Nigeria

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.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, December 21, 2017

“Let it be with me according to your word.”

–Mary, on learning that she was to bear the son of God (Luke 1:38)

Let it be with us, according to Your word.
Let the hungry be filled with good things.
Let the lowly be lifted up.
Let the mighty be cast down.
Let your promise of mercy take root throughout all humankind.

Let it be with us according to Your word, for the least among us

In the United States, castigated by a United Nations poverty and human rights investigation for having one of the highest rates of income inequality in the developed world, with low-income residents often being marginalized with little support from the government and few opportunities to climb out of poverty. The same report said that the massive tax reform bill just passed will turn the U.S. into “the World Champion of Extreme Inequality.”
In Benin, where a two-year pilot project funded by the World Bank virtually stopped child slavery in the central commune of Za-Kpota. Just giving each family $6 per month provided them with enough income that they no longer needed to sell their children to labor in Nigerian mines, and instead were able to keep them home and send them to school.
In Tanzania, after President John Magufuli pardoned singer Nguza Viking and his son Johnson Nguza for raping 10 primary school girls, aged between six and eight, in 2003. The pardon has been denounced by Human Rights Watch and Equality Now as promoting a culture of human rights violations in which young victims of sexual violence are being punished while perpetrators are going free.
Children affected by wars in the Middle East, especially those displaced in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. A five-year grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation will bring a local version of “Sesame Street” to an estimated 9.4 million children, teaching reading, language, and other skills.

Let it be with us according to Your word, for the mighty among us

Following the election in Catalonia, Spain, where the separatist parties won a slim, smaller majority in the new Assembly.
As the new leader of South Africa’s governing African National Congress, Cyril Ramaphosa, pledges to fight corruption and pursue a policy of “radical economic transformation”.
In Honduras, where a chaotic presidential election in Honduras—involving unexplained computer malfunctions and possible vote rigging—has ended with the country’s electoral commission proclaiming the incumbent president, Juan Orlando Hernandez, the winner.
After U.S. President Donald Trump declared that the U.S. would recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel – an act immediately and overwhelmingly condemned by the United Nations General Assembly.

Let it be with us according to Your word, for all who are sorrow-filled and all who are joyful.

Show us your mercy, that we all may proclaim,
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”

World News in Prayer Thursday, November 23, 2017

“…for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to
drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me
clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” ~ Matthew 25:42-43

God of the poor and hungry, God of the lonely and homeless, God of the imprisoned and victims of injustice, at this time of giving thanks we turn to you with heads bowed in both shame and awareness of the ways in which we fall short of your call to love. As we look, often with tear-filled eyes, around this world of your creation, we grieve for the governmental instability which threatens peace and security in so many places: Zimbabwe, Lebanon, Germany, Syria. Breathe your wisdom into the leaders of the nations and breathe your peace into the countless peoples who live in fear.

God of grace and glory, hear our prayer.

God of the downtrodden and forgotten, God of the insecure and uncertain, God of the refugee and the immigrant, even as we sit at our tables of abundance within our safe and warm and secure homes, turn our minds and hearts to those who live in fear and uncertainty each day: the Rohingya of Myanmar; the Haitians in the United States who face deportation in 18 months; the nearly 700,000 illegal immigrant children allowed to remain in the US under the Obama Deferred Action for Child Arrivals program whose future has yet to be decided. We remember too the refugees throughout Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Australasia and elsewhere fleeing violence and war yet struggling to find a safe haven. Breathe your strength into all for whom tomorrow’s path is unclear and shine the light of your inclusive love into every darkened corner.

God of grace and glory, hear our prayer.

God of the fear-filled and angry, God of the rich and the poor, God of the sick and the abused, even as people in the US attempt to celebrate their holiday of Thanksgiving, our gaze is clouded by the miasma of scandalous sexual behavior of well-known men which daily fills the news in the United States, India, both North and South Korea, the UK, Europe and too many countries to list. Fear and concern soar due to the far-reaching potential effects of the proposed US tax bill upon those already stretched to the breaking point financially. This too is echoed in other countries where those with limited means or lack of job opportunities are being squeezed, taxed and marginalised at the expense of so many large multinational corporations. Darkness and despair threatens with the seeming never endless cycle of countless mass shootings in the United States, terrorist attacks reported and unreported across the globe including in Nigeria. Breathe your empowerment on women everywhere as they attempt to be all you have created them to be and fill those in positions of power with an awareness of how to exercise that power with responsibility, respect, and justice.

God of grace and glory, hear our prayer.

God of hope and wonder, God of joy and sorrow, God of earth and sky and sea, as we seek for the “Good News”, open our eyes to see and rejoice in the work of US Vietnam veteran, Michael Reagan, who has made it his life’s work to create portraits of fallen soldiers as gifts for their families; for the Giant Panda sanctuaries which have been established in the Sichuan Province, China, for the protection of these beautiful beings; for the meeting between the US Rev. William Barber of “Repairing the Breach” and Pope Francis, two men of deep faith, on Thanksgiving Day at the Vatican, Italy. Breathe love for your creation and all of its creatures into all of us and into those who make decisions which have far-reaching effects.

God of grace and glory, hear our prayer.

God of many names and many faces, God who looks like me and like you, God whose voice and presence fills this world, help us to see you in every person we meet, and to recognize that each place we stand, each encounter we have, is Holy Ground…today and every day. Amen

World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., Nov. 2, 2017`

Once again, dear God, once again we come to you in grief and anger. Once again terror has struck at the heart of New York City, U.S. Once again, we know the weeping of Rachel that is heard across Your creation. Once again, what You declared to be good has fallen short of Your glory. Once again the world village of sorrow grows larger and smaller at the same time. Once again the people of the United States join hands with Rohingya villagers in Myanmar, a family of grief united with Boston (U.S.) and Barcelona (Spain), Paris (France) and Orlando (U.S.), Israel and Egypt, Pakistan and Nigeria.

Once again tears mix with tears without concern for race, creed, loyalties. Once again we taste true communion in our remembrance of Christ’s own innocent death. Once again we know Good Friday, and Easter feels far away. Once again we know the power of hatred testing the power of love. Once again we seek for Good News. Once again we hear the tempter’s offer of shortcuts, if only we would bow.

Once again, Holy God, hear our cry, heal our spirits, touch our hurt, forgive our hatred, guide our steps, strengthen, strengthen, strengthen our every breath to be God-breathed. Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, October 19, 2017

Dear Lord,

Your people in Puerto Rico and across the Caribbean have looked up into rain flooded skies and out onto destroyed homelands, waiting for water, food, shelter and the provision of medical care. Open the hearts of decision makers to release funds to continue the rescue, to bring relief and stability. Smooth the communications to move people to care as the USNS Comfort (US naval ship) waits for the needy. Help us to grow in compassion as a people as we listen to news from hurricane-devastated places and during the long recovery, not forgetting the gulf coast.

We pray for the Rohingya peoples who await smugglers to take them across the Naf River between Myanmar and Bangladesh. Others make the treacherous journey to safety through jungles and mountains and into refugee camps such as Balukali, Kutupalong and Nayapara, where the depth of need is continually expanding. Dear God, our Comforter and Protector, be with the nation of Bangladesh and the NGO’s as they summon all their capacity to meet the needs of these deeply suffering refugees. Surround exhausted families with nourishing sleep. Tend to the children who make up 60% of the refugees – lost and torn from their families. Open our eyes to the horror of genocide, as a people are being erased from Myanmar’s history and annihilated. Come Holy Spirit. Guide the world as it seeks to address this calamity.

Some look up into smoke and ash filled skies in the western United States barely escaping burning homes and a tortured landscape and yet 10,000 firefighters – including 100 women prisoners working as firefighters – move toward the flames. Renew their energy to endure and guard their steps. We are so grateful for their unique skills in this treacherous work. Dear God, provide shelter to families bereft of everything they owned. Sustain the communities in their great work of serving these families, providing food, a listening ear, counseling and guidance in next steps and getting in touch with family. Be with the 42 families who have lost loved ones and the 68 families with unaccounted for loved ones. Hold them in their distress.

Some hide in the shelter of darkness yet afraid. “Has the fighting stopped?” Oh Lord, how seemingly endless is the noise and dust and calamity of war and the horrific suffering, the interminable loss and degradation. We pray for the peoples caught in the wars within wars, in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region of Kirkuk, for the police killed in Taliban raids and bombings in the Paktia and Ghazni provinces in Afghanistan. We pray for the dead and wounded civilians as they were waiting to get their identity cards. We pray for an end to 6 years of suffering in the Syrian civil war displacing 6.3 million people internally, causing the deaths of 400,000 with more than 5 million Syrians fleeing the country.

Open the hearts of combatants to give safe humanitarian access. Our hearts are torn again as we hear about the global food crisis, severe food insecurity, and the increasing risk of full on famine in northeast Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen. Some are too week to sit or even cry, hungry to the point of death. Oh God, you are listening. You surround them. You love them. Open our hearts. Help us to prayerfully consider our time, talent and treasure. Help us to share the wealth from our tables. Bring peace in those places where war creates famine, where conflict creates war, where war seems to be endless.

We watched with deep concern as Ireland and the UK received the effects of Hurricane Ophelia downgraded to a tropical storm. We are saddened at the loss of life as severe winds toppled trees on to cars. We are grateful for advanced warning such that the Irish Defense Forces were ready where needed and schools were closed keeping children safe. Be with families in their sudden grief and with those experiencing the deep deep losses in Portugal and Spain as wildfires fanned by the winds of the very same hurricane have brought further catastrophe. Again we pray for the 6,000 firefighters and nations called to come together in these wildfires. Be with the injured and their caregivers as severe burns are treated. Comfort those who are in mourning of the over thirty-two victims including a one-month old infant taken so quickly. Many weep for their cherished lands and fields, and livestock so vulnerable. Comfort them in their mourning. Give them your strength.

And your people in Mogadishu, where the Somali nation again suffers a bombing so despicable and barbaric with over 276 lives destroyed in an instant. Oh Lord, we take-in this news of the over 300 injured and suffering, and families still searching for the missing. We hear of the need for donor blood, the exhausted hospital staff, and how they keep going, as its populace is weeping, weeping, weeping. Help them as they assemble and arise as a people to discern steps for increased stability and safety in their nation. Comfort your people of Somalia in their great sorrow. Bring them peace.

Guide us in our faith. Help us to seek your will.

May we rush to understand one another, to love urgently, and to grow steadily in becoming more tolerant.

From you comes all blessings and life itself.

Amen.