Nigeria

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, May 16, 2019

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.
Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples,
if you have love for one another.” – John 13:34-35 (NRSV)

Loving God,
Jesus commanded the disciples to love one another.
But loving is so very hard!
Sometimes I am wounded by the words of others.
Sometimes I am abused by others.
And, it is so very hard to love when I’m hurting.

Jesus commands us to love as we have been loved,
sacrificially,
unconditionally,
radically.

Help me,
help us altogether,
help us each,
to proclaim,
to embody,
to incarnate,
your love for the world,
your love for our neighbors,
your love for ourselves.

Lover of Peace, turn our hearts from anger, strife, discord, and hatred, and let us pray at this time for those countries suffering at the hands of war and violence; to Burkina Faso where gunmen killed six people during Mass at a Catholic church; to Sudan where another six were killed in political protests and Sri Lanka where revenge attacks on Muslims are taking place in the aftermath of the Easter bombings. Let your love reign amongst and between us and be a shining example for us to emulate.

Seeker of the Lost, open our eyes to see those around us, and around the world, who are all-too-often overlooked.
Healer of the world, prod us to reach out to the unclean, vulnerable, and abandoned.
Resurrected Lord, remind us again of your transformative presence with each, and all, of us.

Let us thank you Lord, for the relief to the families of the 54 women and children in Nigeria who have been freed from Boko Haram this week and for the many charities dedicated to supporting and working for the many countries in dire need of emergency aid, especially in North Korea where up to ten million are in urgent need of food assistance in their worst drought in 37 years.

May the world know us,
May the world know you,
Because of the love you have for us,
Because of the love we have for you, for one another, and for ourselves.
—Amen

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, May 2, 2019

This week’s prayers begin with music. Music composed in the late 18th century by an Austrian composer, using an ancient Latin text. Music sung, this past Sunday, by a touring Russian ensemble, at the beginning of worship in an Episcopal church in California, U.S.

But perhaps a bit of background is in order. The members of the World in Prayer team who take turns writing the prayers come from two continents, and half a dozen different denominations. And I, the writer for this week – my week began with music. The St. Petersburg Men’s Ensemble had performed at our church last Saturday. And when we booked the performance, they had asked – asked! – if it would be ok if they also sang during worship Sunday morning, so that in that way they could celebrate their Easter. (Don’t worry if you’re a bit confused – in the Eastern Orthodox churches, Easter occurs the Sunday after Easter in churches that follow the Western Christian calendar.) As they sang Mozart’s Ave Verdum Corpus, I was transported…into a place where the differences between us in language, culture, nationality, politics all fell away. Where even the words of the text didn’t matter. Where the music itself caught us up into a place so very near to God…

And I thought, “If only we could recognize every stranger as the bearer of amazing gifts.”

Listen.
And then let’s pray.

Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus, performed by the St. Petersburg Men’s Ensemble on their “Live in Newport” DVD. Copyright 2014. Reproduced with permission. (If you have difficulty viewing the embedded video, you can also access the recording by going to https://youtu.be/EblcqRqLV0Q )

Holy One, give us eyes to see every approaching stranger as one bearing amazing gifts.

As United States President Donald Trump proposes charging a fee to those seeking asylum in the US,
As practical, along-the-way support dries up for those in the latest migrant caravan crossing Mexico,
As Pope Francis donates $500,000 to the migrant caravan,
As the number of migrants and refugees reaching Europe – Spain, Greece, Italy, Malta and Cyprus – by sea so far this year exceeds 12,000,
As the United Nations warns of a worsening humanitarian situation facing civilians across northwest Syria, with rising casualties, and “waves of displacement” due to intensifying conflict,

Give us eyes to see past fear and exhaustion, past seemingly-overwhelming numbers and unending needs.
Give us eyes to see the beauty that they bring.
Give us eyes to see the hidden, extraordinary gifts each stranger has to offer.

Risen One, give us ears to hear the music that unites us.

As Israel paused this week to for the annual remembrance honoring victims of the Holocaust,
As a young man spouting Christian hatred toward Jews attacked a United States synagogue,
As an attack on a Protestant church in Burkina Faso kills six,
and 40 Christians were reportedly killed in Nigeria on Easter,

Give us ears to hear beyond the burgeoning hatred and fomented distrust.
Give us ears to hear past religious divisions.
Give us ears to hear that all faiths that proclaim love, sing the song of the One God who draws us.

Beloved One, give us wisdom to succor every endangered being.

As Cyclone Fani makes landfall on the Eastern coast of India, where nearly 1,000,000 people were evacuated yesterday,
As the same cyclone endangers hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees still living in tents in Bangladesh, with no place to go and no resources to get there,
As Mozambique and Comoro struggle through the continuing downpours to try to begin recovery from the two devastating cyclones that hit there in the past six weeks,
As we learn that what was once the second largest breeding colony of Emperor penguins in Antarctica has completely disappeared due to climate change,
and the United Kingdom Parliament declares a climate change emergency earlier this week,

Give us wisdom to hold out our hands to all in danger.
Give us wisdom to share our knowledge.
Give us wisdom to heal our aching world.

Holy One, so fill us with the music of the spheres, that we can do nothing else than joyously sing the song of your unending love.
Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, March 14, 2019

[God] brought [Abram] outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” ~ Genesis 15:5

God of abundance, we know that you are able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine, and yet our prayers are limited by the boundaries of our human imagination. We pray for small mercies when you offer overflowing grace. We ask for minor alleviation of suffering when you offer true justice. We meekly request a reduction in violence when you offer universal and eternal peace. Help us to put our trust in you so that the shaping of our world might be guided by your wisdom and your love rather than our own limited human perspective. Make us bold to pray that your will be done in all ways and in all places in all of your creation:

Workers race to rescue school children trapped in the rubble of a collapsed building in Lagos, Nigeria, and the community of Suzano in Brazil mourns the loss and grief caused by a shooting in a local school. All 157 passengers and crew sadly lost their lives after a Boeing crashed just after take-off in Ethiopia and the death toll rises in heavy rains and flooding in Malawi. In the face of such tragedy, we pray for small signs of hope and individual miracles, forgetting that you are able to transform our world so that suffering and fear and hate of all kinds might cease. May your will be done so that grace and love might abound in our world.

The governor of California, USA, has placed a temporary halt on death penalty executions, and Cardinal George Pell has been sentenced to jail for sexual abuse crimes in Australia, but we fail to see a path toward true righteousness in our social systems and in our institutions. May your will be done so that your justice might guide us in our community relationships.

Investigators have found evidence of extreme ethnic violence in DR Congo, the world watches as North Korea once again represents a threat through their construction of rocket-launching facilities, and we watch and despair as persistent clashes continue to kill soldiers and innocents in Yemen and Afghanistan. Our prayers so often are limited to asking for an end to violence, but your vision for the world is one of peace beyond anything we can imagine. May your will be done so that your shalom of safety, peace, and unity might prevail.
A white supremacist attacked two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, killing 49. Live videos of the horrendous gun slaughter were aired around the world on social media. We wonder how many vicariously enjoyed the violence, how many want to imitate, how many deepened their commitment to prevent it. Even as our hearts break with those who have lost their loved ones, even as we pray, we wonder how a good God could fail, over and over, to stop this horror. May your will be done, so we can join you in bringing peace out of darkness, new life out of death, compassion out of bigotry.

Like Abram, O God, we question your promises, wondering if the coming of your kingdom is even possible. Give us the faith to follow you and trust in your covenant with us. Despite all obstacles, fill us with your vision of how the world ought to be so that we might be bearers of hope and small glimpses of that which is to come. As Abram prayed for a son but learned that your promises would exceed his imagination, so too may we learn to pray beyond our wildest dreams so that we can participate in the depth and truth of your plans for all of us and for all of creation. Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer, Thursday, September 20, 2018

“For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” – 1 Corinthians 11:26

We come before you today, O God,
a mixture of emotions,
with a plethora of experiences.
Guide our hearts as we look on this world in which we live,
so that we might see it through your eyes.

All-too-often, we focus on the negative.
We focus on the death, not on the resurrection.
We see the brokenness.
Shattered, fragmented, torn-asunder lives.
And, rest assured, there is pain.
Grief, fear, anxiety…they are all VERY real.
There is no denying that we are a broken and hurting people;
living in a broken and hurting world.

Hurricanes and tropical storms wreak havoc around the world,
floods have killed over 100 in Nigeria,
Zimbabwe has declared a cholera emergency,
women and girls are attacked, mistreated, and abused,
needles have been found in strawberries in Australia,
and relationships suffer around the globe.

And yet, we are called to live abundant lives. (John 10:10)
We are promised that God’s kingdom is not only coming,
it is already in our midst. (Luke 17:21)
There are reasons to celebrate,
children are being born into loving homes,
teachers are transforming lives and guiding young minds,
people, young and old, are coming to a deeper relationship with God,
a 9-year-old girl in foster care celebrates one year with the same parents
(for the first time in her life).

Transform us, Holy One, ever more into who you have created us to be.
Open our eyes, our hearts, and our minds
so that we may be agents of transformation in this world,
shining the light of your love into the darkness around us.
Remind us, we pray, that the darkness has never overcome the light. (John 1:5)

World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, May 24, 2018

“God hears ‘amen’ wherever we are.” –Radney M. Foster

We come to you, O Lord, from many places, joining our voices to praise you and to ask for your intercession.

We know You hear us regardless of where we are physically.

• In places where we hope peace is possible: between North and South Korea, between Israel and Palestine, and between the major political parties in many countrys.
• In places torn by war, violence, and all manner of human atrocities: Syria, Nigeria, and Afghanistan.
• In places of political unrest: Venezuela, Italy, and China.
• In places preparing for the Atlantic Hurricane season: the Caribbean islands, Mexico, Bermuda, and the United States, especially Puerto Rico.
• In homeless shelters, in refugee camps, in houses of worship, in cities, on farms, and in all those places we call home.

Lord, hear our prayer.

We know You hear us regardless of where we are emotionally:
those grieving and those celebrating,
those marrying and those divorcing,
the baptized and the buried,
those caring for children and for the elderly,
those laboring and those unemployed,
all people at a beginning or an end.

Lord, grant us thy peace.

We know You hear us regardless of where we are spiritually:
during Ramadan, during morning mass, during the Sabbath;
at the beginning of a yoga practice, a labyrinth, a pilgrimage;
at the end of our lullabies;
and in the midst of our doubts.

In a great universal exhale, we say together,
Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, May 10, 2018

Lord, we come before you

Prayer is communication that invites at-one-ness with You, the source of our being. We call you God, and as revealed in the flesh, Jesus. We ask for empowerment. Transform us with the life-giving force of the Holy Spirit. Make us channels of the your Eternal Love, Light, and Grace. Help us to continue this work of transformation, of ourselves and of all creation.

Lord, in your mercy hear us

As You are One, You call us to this oneness yet we are so divided by what should unite us, our religious beliefs, diverse cultures, resources and desires. You have shown us glimpses of Yourself according to what we are willing and able to receive, then, too often, we become exclusive and possessive. Thinking we own the truth, we denigrate others.

We see this in the tensions in India between Hindus and Muslims leading to the torture, rape and murder of young girls. Coptic Christians being attacked in Egypt. Conflict and sectarian violence continuing in Somalia, Sudan, Iraq, Syria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Nigeria and elsewhere around the world.

Lord, hear us and forgive us

You call us to care and nurture all creation, yet so often we treat it cavalierly and out of greed, abuse our resources. The continuing deforestation of huge swathes of Indonesia, Vietnam, Brazil, and even in protected ancient forests such as Poland. New gigantic off-shore platforms near Australia are drawing natural gas resources to meet our insatiable greed for energy.

Lord, teach us stewardship and how to touch the earth lightly for the benefit of all and generations to come.

Lord, hear us and forgive us.

We give thanks for the work in the United Arab Emirates by scientists from Norway who have developed a method to pump liquid clay nano-particles into sandy desert so that crops are planted in seven hours instead of seven years. Water required to grow these crops is also reduced by up to 50%. The blooming of the desert is a closer reality.

We give thanks too for the female armed rangers in southern Zimbabwe who are protecting highly endangered elephants from poachers. Unlike their male counterparts, they are not succumbing to corruption or pressure but are arresting poachers even from their own villages or families. Often having survived abusive relationships, these women can now send their children to school and support them.

Lord, continue to strengthen those taking such creative action in solving problems we humans so often have created.

Lord, we bless your holy Name: hear us and bless us.

We continue to remember all who fear. Remember those experiencing natural disasters such as in Hawaii, U.S., and dust and electrical storms in India. Guide our leaders as we watch such political posturing as between North Korea and the rest of the world. Give us discernment in the Iranian nuclear discussions and in the latest financial crisis in Argentina. Comfort those experiencing the devastating wave of knife crimes in London, England among the young. Be with those imprisoned throughout the world without trial or justice, those lonely, those who feel they have no self-worth.

Help us to reach out as need presents itself in all its forms. We have heard your Truth. Prompt us to act on it and live it in our daily choices and decisions.

Lord, hear and answer our prayers for the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ who opened the way for Your kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 3 May 2018

There is a balm in Gilead
To make the wounded whole;
There is a balm in Gilead
To heal the sin-sick soul. (African American spiritual)

O God, when our hearts are breaking, when our souls are wounded, to whom else shall we turn? Where else shall we bring our prayers, our concerns, our woundedness, our confusion, but to you? For you have the words of eternal life, those words of comfort and peace for which we long, even as tears for the hurts of this world course down our faces.

Together, we pray for the people of Armenia, Honduras, Libya, Malaysia, and Turkey, as unrest over elections continues, as the people yearn for justice and truth and integrity from their political leaders. And our hearts yearn with them.

There is a balm in Gilead
To make the wounded whole;
There is a balm in Gilead
To heal the sin-sick soul.

Together, we pray for the victims of the two suicide bomb attacks in Kabul, Afghanistan, along with the families of those killed including 8 journalists and photographer Shah Marai; for the victims of the blast at a mosque in northeast Nigeria which has killed more than 27, as the people yearn for hope and peace and safety. And our hearts yearn with them.

There is a balm in Gilead
To make the wounded whole;
There is a balm in Gilead
To heal the sin-sick soul.

Together, we pray for those seeking the abatement of nuclear threats in Iran and North Korea, as people everywhere fear for the continued well-being of this planet and its inhabitants. And our hearts yearn with them.

There is a balm in Gilead
To make the wounded whole;
There is a balm in Gilead
To heal the sin-sick soul.

Together, we pray that the supporters and opponents of DACA and immigration in the United States might come to some just agreement, even as those in the caravan of Central Americans seeking asylum long only to be seen as people of worth. And our hearts yearn with them.

There is a balm in Gilead
To make the wounded whole;
There is a balm in Gilead
To heal the sin-sick soul.

O God of all creation, you call us all your children and so, when our hearts are breaking, when our souls are wounded, we turn to you. We bring our prayers, our concerns, our woundedness, our confusion to you. For you have the words of eternal life, those words of comfort and peace for which we long. And so, guide our steps as we work for peace and justice. Guide our words as we speak out for what is right. Open our hearts to the truth of your love and acceptance and compassion, that we might be your presence in this world of ours. Let this be so. Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, April 12, 2018

[Jesus] stood among them and said to them, ‘Shalom be with you.’ ~ Luke 24:36

God of creation and creativity, you’ve given us the gift of language and communication so that we might speak of and learn about you, however feeble our understanding might be. We often take the gift of words for granted, forgetting the deep richness of meaning in the words you speak to us. Remind us especially today and always of the meaning of Jesus’ words to his disciples and to us: “Shalom be with you.”

Remind us that the shalom of God means a commitment to peace for all people. Bring calm and reason to world leaders who threaten one another economically, politically, and militarily, especially in Russia, China, and the United States of America. Send people of good faith and compassion to negotiate healing and peace in places of long-lasting and complicated conflict like Syria, Palestine, Myanmar, Central African Republic, South Sudan, and so many other countries around the world where your children continue to suffer.

Remind us that the shalom of God means a commitment to justice for all people. Send your shalom to all governments leaders who are committed to improving lives and working for the prosperity of all. Make us aware of the fragility of our human hearts, so that we can guard against further instances of corruption like those currently playing out in South Africa and Brazil, where key government leaders have been charged or convicted. Remind us of our own role in creating communities of equality, where all people can live in safety and wholeness.

Remind us that the shalom of God means a commitment to health for all people. Bring healing to all who suffer illness in mind, body, and spirit. We pray especially for those who have been abused like Yoshitane Yamasaki, a man in Japan who was kept in a cage by his father for 20 years, and childless women in Guinea, where a scammer sold harmful herbs that made the women’s stomachs swell and told them that they had become pregnant. We pray also for the grieving families of the children who died in a bus crash in Himachal Pradesh, India.

Remind us that the shalom of God means a commitment to wholeness for all people. Embolden us to fight for change as we remember the empty and broken feelings of those who have lost loved ones to violence: the families of students killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, USA; the families of those killed and injured in Muenster, Germany, when a van drove into a crowd; and the families of those who mourn the senseless deaths of people they love due to gun violence, terrorism, and hate.

Remind us that the shalom of God means a commitment to safety for all people. Fill us with compassion for people who live in danger every day in Douma, Syria, where gas attacks threaten lives, and in Offa, Nigeria, where violent robberies have become routine.

Remind us that the shalom of God means a commitment to your future kingdom in all its fullness. Give us the boldness to pray as you taught us, “Thy kingdom come,” and then to act on that prayer, working for peace where there is war, justice where there is need, health where there is illness, wholeness where there is loss, and safety where there is fear and danger. Fill us with your shalom, so that we can carry your message of hope, love, and joy to the ends of the earth.

Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, March 15, 2018

Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that thou art:
Thou my best thought both by day and by night,
Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light. (Irish Traditional, Tune SLANE)

O Light of the World, we stumble around in the darkness of this world which confounds us and causes us to live in fear, and through tear-filled eyes we see the pain and struggle in this world:

the President of the Philippines, Duterte, withdrawing the country from the International Criminal Court rather than own up to injustices committed;
sex slavery rampant in Nigeria and Libya, with kidnappings of young women continuing regularly;
the recent plane crash in Nepal with at least 49 dead and many others injured;
Soviet-era nerve agents being used to strike down double agent, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter in England, resulting in the ousting of 23 Soviet diplomats from the U.K.;
the extreme cold weather affecting the Eastern United States and the United Kingdom.

Be thou my wisdom, and thou my true word;
I ever with thee and thou with me, Lord.
Thou my souls shelter, and thou my high tow’r.
Raise thou me heav’nward, O Pow’r of my power.

But you continue to shine light into the darkness, Holy One; you continue to speak in a voice both wise and true, and so we can lift our hearts and voices in gratitude and rejoicing for:

the life and work of Stephen Hawking, the incredible scientist who overcame great physical disability to come to symbolize the power of the human mind, as he sought to explain some of the most complicated questions of life;
the possibility of a summit between Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe and North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, with the hope for maintaining peace in East Asia;
the thousands of young people throughout the United States who, on the one-month anniversary of the high school shooting in Parkland, Florida, organized a walk-out to raise awareness about gun violence and to hold their legislators accountable;
Viola Desmond, known as Canada’s Rosa Parks, becoming the first black person to appear on Canadian currency, announced on International Women’s Day;
the countless ordinary citizens who are choosing the difficult path of running for office in order to do justice, to love kindness, and to assure equality for all people.

Riches I heed not, nor vain, empty praise,
Thou mine inheritance, now and always;
Thou and thou only, the first in my heart,
Great God of heaven, my treasure thou art.

Great God of heaven, open our hearts and minds and eyes to see this world and its peoples as you see us, always through the lens of Love, incarnated in Jesus the Christ and in us, your own beloved children.

Let this be so. Amen.