Sudan

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019

Kindle a flame to lighten the dark and take all fear away.
~ John L Bell and Graham Maule*

When nations are being riven by fear, lies, lack of trust in political, business
and so many seeming to seek leadership positions for their own aggrandisement rather than the common good:

Kindle a flame to lighten the dark and take all fear away, so justice and truth prevails.

When all efforts have been made to cope with natural disasters:

Hurricane Dorian, devastating the Bahamas and threatening east coast states of the USA;
Severe ice cap melting in Greenland, the Antarctic and Arctic – threatening low lying communities and countries throughout the world;
Bird migrants arriving at their usual time in northern countries (e.g. the UK and Scandinavia) to find food sources already flowered and unavailable due to climate change

Kindle a flame to lighten the dark and take all fear away.

When people are exhausted from the struggles against injustice and terror:

1.9 million people facing losing their citizenship in Assam, India;
Those detained, disappeared or tortured in Kashmir;
Starvation, violence, lack of medical care and hopelessness experienced by millions in Yemen, and in stateless camps throughout the Middle East, Libya, Sudan and so many other countries;
The fear of so many in Afghanistan where the US -Taliban deal does nothing to stop bombings and the use of children as suicide bombers;
Increased xenophobic riots in South Africa leading to deaths, injuries and boycotts;
Thousands of economically disadvantaged groups left without education or medical care after Christian and Muslim schools and health centers were seized by the government in Eritrea;
The desperate and often life-threatening experience of refugees in the US, Mexico, Sweden, the European Union, Canada, India, Bangladesh, Turkey, Australia and so many other countries

Kindle a flame to lighten the dark and take all fear away.

When people seek to care for their fellow human beings in need:

Over 1,000 people in the Central African Republic have become foster parents, like Henriette and Jean-Philippe Idjara. Despite having 4 children, and having lost 5 others through illness, they adopted 2 teenage boys who had seen their father executed by rebels. Alone and in fear of their lives, the boys had fled and walked 150 miles in a week, before being found exhausted and rescued by the Idjaras.
We give thanks for all who open their hearts and homes to brothers and sisters in need of any sort, without checking their balance sheet first. Help us to dare to trust in You, our shield and our defender.
We give thanks and remember all who act as carers (paid or unpaid), ambulance workers, medical staff, police, firefighters, military personnel, ministers and priests of all faiths, and those who keep our communities clean and safe with often little thanks. We pray for their protection and support, praying especially for their mental health dealing with the sights and situations we so often prefer not to see.. Throughout the world, the silent loss of way too many of those helpers of us all, their high rates of suicide and mental and physical illness from so much stress, is a scandal and source of shame..

Kindle a flame to lighten the dark and take all fear away. Bless and strengthen them by your loving spirit and help us provide them with the care and support they need.

When families are changing, new life is being formed and others prepare to leave this earthly life:

Give us all a sense of thankfulness and proportion as to what is real or imaginary;
help us nurture truth rather than deceit;
humility rather than hubris;
tenderness, love and compassion rather than aggression, hatred and division.

Despite all we like to think, we are not in charge. You are.

O God, save us from ourselves, from double standards and divided hearts, and give us light and life in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, July 25, 2019

He has shown all you people what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8 NIV

Let us pray.

We think of the 45 People beaten by organized thugs in Yuen Long, a far northwest metro station of Hong Kong. There is worry of collusion and payments being made to criminals to actually disrupt public safety as citizens are peacefully protesting. An extradition bill that sparked the civil protest has been suspended. Comfort the families of the injured. We ask that you bring clarity to leaders and especially the police as they sort out right action to address the turmoil. Bring justice where there is violent behavior and help us to show mercy where impoverished people seem to turn toward crime. Oh Lord, we hear of these horrendous things and bow our heads. Help us to walk humbly.

We remember the Paradise fire and morn the loss, loss that killed 85 people and devastated a small city. “Ahead of the Fire,” reported by the Arizona Republic (USA) and USA Today reflects and analyzes the fire and the human risk for people living in the west, and what and where prevention can happen to avert catastrophe. Help us to hear the Good News months later as wild fire specialists and other scientists sort out the over 500 high-risk western US communities like Paradise. We pray for the disabled, the elderly, the poor who may not have cell phones to hear an Amber alert, who live in housing that is substandard and fire prone. Bring compassionate services to them. We remember fires around the world that devastate communities leaving people with nothing. We pray that this report will inform policy and opportunities for just and equable action. Help us to live humbly and work for justice.

We seek courage of voice to declaim abuses in Sudan, as reported by the BBC this week, where the Rapid Support Forces have been accused of a massacre in which more than 120 people were killed and many of the dead dumped in the River Nile in early June. This quasi-ruling power in Sudan, fueled by its gold mining in Darfur, sends its gold to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Sudanese militiamen are now fighting in Yemen with the UAE and “policing” the border to Libya, extracting bribes, ransoms and levies. We shutter at the expanding web of war and the millions suffering in famine in Yemen. Lord, show your mercy; restore our sanity and resolve to take just action. Help us to speak with courage.

And help us to remember that through the work of the UN, 12 million refugees around the world have received essential supplies and 92,400 refugees have been resettled in 2018. Help us to live with thanks.

May we show devotion in all seasons, times of the day and spaces. We take out the garbage, fix a meal, lend a hand, soothe a baby, read to a child, fold the bedding, close a tent flap to shelter from rain, or linger a moment to look at the stars. Eternal One, you are with us in all these moments. May we feel your Holy Spirit even in the darkest of times. May Christ’s words to love infuse our hearts, minds and hands. Help us, indeed, to love mercy and to show mercy.

We close with the words of St. Francis of Assisi, For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.

Amen

World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, June 20, 2019

Holy One,
Our hands reach out, our voices call forth, our hearts lift up, and in the act of praying, once again, we discover you. Our words are but a small measure of the world’s great need, yet as we draw close to you, you draw close to us.
We pray to you, O Lord.

Comforting One,
We hold up those in Yemen, Venezuela, and Somalia, those whose lives leave them trembling in the dark, whose situations leave them hungry in the day. We pray for the 70 million displaced people worldwide, two-thirds of which come from the countries of Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar, and Somalia. Hold these, your children. Nurture them, shelter them, love them. We give thanks for those who are doing the work of resettling them. No matter where the spotlight of the world’s attention shines, you see those who are struggling, in every city, every village, every alcove, around the world.
So, we pray to you, O Lord.

Righteous One,
We hold up those in the streets in Sudan, Haiti, Malawi, and Hong Kong – those protesting non-violently around the world, and those who find themselves losing hope in justice. As for those who have come to believe that violence is the only way to get things done, we pray that you soften their hearts, strengthen their spirits, and reveal your steadfast work in the world. Break apart all prisons of tyranny, shake loose all dominions of greed, bring forth your reign of mercy and righteousness, here on earth.
We pray to you, O Lord.

Almighty One,
When we confront events of the past, pain and questions can blossom in our hearts. Walk with all those who are reliving moments of trauma in recent weeks. Walk with those in Kenya, as four young men are charged in connection with the 2015 militant raid at a university. Walk with those in Rwanda, as the nation acknowledges the twenty-fifth anniversary of the 1994 genocide. Walk with those in California, Puerto Rico, Texas, (USA) the coastlines, and other areas affected by natural disasters, as they face another hurricane and wildfire season. Walk with those celebrating Juneteenth this week in the United States, as well as those who are pausing to acknowledge the 400th anniversary of documented slaves arriving on the shores of the American colonies.
So, we pray to you, O Lord.

Jesus our Christ,
Your power is not our power, your healing is not our healing, your love is not our love. At the end of the day, at the end of our lives, we turn all that we are, and all that we hope to be, over to your receiving arms. Guide us, renew us, redeem us. We cannot do anything apart from you .
We pray to you. Lord have mercy.
Amen.

World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, 6 June, 2019

“God of grace and God of glory
on thy people pour thy power…
Grant us wisdom
grant us courage
for the living of these days.”
(Hymn, Harry Emerson Fosdick)

Holy God, we sing our hymn of faith with faith, sometimes in the spirit of the modern proverb to “fake it ‘till we make it”. Our hymns, our prayers, our sermon, and teachings and studies, our very worship strive to reach your grace, your glory, your power, your wisdom and your courage, for the living of these days.

Lord God, in these days we have seen the pomp and circumstance in England among President, Queen, and Prime Minister. We hear the echoes of hope and horror from China’s 1989 Tiananmen Square. We remember the sacrifices of D-Day when so many entered the Valley of the Shadow of Death, yearning to end a great evil. We marvel at the exercise in democracy in India, and yet worry about democracy’s fragility in the face of the most strident fears. We watch the migration of hopes and dreams across borders and seas, escaping violence and poverty and oppression. We hear the voices of protest and the response of gunfire in Nicaragua, Sudan, and Venezuela.

Loving God, yes, we see and hear and feel and marvel and worry and watch. And pray. We pray that your Holy presence will be known in every circumstance. We pray that your grace, glory, and power, of which we sing so hopefully, will bless those whose lives are so frail, or empty, or lost.

And we pray that you will grant us wisdom, and grant us courage, for the living of these days. For those in power and those without, for the 1% and not, for the privileged and the denied, for the believers and the doubters, for the whole and the broken, be our Redeemer, our Messiah, our Savior, our Strong Deliverer, our Trinity of all that is Holy. 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, April 25, 2019

Holy One,

Your Name is above all names, it is so high that we cannot attain it, yet still we seek it. And when we cannot find you, when we do not understand what is happening, when our hearts quake with fear and our spirits tremble with unknowing, when we stumble and search and seek after your face, a beloved face that seems so far from us, that is when YOU call us by name. As you did with Mary on Easter, you pierce through the mystery and call us, claim us, love us. As you did on Easter, you reveal that you are not removed from the world, but that you are here, with us, through death and life, in the tomb of decay and the garden of growth, you are with us here in the world.

Reveal yourself to us today.

Where we see violence and destruction in the bombings of churches throughout Sri Lanka, where we watch the aftermath of shootings, as in New Zealand, reveal the wings of your comfort, the shelter of your arms, the balm of your care.

Where we see vigilante militias along the United States border treat refugees and asylum-seekers as criminals, reveal the power of your justice, the commitments of your love, and the renewal of your protection.

Where we see the violence in Libya where hundreds are dying and over one thousand wounded in the battle for control of the capital, Tripoli, reveal your compassion and wisdom to bring these fighting factions to achieve peace for the country’s people.

Where we see the brutality of domestic abuse and the secrets of family pain, as with the family found in the cave in Spain, reveal to us how you grieve the loss of your children, how you rage at the ways we abuse each other or do not to see the abuse of each other, how you call us to commit again to caring for your vulnerable ones.

Where we see political protests in places around the word, like Sudan and Hong Kong, reveal how you lift up the lowly and bring down the mighty from their thrones. We know that not all shouting voices should be given the megaphone, yet we also know that what we think of as power and might, will pass away as grass in your sight.

Where we see the erosion of environment and the increasing anxiety over resources, with loss of rainforests in Brazil and months of drought in Australia, reveal how you have poured your care into every aspect of Creation, and how you demand that we more faithfully steward this world entrusted to us.

Where we see tragedy and death this week from the natural elements in the Philippines from earthquakes, landslides in Columbia and floods and mudslides in South Africa, reveal your consoling arms to surround these victims and their bereaved loved ones in love and strength to endure their loss.

Where we need to see your face, Lord, we pray that you will show up before us and remind us again that nothing, not even death, will separate us from you.

You have called to us before. Call to us now.

Amen sildenafil generique.

World News in Prayer – Thursday 18 April 2019

Holy One,

As Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France burned this week, so many millions of us were bound together in heartbreak. As Notre Dame emerged damaged but not fully destroyed, so many millions were bound together in hope. As we consider Paris and Notre Dame, we pray for fulfilling and fruitful work of healing and rebuilding; we pray that this rebuilding might continue to draw us all together in a community of care.

We realize that such unity is how you hold the world at every moment. You gaze upon us with such sorrow when we destroy the world that you created. You gaze upon us with such delight when we work to save and strengthen the kin-dom you promise . You hold us all in your embrace. We seek to be united as we were this week – but rather than united by bonds of horror-filled helplessness, we pray that we might be united by bonds of awestruck, peaceful rejoicing. Teach us how to care for this world that you loved so deeply that you died for it.