World in Prayer

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, July 19, 2018

Jesus said to the disciples, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. Mark 6:31-34 NRSV

Amid the chaos and confusion, the demands on our time and attention, we long to hear you call us away for a time of rest and renewal. God of Grace and mercy, the news weighs heavy on our hearts. Sometimes we don’t even know where to start, how to make an impact in this world. It can feel as though everyone we encounter is a sheep without a shepherd. Fill our hearts with the compassion of Jesus, that we might both find the rest we so desperately need, and the strength and courage to do the hard work of mercy, justice and reconciliation.

God, we pray for all those in political offices, that they might lead with the best interests of the people, and the planet, in mind. We pray especially for the leaders of Israel and Palestine, that they might make steps toward a sustainable peace.

We pray for researchers seeking to detect and cure cancer and other diseases, as Australian researchers may have developed a blood test which can detect melanoma at an early stage, and may lead to saving many lives.

We pray for police, first-responders, EMTs, and all public servants, as they serve others in difficult and trying situations. We pray especially for the firefighters who are battling overwhelming wildfires in Sweden, and for the neighboring countries who are providing much-needed resources.

We pray for all those who labor, sometimes working in nearly unbearable situations, to afford us the comforts we desire. We pray for miners and all who work in dangerous professions as five miners have died in a South African copper mine.

We pray for business leaders, that they may realize the impact their decisions have on families, and on the environment we all share. We pray for just and fair trade practices as leaders in Japan and the European Union have recently come to a significant trade deal.

We pray for families, that parents are able to provide the needed support and be the role models our children deserve. And, we pray that all children would have their basic needs met, especially when their parents are unable or unwilling to meet those needs.

And God, we pray for ourselves, that we might hear your voice, discern your will for our lives, and have the courage and strength to work for justice. And may we find peace and rest…so we might be empowered to show the compassion of Christ to all those around us.

Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, May 31, 2018

Jesus asked “Who are my mother and my brothers?”

Lord Almighty, Son and Spirit, you who live in community know that we are always separate from one another but invite us into your family. You give us a way to live together for our mutual comfort and support.

We give thanks for those, who understanding our need for mutuality, find ways to live in greater support:

  • We give thanks for the Australian Royal Flying Doctor Service, celebrating 90 years since its inception/inauguration. We pray for all those who work for the service and those who need it.
  • We give thanks for all air ambulances, their staff and supporters, especially the volunteer workers. We pray for those in trauma who need these ambulances. We name those in floods in English Midlands and South East and Western North Carolina in the USA.
  • We give thanks for all diplomats and ambassadors who, by their work, seek to bring people into closer understanding. We pray for all who need their help as our world “shrinks” and we find more ways to get into trouble while abroad. We name Korea and Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her family.
  • We give thanks for those who, understanding the need for each person and country to have their own land, seek to promote peaceful interdependence not violence, especially where land is unfairly owned, where mineral rights are grabbed and water becomes a commercial weapon. We name South Africa; Rwanda; Mozambique; all countries along the course of the river Nile.
  • We give thanks for those who have studied our living, moving, changing earth especially those who study storms and volcanoes, giving rise to the production of power from wind, wave and geothermal sources. We pray for those who live with the fact that our earth is too big to control. We name Hawaii; Iceland; India.
  • We give thanks for those prepared to stand against separation and abuse. We pray for those suffering all kinds of discrimination, abuse and exclusion – such as the Windrush Generation in the UK and media programs which take action.

Who are my mother, brother, sister? All those whom God has created.
May it be so.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 19th April 2018

We call ourselves to remember, dear God, that you are one. We call you to hear our prayer as we struggle for focus. Our world, your world, changes so drastically. We pray for the immediate survivors of the deaths of the famous, like Barbara Bush in the United States and Winnie Mandela in the Republic of South Africa, and of the humble. We pray that we may take from our sharing of all these lives, at whatever distance, things that in surprising ways, can be made to work together for good. We pray that we grow in depth and concentration in our love for you, for we know we are all part of the working together.

We pray for a centering vision for our leaders and for ourselves. As the world works toward a first face-to-face meeting between the heads of North Korea and of the United States, we pray for the wisdom of the negotiators. We pray for abundance of life for all Koreans, North, South and in diaspora.

We pray that diplomatic relations between the United States, United Kingdom, France and Russia persevere in negotiations towards a peaceful solution to any interference in the Syrian civil war so that the innocent civilians of this war-torn country suffer no more.

We pray for a corrective vision for histories, our own history as well as the history of others. We see anti-Semitism rising in Germany, Hungary and elsewhere. We see the presence of alternative views legislatively outlawed in Poland and ridiculed in the United States. We pray that outrageous claims may be replaced by a still more outrageous calm, in our hearts, in our minds, in our speech and in our communities.

We pray for an inclusive view of ourselves and others. Even baboons have worked collaboratively to escape a biomedical research facility with a record of fines and violations in the United States. We pray for refugees and for those who receive refugees. We pray for ourselves, that we may entertain angels unaware.

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, February 15th, 2018

It seems very odd, Lord, that people call for January to be a month to try being vegan when Lent was a period, 40 days, in the time before world trade hit our food markets when it was a necessity.   We pray for those to whom being vegan is not a life style choice but a necessity forced on refugees, rough sleepers and displaced people.  We think especially of those in the Cape provinces of South Africa where drought is forcing extreme measures as water may run out in a matter of weeks.

It seems very odd, Lord, that people think shooting in a school will solve their problems rather than ask you.  We pray for all those dealing with the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, USA, for those who grieve, those who are injured and those treating trauma, giving thanks for all who cope as the incident unfolds.

It seems very odd, Lord, that people rake over old scandals rather than seek your moral code for how to live together as a society.  We pray for the people of Haiti and other countries where foreign aid workers have inflicted life style problems to the detriment of those they were sent to help.  We pray for the Governments of both donor and recipient countries especially those who, lacking perspective, trash all that has been achieved.

It seems very odd that prescription drugs are sold illegally for uses they can’t possibly treat, promote household chemicals as cures for fatal illnesses, while others poach endangered species and prey on people for body parts.

We pray:

for the women of Pakistan, trying to open bank accounts but whose spinal fluid was abusively taken.

for the churches of Limpopo province, South Africa, where insecticide was used on their congregations.

for those who are willing to pay, and those who take their money to poach, for the short terms gains from shark finning, rhino and elephant poaching.

We ask that things seen as of little media interest in the face of –

  • the political crises in South Africa and Israel;
  • the collapsing health care in Gaza, Syria and Jordan;
  • the Rohingya crisis in Bangladesh;
  • the banking investigation in Australia

may be recognised as the major events they are for the future of our whole world.

We pray for those killed and injured in the tragedy of incidents and life-affecting disasters –

  • in the plane crash in Moscow, Russia;
  • in the helicopter crash at the Grand Canyon, USA;
  • in the bus crash in Hong Kong;
  • in the train crash in central Austria;
  • in fighting and air strikes in Syria,

and may all those involved in rescue and emergency aid operations be recognised for the vital work and care they administer.

Lord, it might seem odd to us that we do so little: a smile here, a hug there, a donation, a prayer. Help us not to forget that the small thing we do today enables another to do a bigger thing tomorrow until all becomes part of your vast generosity.  Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018

Holy One,

We keep scrolling through the news, forever flicking from catastrophe to exhilaration to trauma, over and over and over again. Make us stop. Force us to take a break. Teach us how to breathe. Show us how to behold–rather than barrel through–your world.

We pray that we might take a break and breathe and behold the world, as you do.

May we breathe and behold those who are preparing for the Winter Olympics. We pray for the safety and well-being of these awe-inspiring athletes.

May we breathe and behold those who are preparing for elections and the transition of power in Venezuela, Germany, and South Africa. We pray for citizen voices to be heard, debate to remain non-violent, and appropriate authority respected.

May we breathe and behold those in need of drinkable water, whether they live in Cape Town, South Africa or Flint, Michigan, USA. We pray for provisions to keep your children satiated in the present and regulations to keep your children safe in the future. And we pray that we might never, ever, ever, ever, take for granted the gift of water and other resources from your Creation.

May we breathe and behold those who remain in battle zones and under siege in Syria. Even when the words seem to dry with despair on our lips, we still lift to you our prayers of grief, anger, fear, frustration, and deep lament for Syrian citizens and refugees. Hold these, your children. Breathe your Spirit into them. Remind them at that they are not alone, no matter how long the conflict drags on.

May we breathe and behold those who work to lift up the last, the lost, and the least here in our United States. As our media and legislators fixate on the wealthiest, most glamorous among us, we pray for the conviction to look for you in the face of the stranger, immigrant, prisoner, impoverished, abandoned, and weak.

We pray for the hearts and minds and strength to breathe and behold you in the world around us. We pray that we might learn to love you not just in word but in action, here and now and always.

In your holy name we pray. Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 25 January 2018

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever. ~ Psalm 111:10

…we know that “all of us possess knowledge.”  Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.  ~ 1 Corinthians 8:1

 …anyone who loves God is known by him. ~ 1 Corinthians 8:3

Holy God, revealed in the incarnate Jesus, the Christ, and gifted to each one of us through your Holy Spirit, we often struggle to live in or even sing of your majesty and transforming love. Fill us with thankfulness for all the light and love we receive even in the middle of hard times. This light and love is your gift to the darkness and brokenness in each one of us and in the world.

Come fill us with your light, love and wisdom, so we may be channels for you to lighten the darkness where we are.

Often, Father God, we think we’re okay or doing not so bad, yet in our willful blindness we miss the pain and suffering in our communities: those who lose jobs, run into financial difficulties, lose homes, cannot pay for food, education and basic necessities; the lonely; those grieving; those bullied and maltreated for whatever reason. We all need help at different times, yet sometimes we get cocooned in our routine and safe lives, choosing to be unaware of the fragility of what we think makes us safe and secure.  You God are our Rock, our Life and everlasting love.

Come fill us with your light, love and wisdom, so we may be channels for you to lighten the darkness where we are.

The relentless saga of egotistical arrogance continues in so many in leadership in all countries, businesses, governments, and organisations. Even leaders of faith groups seek self-aggrandisement and power over others. The havoc this wreaks is mirrored in all your world: in Eastern Ghouta, Syria; in Jalalabad, Afghanistan; in Kurdistan; in the Gambia trying to recover from the crimes committed by its former leader; in Yemen; in Austria; and in the wake of devastation following natural disasters in the USA, Mexico, France, Japan, and Cape Town, South Africa. Father God, give those in leadership understanding that the better way – your way – is to serve with compassion and lead in justice, truth and equity.

Come fill us with your light, love and wisdom, so we may be channels for you to lighten the darkness where we are.

We give thanks for the loving example of two sets of parents in India – one rich and Hindu, one poor and Muslim – where their newborn sons were switched at birth in error. After 3 years, they are continuing to bring up each other’s children while working to be part of each other’s lives.  One parent said, “We all come from the same source and only become Hindu and Muslim once here.” Teach us to live and love all whom you have created, and all that you have created. May we touch each other and the earth lightly as sacred gifts from you.

Come fill us with your light, love and wisdom, so we may be channels for you to lighten the darkness where we are.

Holy and awesome God, your Son’s authority is found in integrity and living truth, not the assertion of power over others.  Open our imaginations to new dimensions of your love, and heal us of all that severs us from you and one another and your Creation, that we may grow into the vision you unfold before us. 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 for Thursday, 7 September 2017

Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart. -Ps.119:34

The commandments…are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.” -Romans 13:9-10

Abba, Father of each one of us wherever we are in this blue planet you created for us even as you created us, listen to the cries of our hearts. As I struggle with difficulties and issues in my life outside my control, they are but pale echoes of what others are experiencing. But for each of us, at times the darkness threatens to overwhelm us.

God of love and life, hear our cries, and let a glimmer of your light and love offer hope and clarity about the path to take.

I feel such a deep, burning anger at the ecological disasters yet again affecting so many of the poorest communities in the Caribbean, India, Sri Lanka, the USA; at the suffering of so many without access to medicine, clean water, and food in Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Venezuela, Somalia, Syria, and so many other countries. I am ashamed and appalled at the indifference and inaction of media and politicians. What can I, as one person on a limited income, do to tackle this other than pray, sign petitions to be presented to our seemingly-indifferent governments, make phone calls to my elected officials, send emails, write letters which never seem to get answered?

Jesus, you challenged the authorities by pointing to the difference between God’s laws and those of humankind.

God of love and life, hear our cries, and let a glimmer of your light and love offer hope and clarity about the path to take.

At night, my sleep is broken as I hold up to You the prisoners of conscience disappeared without trace in numerous countries; the murder of so many such as Lauri Gankesh, an Indian female journalist and activist who spoke out against extremist Hindu violence; women and girls routinely sexually harassed and raped throughout the world and then being accused by males in positions of influence or power as ‘inviting it’; corruption in Brazil, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E.- the list seems endless…

Jesus, you contravened the religious ‘correctness’ of man’s religious orthodoxy, preferring always to follow God’s revealed will and laws.

God of love and life, hear our cries, and let a glimmer of your light and love offer us hope and the courage to follow your example.

So many hearts are breaking in the United States at the suspension of DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), the act put into place during the previous administration in 2012 to permit undocumented young people, brought to America by their parents, to remain in the country at their jobs or in school or with their families. Uncertainty grips Latino communities as the threat of deportation looms large, loving God, as families fear being torn apart, in the name of national security and immigration reform.

Jesus, you welcomed everyone, including all people into the embrace of your loving care, reflecting the all-encompassing and inclusive love of God.

God of love and life, hear our cries, and let a glimmer of your light and love offer us hope and the courage to speak up for justice. 

Why do we, your followers, call you The Servant King but try to emulate, admire, and promote the values of self-obsessed ‘successful leaders’? Lord, forgive us and have mercy on our twisted understanding. So often we proclaim and teach human traditions instead of yours. We give thanks for all who dare to follow You in love and service, abandoning themselves to your will.

Lead us from death to life, from fear to love, from despair to hope, trusting in You. God of love and life, hear our cries, and let a glimmer of your light and love offer us hope and the courage to love our neighbor, whoever and wherever they are, as You love us. Amen

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, July 27

The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple….
My eyes shed streams of tears because your law is not kept. Ps 119: 130, 136

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. Romans 8:26

Forgive us, Lord, for reducing your might, majesty, and power to fit our comfort zone. The news of world events overwhelms us. We can be assailed by doubts, fear, and despair while choosing to say that you are God over all. So often this masks, however scantily, our lack of faith and understanding.

Forgive us, Lord, we implore you.

Lord, hear us: may your Holy Spirit breathe life into our prayers.

This week, whether in the northern or southern hemispheres of our shared planet, bush-fires, floods, snow storms, thunder storms, drought, famine, and melting glaciers causing water levels to raise world-wide have brought havoc and devastation to millions. Behind such abstract figures are individual stories of people who are just like us.

We pray for and give thanks for all aid agencies and people helping their neighbours in this time of great need. Forgive us for our heedless use of resources not rightly ours. Teach us to touch the earth lightly and to live thoughtfully and in harmony with the generous provisions in Creation you have given for us and all your children.

Lord, hear us: may your Holy Spirit breathe life into our prayers.

We hear of wars and rumours of wars and violence in Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico, Egypt and at local levels in all of our own countries. Hatred and fear of difference make us dehumanise our neighbours and inflate ourselves. We continue to pray for justice for all regardless of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or politics. We long for the time when this will be the norm throughout the world. Prince of Peace, jolt us awake when we casually slide into indifference and cruelty to each other. May we follow your example in our daily lives.

Lord, hear us: may your Holy Spirit breathe life into our prayers.

We give thanks for the love and compassion for others often shown by wounded individuals. Jodi Ann Bickley from Birmingham, UK, who fights depression, has written over 4,000 letters of encouragement to complete strangers as part of her One Million Lovely Letters project started in 2013. These life-enhancing and life-changing letters have transformed the lives of the recipients and even helped youngsters in rural South Africa move beyond their experience of abuse and violence and marginalisation. Open us up to hear your prompts for loving acts you wish us to do and for the loving people you wish us to be.

Lord, hear us: may your Holy Spirit breathe life into our prayers.

Open our ears, glorious Lord Christ, to hear the music of your voice above the chaos of this world: the power of your love, your mercy for each one of us, and the wisdom and wonders of your law and commandments which promises to lead us from darkness to light. Amen.