Ukraine

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.

Lord, hear us and answer our prayer.

Teach us how to love this world through the bleakness of Holy Week and into the earth-shaking radiance of Easter morning.

Lord, hear us and answer our prayer.

As we read the Easter story, teach us how to care for women who are not believed when they tell their stories; for men who hide their fear and despair in order not to be seen as “weak”; for authorities who make decisions that send unseen ripple effects through the generations.

Lord, hear us and answer our prayer.

As we consider this world that you love, teach us how to care for those grieving after the bus accident in Madeira, Portugal for those affected by rockets in Tripoli, Libya; for those protesting in Khartoum, Sudan after political unrest; for those caught up in tension over the upcoming election in Ukraine; for those living with economic crisis in Venezuela, for those living with widespread violence in Yemen.

Lord, hear us and answer our prayer.

And this week particularly, teach us how to care for other sacred places under threat – for the 3 historic and historically black churches that were burned by a terrorist in Louisiana, USA; for the Al-Aqsa mosque that burned in Jerusalem, Israel; for synagogues after last fall’s mass shooting in Pittsburgh, USA; for the religious lands of indigenous people across the globe, which have been sacrificed countless times across the years for new developments and pipelines.

Lord, hear us and answer our prayer.

This week we acknowledge that darkness is real and that death will make a stand.

Lord, hear us and know that in the midst of such darkness and conflict, we trust in your light, love and power.

Yet this week we also declare with prayers and shouts, instruments and song, that death shall not have the final word. You are doing a new thing, even when all seems lost.

We pray these things because you are alive and with us. Living Lord, unseal the tomb, roll away the stone, and reveal to us how you are transforming the world.

Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, April 4, 2019

“Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing…” ~ Isaiah 43: 18 – 19a. (NIV)

“For now my place is in him, and I am not dependent upon any of the self-achieved righteousness of the Law. God has given me that genuine righteousness which comes from faith in Christ. How changed are my ambitions! Now I long to know Christ and the power shown by his resurrection:

….I leave the past behind and with hands outstretched to whatever lies ahead I go straight for the goal—my reward the honor of being called by God in Christ. “

~Philippians 3: 8-10, 13b -14. (J.B. Phillips New Testament)

Thank you, Holy One, for giving us such promise and hope. You have told us repeatedly throughout history and scattered throughout the scriptures, that you are calling us forward to new life, new beginnings, new ways of being and doing – in You, for You, through You. Yet as ever, we are mired in the trappings of the familiar, however pleasant or unpleasant, and fear of change holds us back. As we reflect on our shortcomings whether personal, national or international, help us to admit our crippling fears and failures, to throw ourselves on Your everlasting mercy and loving forgiveness. Then lead us to a new way of thinking, being and relating to each other and especially to You.

Holy One, hear our cries.

Change and fear of change is sweeping through so many of our countries ]including Algeria, Venezuela, Canada, the UK, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Japan. Authoritarianism and seeing everything and everyone in binary terms increases fear, division and hopelessness. Open the eyes and ears of each one of us, to listen to the stories of others, discerning our common humanity rather than focusing on perceived and often illusory fears born out of ignorance and conjecture. You are the Creator of all and when you looked on it you saw that it was all VERY good. How then can we despise, belittle and denigrate people you have created?

Holy One, open us to Your understanding of this world by the inflowing of Your Holy Spirit.

The darkness swirling around is almost overwhelming: when a “game” is made widely available to play act as a sociopathic Rapist; when the Sultan of Brunei implements this week Sharia law where a first offence of burglary will result in a hand amputation; where LGBT love is to merit stoning to death; when government agencies in so many of our countries arbitrarily operate outside the law: protect all who shine the light of justice, truth and righteousness.

Holy One, lighten our darkness and help us to individually choose to follow Your will and way. By Your Spirit, enable us to be channels of Your love, light and grace.

We give thanks for all working quietly and often without mention to make the lives of others better, to ease loneliness and the sense of being marginalized and unwanted. You saw that all that you made was VERY good. We give thanks for the women in Madagascar marginalized and ostracized for having obstetric fistulas following prolonged labor without medical intervention who, having received free treatment, are helping others break the taboo of getting help. Also those from the divided communities of Turkish and Greek Cypriots using a building in buffer zone to reunite a bitterly divided island. We give thanks that for all the efforts meeting the continuing desperate needs of communities devastated by natural disasters on all Continents.

Holy One, may we become one as You are one – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. To this You have called us. AMEN.

marginalised and ostracised for having obstetric fistulas following prolonged labour without medical intervention who having received free treatment are helping others break the taboo of getting help. Also those from the divided communities of Turkish and Greek Cypriots using a building in buffer zone to reunite a bitterly divided island. We give thanks that for all the efforts meeting the continuing desperate needs of communities devastated by natural disasters on all Continents.

Holy One, may we become one as You are one – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. To this You have called us. AMEN.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, November 29, 2018

Holy One,

When what we have is yours and what we receive is a gift from you, we offer up our words of prayer in the knowledge that you are the Word from whom all our prayers flow. We pray with grief for the things that have broken your heart; we pray with joy for the things that have made you dance.

We pray with awareness that we cannot fix the world, but, instead, we can learn to see and taste and touch and know this world as your Creation. In this time and space, we try to take our next step of faith and in so doing, we hope to discover you.

We pray for that which fills us with grief: the devastation from wildfires in California (USA); the violence inflicted on asylum-seekers at the Mexico-United States border; the ongoing conflicts in Yemen; the cruel treatment of the Rohyinga in Myanmar; all who care for someone who struggles with addiction and mental illness; all who wait and watch and weep at the bedsides of loved ones this week.

We pray for that which fills us with fear: the unfolding havoc of climate change around the world; the flaring tensions between Ukraine and Russia; the continued fallout from the murder of Saudi journalist Khashoggi; the precariousness of a Brexit deal; the rise of raging, hate-filled political rhetoric in countries near and far from us.

We pray for that which gives us strength: the compassion of strangers who care for migrants in the Mediterranean and in Central America; the rise of women leaders in Ethiopia; the energy of students who fight gun violence in the United States; those who believe we belong to each other; those who live as if we belong to you.

Lord, teach us how to love what you love. Show us how to nurture what you nurture. Reveal to us how to speak your Word, today and in the days to come.

Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, October 11, 2018

(Inspired by the Book of Common Prayer, Prayers of the People Form VI)

In peace, we pray to you, Lord God.

Silence

For all people in their daily life and work;
For our families, friends, and neighbors, and for those who are alone.

For this community, the nation, and the world; for the victims of Hurricane Michael in the United States; for all of the participants in the #MeToo movement, which is erupting in India;
For all who work for justice, freedom, and peace.

For the just and proper use of your creation; for scientists, doctors, and nurses; for those who are grieving; for those who are marrying or divorcing; for those celebrating a new birth;
For the victims of hunger, fear, injustice, and oppression,

For all who are in danger, sorrow, or any kind of trouble, especially those in China‘s Xingiang region, where camps have been legalized to “re-educate” Muslim Uighurs;
For those who minister to the sick, the friendless, and the needy.

For peace and unity, especially in the Eastern Orthodox Church, as a Ukrainian sect seeks to separate from Russia;
For all who proclaim the Gospel, and all who seek the Truth.

For bishops and other ministers; for priests and preachers; for rabbis and imams;
For all who serve God in his Church.

For the special needs and concerns of this congregation.

Silence

(The People may add their own petitions)

Hear us, Lord;

We thank you, Lord, for all the blessings of this life.

Silence

(The People may add their own thanksgivings)

We will exalt you, O God our King;
And praise your Name for ever and ever.

We pray for all who have died, that they may have a place in
your eternal kingdom.

Silence

(The People may add their own petitions)

Lord, let your loving-kindness be upon each of us;
We put our trust in you, for your mercy is great. Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 18, 2016

World News in Prayer for Thursday, August 18, 2016

Isaiah 58:9, 10
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and God will say,
Here I am…If you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted
then your light shall rise in the darkness, and your gloom be like the noonday.

Lord of all languages, we pray with and for people all over this world…

for the laborers being exploited by businesses in China, India, North Korea, South Sudan and Sudan, especially the children forced to work long hours in order that we may buy less expensive goods.
for the citizens of Syria, where more than 250,000 have lost their lives in the ongoing civil war, where 11 million have been forced from their homes, where 4.5 million have become refugees fleeing their country, and where attacks on medical facilities are occurring every 17 hours.
for the citizens of Yemen, where the civil war has cost more than $14 billion, has killed more than 6,500 people, and has displaced 2.5 million more.
for the 65 victims of a deadly maritime disaster in Jianli, China, due to the capsizing of a river cruise ship.
for the people of Thailand, where a deadly wave of bomb blasts has occurred over the past several days in response to voters approving a new draft constitution.

Then we shall call and the Lord will answer; we shall cry for help and God will say, Here I am.

Holy One, your Spirit speaks in creation, calling us to listen, and so we pray…

for the people of Louisiana, US, where severe flooding has been responsible for the deaths of at least 11 people, where more than 30,000 people have been rescued from rapidly-rising flood waters, where more than 8,000 people remain in shelters, and where more than 40,000 homes have been damaged.
for the more than 1,000 firefighters who are fighting numerous wildfires in the state of California, US, including a fire burning north of San Francisco, where more than 4,000 people have been evacuated, including the patients of one hospital, and where over 175 homes have been lost.

Then we shall call and the Lord will answer; we shall cry for help and God will say, Here I am.

Brother Christ, you reached out to heal the bent-over woman, seeing her need, seeing her as a person of worth. Open our eyes to see the needs of women and girls throughout the world, and so we pray…

for the victims of the major human-trafficking ring shut down in Maryland, US, where girls as young as 15 were being forced into prostitution.
for the 218 schoolgirls from Chibok, Nigeria, kidnapped by Boko Haram, who remain captives – many of whom have been forcibly married to fighters, have borne children, and are living in dreadful conditions.
for Prime Minister Theresa May as she leads the United Kingdom to negotiate the complicated BREXIT.
for the many young women competing in the Olympic Games in Brazil, that they may serve as role models for girls and women around the world, offering the promise that girls and women can do anything.
for Pope Francis’ visit, as part of his Fridays of Mercy, to former sex slaves living in a housing center in Rome, Italy: Women trafficked from Romania, Albania, Tunisia, Ukraine, and Italy, and victims of severe abuse, which the Pope called “a crime against humanity”.

Then we shall call and the Lord will answer; we shall cry for help and God will say, Here I am.

Divine Truth, you reveal yourself to us in so many ways. Open our eyes to see and our hearts to rejoice in prayer…

for the rare 4^th century mosaic uncovered in Cyprus by a seven-person crew headed by archaeologist Fryni Hadjichristofi.
for the dedicated teachers in early childhood education who are making such a significant difference in the lives of poor children.
for 29-year-old Malaika, head nurse at Syria’s Aleppo Children’s Hospital, one of only a handful of health workers remaining in that besieged city, who continues to rescue the smallest of the small, even at the risk of her own life.

Then we shall call and the Lord will answer; we shall cry for help and God will say, Here I am.

Open our eyes to both the beauty and the ugliness in our world, Loving God. Open our ears to the cries of our sisters and brothers in every place. Open our hands to do your work in the world. Open our hearts to feel the pain and joy, the discouragement and hope of all who long for freedom and peace and justice. Open us, today and every day, we pray.

Amen and Amen.

World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, January 14, 2016

Your love is steadfast, O Lord, but how fickle we are. We are never satisfied. In our dissatisfaction we destroy that which we do not understand and devastate that which satisfies as if there is never enough. Our prayers are prayers of contrast as we recognize political, financial and economic pressures are very different across continents and countries.

Along with the United States of America seeking a solution to refugee crises, we hear of bomb attacks in Istanbul and Diyarbakir, Turkey and in Jakarta, Indonesia; we are not surprised as people struggle to leave these areas.

In severe winter weather in the Middle East, aid agencies are struggling to bring relief to the besieged town of Madaya as well as the villages of Kefraya and Fouaa in Syria, and we read that Israel cuts supplies of natural gas to Gaza.

As people gather to enjoy the World Cup skiing events taking place in Flachau, Austria, we pray for those from France and the Ukraine killed and caught up in the avalanche in Les Deux Alpes, France.

Heavy rain is causing Australia’s Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre to fill, a rare event causing the desert to bloom, and we pause with concern for the people of Flint, Michigan in the U.S.A. who have been affected by lead in water.

In Britain the Environment Agency has been ordered to prioritize protecting homes, even when this means loss of livelihood to farmers through flooding farm land. In Tanzania the government started demolishing up to 15,000 homes to clear a valley near Dar es Salaam, where many of those who work in the Kariakoo market live, to allow free flow of water.

We contrast the release of 10 American service members by Iran with the 600 days the Chibok girls have been kidnapped in Nigeria.

We give thanks West Africa has been declared Ebola-free even as we pray for South Sudan struggling with a severe malaria outbreak. We recognize that both these illnesses remain endemic in Africa.

We offer our prayers for ourselves; giving thanks for the wonders of medical science in healing and for the gifts of faith in dying; for the grace of finding somewhere to seek aid, to rest and be sheltered.

We exist both wondering at the beauty of our world and fearing it’s power. We pray, failing to compare and contrast the wide range of solutions to the problems of each country and often dooming ourselves to repeat mistakes. “How precious is your steadfast love, O God! All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings. Continue your steadfast love to those who know you, and your salvation to the upright of heart!” Ps 36:7, 10. Faithful God: this is our prayer for our world.

Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, February 19, 2015

This week has seen the headline that the Mediterranean is the grave of migrants, while in the last 5 days alone over 3,000 have been rescued from sinking people-smuggling boats escaping the chaos and fighting throughout the Middle East.

The freeze and massive snow falls in the northeastern states of the U.S. and Canada continue to cause chaos for millions.

In Argentina, thousands march to protest against their government and the killing of the prosecutor a month ago days before he was to give evidence about malpractice of the government.

Russia, providing weapons and forces to continue fighting, seems to be ignoring the peace agreement with Ukraine. The suffering of so many there and in other conflicts throughout the world seems never ending.

Traditional conservation policies try to separate people from nature but research in the Amazon rain forest reveals that for 11,000 years people have had a dynamic anthropogenic living relationship in the Amazon. Through sustainable farming, they improved soil composition in pockets where they lived which remains viable for hundreds of years. Yet, today, intensive farming methods on cleared land exhausts it within 3 years. Are we willing to listen, learn, and adapt our goals and modify our way of living?

Scientists have found that the teeth of the common limpet, a mollusk, which survives in the inter-tidal ranges of sea shores, have the greatest biological tensile strength in nature, stronger even than Kevlar. This opens up new ways of making materials without weak points prone to rupture or collapse. How wonderful is the world in which we live!

Whoever says that being a Christian is easy has never tried to accept Jesus’ invitation to “Follow me.” One thing is certain when we commit to doing this, we need to accept we will never be the same again. Change is inevitable, challenging, and promised. And so we pray based on I Corinthians 13:4-7:

“Love is patient.” God, how can we be patient when we experience or see injustice? Teach us to patient without being silent or inactive.

“Love is kind.” God, how can we be kind as we confront what is evil? Teach us to love our enemies however hard that is.

“Love is not jealous.” God, how can we not be jealous of those who have so much wealth or power or control? Teach us to keep our values straight.

“Love is not pompous.” God, how can we not be pompous when we are speaking truth to those who seem so wrong? Teach us to know how listen as much as we speak.

“Love is not inflated.” God, how can we not be inflated with righteousness in the cause of justice? Teach us to know our limits, that we make mistakes and that we don’t always see clearly.

“Love is not rude.” God, how can we be gracious but also committed to what is right? Teach us to respect all our sisters and brothers.

“Love does not seek its own interests.” God, how can we move beyond our own limits and desires and needs? Teach us to understand the needs and perspectives of others, especially the poor and oppressed.

“Love is not quick-tempered.” God, how can we learn from our anger? Teach us to learn from our strongest emotions.

“Love does not brood over injury.” God, how can we not get discouraged by all the hurts and injuries in our world? Teach us to move forward and get into action for what is right.

“Love does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.” God, how can we stop thinking of what helps ‘our side’ to win and the other side to lose? Teach us to practice a love that wants the truth to win for all people.

“Love bears all things.” God, how can we bear the stress of trying so hard to do what is right? Teach us to let go and to trust in your wisdom.

“Love believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” God, how can we possibly love? Teach us that we don’t love alone, but rather in community with you and with all our brothers and sisters.

“Love never fails.” God, how is it that we sometimes feel failure? How can we believe? Teach us to love with a heart as big as the world, to receive love, and to help with a big a heart.

Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer Thursday, 12 February 2015

As we prepare ourselves for the holy season of Lent, let us reflect in prayer on the words of our Lord Jesus Christ: that when we love the least of these, we love you, Lord.

Help us to love the least of these in prison. We pray for prisoners throughout the world. We pray that they may receive justice, that those who are innocent may be freed and those who are guilty may be restored and reconciled. We remember especially this week for Taiwan where 6 inmates held several guards hostage before committing suicide.

Help us to love the least of these who are refugees. We pray for the souls of the 300 migrants who drowned trying to cross the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy. We pray too for all those who tried to rescue them, as they have done so many times over the past months and years, and help them deal with the grief and horror of the tragedy. We pray for the children from Guatemala, El Salvador, and elsewhere held in family detention camps in New Mexico, USA. We pray for all those who have been displaced from their homes.

Help us to love the least of those who seek peace. We give thanks for the ceasefire announced in Ukraine and pray that it may hold. We pray for Syria, Burkina Faso, Iraq, Afghanistan, and for countries affected by the Boko Haram insurgency, especially Nigeria, Cameroon, and Niger.

Help us to love the least of those of all faiths and tribes. We pray for Deah Shaddy Barakat, his wife Yusor Mohammad and her sister Razan who were killed this week in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA by their neighbor.

Help us, O Lord, to love our neighbors as You have commanded us to do. Help us to see in them the image of the living God who has come to dwell with us. And may we be transformed when we see You before us in the face of the least of these.

Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, Feb. 5, 2015

The story has it, God, that only a few generations after you created the world and pronounced it “Good”, you looked down and saw that it was filled with wickedness. So much so, that you decided to wipe out every living creature. Except for the family of one righteous man – Noah – and a pair of every creature, which he took into an Ark for safety. For 40 days and nights, you made the rains come and the floods rise up, until everything that had lived upon the earth had been swallowed up. And when it was over, you gave the earth, and everything on it, into Noah’s care, and told him to go forth and multiply.

And then, astonishingly, you recognized that you had gone overboard, and you made a covenant with Noah and all future generations, promising that you would never again send a flood to destroy the earth. And you created the rainbow, to be the sign of this everlasting covenant.

As we prepare to enter into the season of Lent, we come before you, God, to proclaim and renew our own rainbow covenants.

This past week, a team of scientists identified the oldest living species on Earth – a deep sea organism that lives in the mud off the South American coast, and that hasn’t evolved in more than two billion years. But also this week, the World Meteorological Organization reported that 2014 was the hottest year among recorded years dating to 1850; the evidence for human-caused climate change continues to mount.

We proclaim our rainbow covenant: what we have done, and are doing, that endangers the earth–we will do all in our power to instead become its protectors.
Help us, O God.

Also this week:

Islamic State forces killed a captive Jordanian pilot, burning him alive. Muslim leaders throughout the world declared the act to be heinous and against the teachings of the Koran.
In retaliation, Jordan executed a number of Islamic extremists.
A new report by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child says that Iraqi children are becoming victims of “systematic sexual abuse, including sexual slavery” in areas controlled by the Islamic State.
Fighting has been escalating in Ukraine, and German and French leaders are enroute there with a new peace initiative.
Chad has deployed 2,500 troops as part of a regional effort against the Boko Haram militants in northern Nigeria.
The United Nations International Court of Justice ruled that while both Croats and Serbs committed serous crimes during the break-up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, neither had engaged in a campaign of genocide.

Like you, God, when you sought to destroy almost all human beings in the flood, we have let our anger lead us into wanton acts of destruction against people in so many ways, in so many places. We remember our rainbow covenant: never again will we let humanity be destroyed by our anger. Never again will we let the innocent be destroyed because of the wickedness of a few.
Help us, O God.

In Malawi, more than 300,000 people have been displaced by the worst flooding in 15 years, with many cut off from food or other aid.
In South Sudan, there are still more 2 million displaced by the fighting.
Each year, Somalis living abroad – primarily in the United States – send home an estimated $1.3 billion, more than all humanitarian aid combined. But last week, Merchants Bank of California, which handles 60-80% of the money bound for Somalia, said it would no longer handle these money transfers, which could end this lifeline for millions of people in the fragile country.

Just as you, God, made sure that Noah took plenty of food into the Ark, so we renew our rainbow covenant: even in the most challenging of times, we will make sure that every human being has food, water, shelter… We will treat all with the dignity deserved by the inheritors of your rainbow covenant.
Help us, O God.

In the name of your son, Jesus Christ, these things we promise, and these things we ask.
Amen, and amen, and again we say: Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, November 13, 2014

As we gather the thoughts of our hearts in prayer, we give thanks to the Creator who brings order out of chaos. Let us bring the chaos of our lives and our world to God, to hold in love.

Let us pray for those whose memories are chaos: For all veterans whose lives are affected by scenes of war replayed and relived. For those who have endured rape, abuse, or harassment. For those who feel they cannot be forgiven for mistakes from their past.

God, be with us in the chaos.

Let us pray for those whose emotions are chaos: For those who grieve. For the parents of the 43 students still missing in Mexico. For those anxiously seeking work. For those enduring heartbreak.

God, be with us in the chaos.

Let us pray for those places where there is chaos in conflict: For Ukraine and Russia. For Armenia and Azerbaijan where border tensions have erupted. For Turkey where protestors assaulted 3 U.S. sailors. For Egypt where 8 servicemen are missing at sea after their ship was attacked by gunmen.

God, be with us in the chaos.

Let us pray for those places where there is chaos in making hard choices: For those working to ameliorate climate change through personal and political means. For those who immigrate to foreign lands. For each of us as we make life-changing choices every day, knowing little of where they might lead us.

God, be with us in the chaos.

Guide us, strengthen us, guard us, light our way; and bring this world you have made to its fulfillment according to your will.
All this we ask in the name of your Son Jesus Christ.

Amen.