain went viral. This week, he was awarded several scholarships to continue his studies in the United States, and his teacher, self-trained Daniel Ayala, also received a scholarship for a two-week intensive U.S. training program for ballet teachers. In Sweden, a secret group of artists is sneaking stunning miniature installations for mice into public spaces in the dead of night. The clandestine collective ― called Anonymouse ― has installed 25 pieces*, mostly in cellar windows, across Sweden, in France and on the Isle of Man. In Jerusalem, Israel, hospitals are enlisting those who recovered from Covid-19 and are antibody positive, to visit hospitalized patients who would otherwise be in isolation. In Singapore, two mothers who lost sons to suicide have started the PleaseStay movement, urging a national strategy to address youth mental health and suicide, to break the taboo against talking about these topics, and – most poignantly – to urge troubled teens and youngsters, to “please stay.”

For all heroes, alive and dead, great and small; for the hope they give us; for those whom they inspire:

May you be well,
And all whom you help,
And all whom you inspire,
And all who gladly enliven the world.

For all of who you read, and share, and pray these prayers:

May you be well,
And all whom you love,
And the great, wonderful, terrifying and awesome world you surround with your prayers.

Amen.

*Ok, we can’t resist: here’s a website where you can enjoy some of Anonymouse’s creations: https://www.instagram.com/anonymouse_mmx/?utm_source=ig_embed

World News in Prayer – Thursday, 12th March 2020

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Africa – Algeria, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa

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

Guadalupe, Mexico, United States

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

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

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

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

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

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

We ask for your mercy in these times.

Increase our compassion.

Sustain us in doing your will.

Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – 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 This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 13 November, 2019

Great justice-seeker of the universe,

You know that we live in a great and awful time. You have opened our minds to the secrets of nature, but record flooding in Venice, Italy, and raging fires from the United States to Australia, give us reason to pause about having the power of sub-atomic particles placed into our human hands. Through the marvels of medicine our corporeal bodies have extended in longevity, yet, Ebola continues to have tragic effects in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other countries in the western part of Africa. As generations before us pled for your mercy, so we today entreat your goodness. We pray to hold our wealth lightly and to tread modestly as we inhabit the earth’s surface.

Give to our leaders a wisdom and love of creation and a zeal for peace amongst the citizens of your planet:

with Jeanine Áñez as she takes office in Bolivia;
with the United States House of Representatives as they continue impeachment hearings on President Trump;
with those still engaged in political struggle and protests in Hong Kong;
with those fighting for their beliefs in a recent ramp-up of violence in Israel and Gaza.

Replace our greed with a gracious sharing of our abundance. We pray for healers and those who preserve life and seek peaceful ways forward instead of resorting to violence and fighting and destructive practices. May our longer lives prove to bring a greater sense of our saving love and may we be a blessing with the many years we have added that many of our great-great-great-ancestors did not. As in Jesus you came to show your love for the world, so through Jesus we pray that the world you love may be preserved and made better and safer and braver for future generations. May it be so. Amen.