World in Prayer

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, June 15, 2017

The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;
therefore ask the overseer of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest.
—Matthew 9.37-38

Harvest  by Pastor Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Maybe the harvest is not bringing people to Christ
but gathering the fruits of the Spirit
God has sown in you
for the sake of the world.

Maybe it’s not an act of taking,
but receiving.

The harvest is plentiful
but few are the people who have gathered,
who have received the gifts, the grace,
the love growing in your heart,
and feasted on those fruits
to be strengthened to go out
and heal the wounded,
and be good news for the broken of the world.

The field stretches to the horizon.
There are more trees in this orchard
than stars in heaven.

What grace have you not yet harvested?
Go into that good harvest.
Here is a basket for your labors. Go.
Called together in the Spirit’s embrace, let us pray for the mending of God’s world.

Holy God, Loving God, Steadfast God, Compassionate God, looking at this world which You have created, this world over which You have given us stewardship, it is so easy to become discouraged and disheartened, to forget Your call to harvest Your grace, and to be good news for those who are broken. Sometimes all our tear-clouded eyes can see is the heartache and heartbreak which holds us in its thrall, making it difficult to see anything other than darkness and despair:

*Despair about an unknown blast which went off in eastern China, leaving at least seven people dead and over sixty-five others injured.

*Despair about a suicide car bombing into a hotel restaurant in Mogadishu, Somalia, where at least nineteen are dead and many others wounded

*Despair about the fire in the Grenfell Tower in London, England, where at least seventeen people have died and dozens of others are in hospitals, many of them in critical condition.

*Despair about the shooting in Virginia, US, at a Congressional baseball game practice, where six people were shot and the gunman was killed.

*Despair about Ohio, US student, Otto Warmbler, released by North Korea after seventeen months in captivity, who is in the hospital suffering from a severe neurological injury.

*Despair about the hundreds of civilian casualties in Raqqa, Syria, due to US-led air strikes.

*Despair about hot car deaths – deaths of children being left alone in vehicles during hot weather – occurring in the US, as three children have died in the last week.

*Despair about the road-rage shooting and killing of 2-year-old Laylah Washington of Memphis, Tennessee, US.

 

Holy God, Loving God, Steadfast God, Compassionate God, looking at this world which You have created, this world which You call us to co-create with You, open our eyes and our hearts to see the harvest of Your grace-filled love which is being made manifest in countless places, through countless people, children of Your own creation.

*The harvest of over one hundred and twenty migrants, who had been abandoned by traffickers without food or water in the Sahara desert, by Niger authorities.

*The harvest of the organization My Stealthy Freedom in Iran, led by Masih Alinejad, an Iranian journalist who boldly organized #whitewednesdays to protest a law forcing Iranian women to wear head scarves.

*The harvest of the work of 26-year-old Rahmatullah Arman, who, through Teach for Afghanistan, has placed 80 graduates from Afghan universities into twenty-one schools to teach 23,000 students in the hope of reducing the country’s 60% adult illiteracy rate.

*The harvest of the election in Ireland of Leo Varadkar, of Indian descent, as the country’s youngest and first openly-gay prime minister.

 

Holy God, Loving God, Steadfast God, Compassionate God, looking at this world which You have created, this world which You love, we Your people reach out this day. We reach out with grief and gratitude, with worry and wonder, and with tears and triumph. We open ourselves to Your Spirit as it longs to fill us with the gifts of Your grace, to empower us with the strength and courage to speak truth, and to work for justice and the healing of wounds we encounter and cause. May it be so, today and every day.

Amen.

 

 

 

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, April 27, 2017

Amen.
Yes.
So be it.
It will certainly be like this.
May it be so.
This is the truth.
On this we can depend.
Amen!

Compassionate and loving God, as we watch events unfold across our world, our emotions often cannot be translated into words.  So we call out to You with a word You gave us through Your holy Word and on the lips of Your Word made flesh: “Amen”. Amen, we say, at once pleading, celebrating, and hoping for the coming of Your kingdom into our world of laughter and tears, fear and faith.

Although our news is often filled with suffering and hate, we know that Your love is evident all around us, O God.  Our amens are joyful as we celebrate the small glimpses of Your kingdom that we can see in this world.  We rejoice at the humanity of Syrian photographer Abd Alkader Habak, who put down his camera to rescue a child who was injured in a car bomb explosion in Aleppo, Syria.  As we commemorate the World Health Organization’s World Malaria Day this week, we delight in the development of the world’s first malaria vaccine, which will be distributed throughout Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi beginning in 2018.  We are glad at the news of a newly-discovered coral reef in Brazil, where scientists may find new species of plant and animal life.  As we observe all the ways Your gifts of love and talent are present in our world, our amens become a celebration of Your promise to be with us always, and so we shout with joy:

Amen!  On this we can depend.

As we witness the pain of Your beloved children and the abuse of Your beloved creation, our amens turn to pleas for Your intervention.  The consequences of humanity’s mistreatment of the earth continue to spread as more landslides plague Latin America and South America, including a landslide in Maniales, Colombia that left at least 17 dead, while victims of Cyclone Debbie in Australia and New Zealand continue struggling to recover from flooding and damage.  Our abuse of one another reveals the sinfulness of our human hearts.  As of now, 29 people have died during protests and counter-protests in Venezuela in the wake of a political struggle over separation of powers.  A wave of violence in the Laikipia region of Kenya in recent weeks has left damage to property and people, including the shooting of well-known conservationist Kuki Gallmann.  Decisions from the Supreme Court of the US have made way for a series of hurried judicial executions in Arkansas, including the first double execution in 16 years.  As our hearts break at the suffering and injustice in our world, our amens become a reminder of Your promises of a just and joy-filled future, and so we cry out to You:

Amen!  May it be so.

As we watch for signs of Your Spirit at work in the world, our amens ascend as hopeful reminders of Your loving presence and the seeds of Your kingdom that are being planted all around us.  The provincial government of Ontario, Canada, is tackling poverty with a test program which gives poor people a basic income, an initiative similar to one launched in Finland earlier this year.  The potential for compassionate and discerning governments can be glimpsed in Vietnam, where a hostage situation resulting from a dispute over land rights ended with the safe release of all hostages, along with a promise from local authorities to investigate and re-examine local land use policies.  On Earth Day over 600 marches and protests took place around the world, as individuals and groups used their voices to highlight the importance of science for improving lives and protecting our fragile planet.  As we witness these small ways that Your kingdom breaks into our world, our amens become a song of hope that love will prevail, and so we exclaim:

Amen!  It will certainly be like this.

Hear the amens of our lips and our hearts this day and always, O God.  Bring reassurance to those who plead, joy to those who celebrate, and comfort to those who mourn.  In faithfulness to Your promise to hear our prayers, bring us help and hope as we cry, sing, shout, and pray without ceasing, in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ.

Amen and amen.

World News in Prayer – April 20, 2017

 “According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
1 Peter 1.3

Lord, giver of life, let us live our lives to the full, with humility, care and compassion and in your Son’s image. Let us forgive where forgiveness is sought. Let us strive to ease the burdens of others and in so doing lighten our own load. We ask of you in your infinite wisdom, to cherish us all in this world you created and protect those who cannot protect themselves. During this Easter season let us pray, as Jesus taught us, for our brothers and sisters around the world and remember the very power of that prayer.

  • We thank you Lord for the safe recovery of 6,000 migrants rescued from the Mediterranean Sea last weekend and the continued efforts of those involved. Let our thoughts and prayers turn to all refugees whose lives are lived in the desperation of poverty, in the fear of illness and treatment, in the struggles for freedom and justice, in the weariness of war, and in the bleakness of despair. We imagine you, Holy God, seeing the precious lives of your loved ones in each nation, each with their own struggle and pray that if they, and we are your children, as was our risen Christ Jesus, that you help us to see clearly who and what we are to one another.
  • We pray for all those countries involved in continuing conflicts; for the violence in South Sudan where tens of thousands have been killed and thousands more are fleeing the border from targeted ethnic killings perpetrated by mostly government forces; for the rising tensions over North Korea where the United States is desperately seeking to solve and ease relations after a failed missile test on Sunday by the totalitarian regime, and for the ongoing conflict in Syria. As we hear that the death toll from a bomb attack on a crowded bus convey near Aleppo, Syria has reached at least 126, to include 68 children, we pray for those innocent souls caught up between the warring sides. Let us think of all countries’ service personnel in active duty around the world and ask that you will keep them safe until they return home to their families and those they love.
  • In Sri Lanka, we pray for those dead and missing from a landfill collapse which occurred as people celebrated their New Year and for the crew of a cargo ship that went down in heavy seas off the Black Sea coast near the Crimea. We pray for the five killed in a light aircraft crash near Lisbon, Portugal and for the 12 Saudi solders who died in a helicopter crash in Yemen. In the Philippines, we pray for the 24 people killed when a bus plunged into a deep ravine and for the three men fatally shot and another wounded in a suspected race attack in Fresno, California, US. Lord, have mercy on those who mourn, who feel numb and crushed, are filled with the pain of grief and whose strength has given up. Lord, in your steadfast love give us peace and courage and take away our fear through the dying and rising of Jesus your Son.

Father, may we feel and realize your presence in the coming week, and in the magnificent strength it commands, let us think of the stone of Christ’s tomb and as it was, so roll away the stones of illness, despair, worry and fear and pour the light and joy of his resurrection into our lives. Amen.

World News in Prayer- Thursday, April 13, 2017

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.  Psalm 118:24

We are stumbling on our way toward the day of Resurrection, gracious God. Stumbling and falling, sometimes crawling on our knees toward the cross, hoping that when we lift our tear-filled eyes, it will be empty, that the tomb will be empty, that your promise of New Life will indeed be real and we can sing with our hearts and voices:

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

But these recent days, as we approach Good Friday, have been difficult ones in which to see the reality of Resurrection, filled as they have been with death and destruction:

  • The truck attack in Stockholm, Sweden, which killed four.
  • The explosion in Diyarbakir, Turkey, which injured at least four.
  • The fire gutting the Grande-Synthe Dunkirk migrant camp in France, home of 1500 migrants, with at least ten injured.
  • The two deadly blasts which hit Coptic Christian churches in Alexandria and Tanta, Egypt, killing more than forty people and injuring over 100, including several police officers.
  • The severe frosts and snowstorms affecting Central Europe in which at least 25 have died, mainly in Poland and Serbia. The weather is primarily affecting the homeless and refugees, with more harsh weather predicted in coming days.
  • The killing of Criminal court judge Raymond Myles shot outside his home in Chicago, Illinois,United States (USA).
  • The ever-rising death toll of refugees attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea that, according to the UN Refugee Agency, rose to 5000 in 2016.
  • The building tensions between the USA and North Korea, in response to the air strike to Syria.
  • The USA drops the largest non-nuclear bomb ever made in Afghanistan.
  • The planned execution of eight men beginning the day after Easter by the State of Arkansas, USA.

And amid the darkness of Good Friday, we turn to you, Father/Mother God, not as we ought but as we are able, trying to discern our place, our role, in the healing of this hurting world, seeking to be the people you are continually calling us to be, seeking to find hope and joy and peace, so that we can sing with our hearts and voices:

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

And soon, Easter will be upon us. The day of Resurrection will be here and our newly opened eyes encouraged by signs of New Life and Hope:

  • Malala Yousafzai, born in the Swat Valley, Pakistan, the young woman shot by the Taliban for going to school, being made the youngest ever U.N. Messenger of Peace.
  • Amnesty International report that global executions have fallen 37% since 2015, with the USA being removed from the top 5 for the first time since 2006.
  • The coastguard of Italy and their rescue of more than 300 migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea on flimsy rubber boats.
  • A restaurant in Tripoli, Lebanon offering free meals to the poor and needy, feeding 185 to 200 daily.
  • The discovery of a 14,000-year-old Ice Age village on Triquet Island, British Columbia, Canada, with carbon dating placing it older than the pyramids in Egypt.
  • Pope Francis rallying many Roman Catholic cardinals, bishops, and priests to oppose immigration crackdowns throughout the world; and his planned visit to Egypt to meet with the Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II.

Amid the glowing light of truth and new life, the reality of grace and hope for our world, we give thanks, not as we ought but as we are able, opening our hearts and hands, our minds and wills to your leading, Holy One, living in the assurance that in you there is indeed Resurrection and New Life, and so we sing with hearts and voices:

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Let it be so. Amen and amen.

World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, April 6, 2017

The Scottish theologian, William Barclay, suggested using ‘the mind of God’ instead of ‘the Word’ for Jesus.  And so John 1:1, 2-5, 14 reads

In the beginning was the mind of God,… 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it….. 14 The mind of God became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Philippians 2:5 says: ‘Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus’.

Father/Mother God, as we try to come to rest before You, we come not alone but accompanied by the throngs of people near and far who impact our lives and consciousness. Help us to be still and put aside our need to fix things, sort out situations, come up with solutions, and allow Your Holy Spirit indwelling in us, to be freed to be…as You are.

God, indwelling in us, help us to be still and know, in the depths of our being, that You are God.  May Your mind be in us as it was in Jesus.

From the throng surrounding us come people across the globe who are suffering from violent events in nature during this last week…

In particular we hold to Your light and loving care those killed and rendered homeless by floods, cyclones, landslides, droughts, famines and snow storms in New Zealand, Australia, Mocoa in Columbia, Catacaos in Peru, Somalia, Yemen, New England in the USA. As well as the immediate tragic events, the long-term consequences can be catastrophic.

Lord, you have given us humans custody of Your creation and as provision for our needs, but not our greed-bloated wants.  Inspire and move us to do what we can now for those in great need, and to amend our lifestyle choices to provide a healthy legacy for our children and grandchildren. Give wisdom to lawmakers to provide protection for this, our shared planet, so richly endowed by you.

Lord God, may Your mind be in us as it was in Jesus.

We give thanks for the very promising progress by scientists in London, UK in making a working and cost-effective desalinization filter from graphene oxide.  Almost 800 million people desperately need access to clean drinking water, the lack of which  currently causes the death of  1000 children every day.

Jesus, You are the spiritual water of life.  Help us to work together to provide water essential for physical life and health for our sisters and brothers throughout the world.

Lord God, may Your mind be in us as it was in Jesus.

We hear again and again of gas attacks and hate-fueled violence in Syria, Russia, Chechnya, Pakistan, the UK, and so many other places, attacks on your children created in Your image, yet perpetrated by others made in Your image who have chosen to turn away from Your reality of truth, light and love.  Lord, have mercy on the perpetrators and all of us who condone such evil by our silence and inaction.  We give thanks for those medics and others who seek to bring help and care in the middle of such carnage and devastation.  Help us to seek Your mind as to the way forward, to bring light into the darkness.  Guide our political leaders to know Your mind as they struggle to deal with these situations, that they may not be guided solely by fiscal and trade benefits which seem to help our nations in the short-term.  You are inviting us to live with the long-term infinite viewpoint which is Yours beyond time and space and is one of justice and righteousness.

Lord God, may Your mind be in us as it was in Jesus.

As we come to Holy Week, where we have the greatest evidence of love conquering evil, Archbishop Desmond Tutu reminds us in his prayer:

“Goodness is stronger than evil;
love is stronger than hate;
light is stronger than darkness;
life is stronger than death.
Victory is ours, victory is ours
through Him who loved us.”*

Lord God, may Your mind be in us as it was in Jesus.  AMEN

World News This Week in Prayer — Thursday, March 23, 2017

Jeremiah 17:8  New International Version (NIV)

They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.

Our prayers come before you to implore for the patient work of strengthening our connection to you. Of the life-saving, life-building water you offer us; that we will be both steadfast and resourceful in facing the challenges before us.

The United Nations and many others warn us that climate change has moved us into unknown ranges, give us, we pray, the things we need:

Compassion for those who are disrupted and displaced,

Wisdom to assess danger,

Persistence to ameliorate.

Where the scourge of hunger destroys hope and decency:

In South Sudan where 270,000 children are suffering from severe malnutrition and 4.9 million souls are severely food insecure.

In Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia with more than 14 million people are food insecure.

In Syria, where 9.4 million people are in need of food assistance.

In North Korea, where hidden economic hardships and famine endure.

In far too much of childhood in far too many places.

Give us, we pray, generosity, in funds where that is possible and in spirit that is always possible. Where greener approaches to energy, in particular in sustainable forestry practices and ‘green charcoal’ for your world where a third of your children depend on fuel wood daily, give us, we pray, hearts open to the misery of hunger, minds open to the rigors of analysis, and muscular spirits fortified by that vision you have shared with us.

Nowruz is a holiday for the first day of spring, celebrated for more than 3,000 years in the Balkans, the Black Sea Basin, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Middle East and other regions and now included for all of us in the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Bakers make a special cookie on that occasion.

Feed us, we pray, with that cookie in the place the poet Rumi described as, “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing,” there, where the strong trees are built from drops of holy water.  Amen

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, March 16, 2017

Lord, have mercy,

Christ, have mercy,

Here and there and everywhere in between,

On you and me and everyone in between,

Now and later and upon everything in between.

Lord Christ, we need your mercy.

The suffering in South Sudan echoes the horrors of civil war, genocide and ethnic cleansing that mock the hope of “Never Again!” Help us to keep hope alive. We pray for those working tirelessly to subdue the growing famine. Bring your mercy upon the 43 children of the Gambella region of Ethiopia kidnapped by bandits.  Bring your comfort to the families of the 28 people left dead.

Christ, have mercy.

The hatred of Jews acted out in cemeteries; swastikas and threats swell as ancient curses.  May your blessings defeat such curses.

Lord, have mercy.

The rage of politics, left and right, turns neighbor on the block and in the pew into enemy, turns truth on its head, and weaponizes words.  Soften our words, strengthen truth, and help us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.  Help us to love our enemies.

Christ, have mercy.

The renewed persecution of Christians in some places, of Muslims in other places, of immigrants and refugees in so many places, of the homeless in our cities, all of this, Holy, Holy God, embarrasses and shames our faith.  Help us to register the depth of suffering and experience of horror each day as monitored in the United Nations study released this week underscoring that 2016 was the worst year for Syrian children since the conflict began.

Lord, have mercy.

Restore our faith to the beauty of holiness witnessed in courageous kindness.

Christ, in your mercy deliver us from being world-weary, politically apathetic or donor fatigued.  Remind us that what fatigues us, wearies us and turns us away is the very world You created as inherently good, and the people You call your own.

In all humility, God, have mercy on us.

Amen.

 

World News in Prayer – Thursday, February 16, 2017

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.                                                                                                                                                                                                       1 Corinthians 13.4-8

As many of us have just celebrated St Valentine’s Day, let us not only remember our love for one another but also our love for God, and the debt which we owe him for the creation of our earth and selves. In Genesis 1:31 it is written – God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. Lord, give us the will to mold this world ever closer to your heart’s desire and the patience to work with what we have, where we are. Many of us work hard to inspire and maintain our planet, to conserve it and enjoy the fruits it holds, so we pray that those working against it and causing its destruction from global warming are halted in their ignorance of its fragility.

We are saddened to hear that over 400 pilot whales have died after being beached on Farewell Spit, New Zealand, but we thank you, Lord, for the people of Project Jonah and the hundreds of volunteers singing to, pouring water on, and guiding hundreds more of these beautiful creatures back out to sea.

Creator God, let Your glory touch us in the light we see, the fruitfulness of the earth, and the joy of its creatures. Inspire and breathe love and life into our lives.

We pray for the people of Bali, Indonesia, after landslides killed 12 people and destroyed villages. We pray for the families of those who died in an avalanche at a Tignes ski resort in France. We pray for the people of the Philippines, where an earthquake has claimed the lives of eight people, injured 120 more, and where nearly 100 aftershocks have been felt. We pray for the people of Taipei, Taiwan, where 150 people died in five days during a crippling cold spell. We pray for those affected by bushfires spreading across New South Wales, Australia. We pray for the people of Oroville, California, US, who have been forced to evacuate their homes in the wake of continued structural damage to the Oroville dam. We pray for the people in the Northeastern US, where seven blizzards and snow storms have dumped up to seventy inches of snow in the last nine days and where widespread power outages are occurring regularly. Lord, although we are in awe of the beauty of this earth, we are so often shocked and disillusioned by the magnitude and frequency of natural disasters. Help us, Lord, as we seek Your comfort and understanding during these events.

Creator God, thank You for the universe, our great home, for its vastness and riches beyond our knowledge. Deliver to us your true plan.

We pray for the eight who died in a fierce battle in Kashmir, India, and for the dozens of fighters killed in inter-factional fighting in northern Syria. We beg of You, Lord, to hold back man’s desire for control over Your lands.

Creator God, humble us and embrace us with Your tenderness.

Let us pray for the people of Lahore, Pakistan, where 13 people were killed and dozens more injured by a suicide bomber, for the two radio journalists shot dead during a live broadcast in the Dominican Republic, and for the thirty-two lives lost and thirteen people injured when their tour bus overturned near Taipei, Taiwan. Lord, give strength and comfort to grieving families and friends.

Creator God, console and comfort us when tragedy occurs.

Lord, as we humans appear to become ever more polarised between the rich and powerful and the poor and powerless, we ask You to enlighten and inspire the strong to strengthen the weak. Help seal divisions between those who consume too much and those who have nothing to consume. Help those with plenty be fuelled with a desire to share with those who have little. Assist us in healing our flawed society so that we may cherish each other and delight in living together in peace and harmony.

Amen.

 

World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., Feb. 9, 2017

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself. -Luke 10:27

“it is
written in the law.” heart
& soul. love. neighbor.

even if they aren’t nice. another
chance to hear that answer.      
–From luke poem by Brian G. Gilmore

Even as the lawyer questioned Jesus, gracious and loving and welcoming God, we come before you asking that same question: “Who is my neighbor?” And even as the answer was not easy for that man to hear, so it is not easy for many of us, as we look around our world with eyes and hearts filled with fear, thinking of the suicide bomber at the Afghan Supreme Court in Kabul, Afghanistan, who killed 20 and wounded more than 40; thinking of the more than 13,000 civilians who have been hanged by the Syrian government for daring to oppose the government; thinking of the move by the Israeli government to legalize thousands of settler homes on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank, displacing the residents already there and presenting an obstacle to the peace process; thinking of the countless immigrants and refugees struggling to reach places of safety and hope.

Open our minds and hearts, O God, that we may love our neighbors as ourselves, recognizing everyone as our neighbor.

Even as some within our world, within our societies, deny the reality of the changing climate, and deny the need to protect the environment, our call to love our neighbor means that we pray today for the Standing Rock Tribe in North Dakota, U.S., as the U.S. Army is about to give permission for the Dakota Access pipeline, despite protests in which nearly 700 have been arrested. We pray for the Saiga antelope in Mongolia, which is being wiped out by an uncontrolled virus that threatens the entire antelope population. We pray for those affected by the tornadoes which have swept through Louisiana, U.S., causing widespread damage in New Orleans East, injuring 20 and severely damaging more than 60 homes and businesses. We pray for those buried by the avalanche in North Nuristan Province in Afghanistan, where at least 120 are dead and scores more are missing, even as rescue workers try valiantly to save the survivors.

Open our minds and hearts, O God, that we may love our neighbors as ourselves, recognizing everyone as our neighbor.

With that long-ago lawyer, we can so easily lose sight of the reality of our connectedness to one another, even those with whom we differ, even those whom we never see. And so, today, we pray for all those in the United States concerned about women’s health and reproductive rights; we pray for the healthcare workers in Caracas, Venezuela, who are protesting to demand government action for improved health care in that country, as hospitals are in crisis, medications and equipment are scarce, staffing is insufficient, and people are suffering; we pray for the people of Somalia, as they face a contentious presidential election on the rocky road to democracy.

Open our minds and hearts, O God, that we may love our neighbors as ourselves, recognizing everyone as our neighbor.

But even into those places where we hide in our fear and confusion, you come, Divine Light, filling our awareness with hope. And so we pray in thanksgiving for the people of Colombia as their government begins peace talks with rebels in a bid to end a five-decade conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of people. We pray in thanksgiving for Australia, as they mark 50 years without executions. And we pray with thanksgiving for the doctors and researchers who are pioneering the use of lasers in removing brain cancer.

Open our minds and hearts, O God, that we may love our neighbors as ourselves, recognizing everyone as our neighbor.

All of these people and places that fill our prayers we entrust into your gracious and loving hands, God of welcome and inclusion – even as we are ever mindful that we do not love you with our whole heart, soul, strength, and mind, nor do we love our neighbors as ourselves.

This, we confess; for this, we ask forgiveness, living in the assurance of your grace.
Amen and amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., Jan 26, 2017

“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
– Jesus, spoken as he was being crucified (Luke 23:34)

For almost 17 years, World In Prayer has been posting prayers based on international news, trying to say and show that every human being, in every country, is beloved by God. Trying to find the words over and over again to care, to long for healing and peace. To offer up to God this planet, this world; from the its tiniest atoms to its greatest mountains; every plant, every creature, every person, every nation. To know, in some way beyond the deepest knowing, that prayer – our collective prayers – somehow matter, somehow become part of how God weaves the universe together.

Those of us who take turns writing the weekly prayers come from several countries on two continents. We try, in as much as is humanly possible, to see beyond the concerns of our own nations, and listen for the needs of the world. Yet I, who write tonight’s prayers, am an American. And in view of the horrors that have been unfolding in this country since the installation of our new president last Friday, today I can only pray through the lens of what’s been happening here.

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

In my lifetime, step by incremental step, the U.S. has become increasingly committed to the civil rights of its citizens. We have guaranteed voting and educational rights and banned discrimination based on race, religion, national origin, gender, gender identity or sexual preference. We have enacted laws to make businesses accessible to the handicapped. We have prevented health insurance companies from refusing to cover those with pre-existing conditions, or setting lifetime coverage maximums.  We set limits on pollution, and abuse of consumers by mortgage lenders and other big businesses. We were starting to seriously talk about systemic racism and economic inequities. It wasn’t perfect (it could never be perfect), but when I look back over the past 50 years, wow, had we come a long way.

Yet in one short week, under the new administration, this has all been overturned or is under threat. The U.S. has unilaterally withdrawn from the Trans Pacific Partnership. The president has said that we will leave NATO and the United Nations, and made statements in favor of torture, and use of nuclear weapons. He has reneged on promised foreign aid, jeopardizing the health and survival of millions. He has ordered a wall to be built along our border with Mexico, and when the Mexican government refused to pay for it, has threatened a 20% tax on all goods imported from there. He has said the U.S. will no longer accept refugees, blocked travel to the U.S. from Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Iran, Libya and Sudan for at least the next 30 days (even for those who already have visas or family in the U.S.); has repeatedly talked about a registry for Muslims in this country; and promises to hire 10,000 more immigration officers to remove all illegal immigrants from the country. Consumer safeguards have been rescinded; plans for two hotly-contested oil pipelines (considered by many to be environmentally dangerous) have been sped up; environmental protections and commitments to work against climate change have been ended.  Ethics and conflict of interest concerns are being dismissed. Health care access has been cut back and an estimated 20-30 million may lose their health care as a result; education is under threat; federal agencies have been ordered not to release any scientific studies or speak to the press or public without prior approval from the administration; blatant lies and outright falsehoods are being touted as legitimate “alternative facts”.  Several states are following suit in proposing or passing legislation that is against the U.S. Constitution and prior Supreme Court rulings.

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

For those in any country who put profits above persons,
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

For those who seek self-aggrandizement,
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

For those who deny science, education, knowledge,
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

For those who trample on the needs of the poor, the ill, the elderly, the disabled
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

For those who uphold nationalism against mutual humanity,
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

For those who perpetuate hatred,
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
They do not know the harm they cause.
They do not know the joy of compassion.

They do not know…
…that even within the damage they are wreaking,
the seeds of the Kingdom of God have been planted
and are growing strong.

They do not know…
…that the time will come when
The poor will be blessed,
and the grieving, comforted.
The meek shall inherit the earth,
and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled.
The merciful will receive mercy,
and the peacemakers will be revered as children of God.

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
Amen.