World in Prayer

World News This Week in Prayer – January 31, 2019

But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?
For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver,
and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver,
until they present offerings to the LORD in righteousness.  ~ Malachi 3:2-3

Day after day, O God, we call to you for change and redemption in our broken world.  But Malachi reminds us that often change and redemption must begin with us, in the refining and purifying of our own lives and our own habits.  As we look at the news across the world this week, help us to see our own shortcoming reflected in the stories we read:

  • Remind us of the consequences of our abuse of the earth and our desire for lifestyles of convenience at the expense of your creation as freezing temperatures in the United States and record heat in Australia cause the deaths of people and animals.
  • Remind us of our responsibility to each other as unrest in Venezuela and Zimbabwe continues to disproportionately hurt vulnerable populations like women and those experiencing poverty.
  • Remind us of the effects of our desire for power and control as we watch millions of your children suffer in war-torn countries like Yemen, Syria, and South Sudan, where daily suffering is too often and too easily ignored.
  • Remind us of our power to effect change in our political systems, even as we watch with weary eyes as Brexit conflict continues in the United Kingdom, hateful and incendiary language continues to pour from government leaders in the United States, and countries around the world continue the trend of turning inward and denying their duty to care for the last and least of those you created and love.

Be with us, Holy One, as we look at the mirror that shows us who we truly are, facing with boldness the role that our sin plays in the suffering of our world and even our own friends and families.  Remind us that we can face our sinful selves without fear because we know that your purifying and refining grace have worked and will continue to work in each of us, transforming us into the people you call us to be so that we, in turn, might participate in your great mission of transforming the world.  Teach us to pray with deep conviction and purpose, God of love and redemption, so that we might learn that, in the words of Mother Theresa, “prayer changes us, and we change things.”

Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., January 24, 2019

Heavenly Father, we find ourselves in abundance. We feel great sadness but also great love in our world. We worry about those who feel forgotten; we worry about the people who tell stories of persecution because their difference is seen as criminal. We turn to you, Holy Creator, to free us from worry and to bless our hurting neighbors with abundant kindness.

We pray for the political leadership in the United Kingdom, the United States, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe. May their citizens may be led out of turmoil and towards harmony.
Bless them, O Lord.

We pray for those who are at the beginning: those who are starting new jobs, those who are moving, and those who are welcoming new children.
Bless them, O Lord.

We pray for the unemployed and the unpaid.
Bless them, O Lord.

We pray for families: couples who are marrying, women who are pregnant or hoping to become pregnant, couples who are divorcing, the caregivers, and the ones needing care.
Bless them, O Lord.

We pray for all who work for justice and for all who seek the truth.
Bless them, O Lord.

We pray for the people improving our communities: the blood, bone marrow, and organ donors; the educators; the volunteers; and the funders.
Bless them, O Lord.

We pray for the people who feed us: the hands in the fields and on the farms, the hands that package and test foods, and the hands that cook meals.
Bless them, O Lord.

We pray for those working in health care and for those in their care, for the hungry and the obese, for the disabled, and for those who are healing.
Bless them, O Lord.

We pray for all people making difficult choices.
Bless them, O Lord.

We pray for those who are at the end: the coming home, the graduating, the retiring, the grieving, and the dying.
Bless them, O Lord.

We thank you for the abundance of grace you give to each of us so that we may give grace to the world.
Bless us, O Lord. Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer, Thursday, September 20, 2018

“For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” – 1 Corinthians 11:26

We come before you today, O God,
a mixture of emotions,
with a plethora of experiences.
Guide our hearts as we look on this world in which we live,
so that we might see it through your eyes.

All-too-often, we focus on the negative.
We focus on the death, not on the resurrection.
We see the brokenness.
Shattered, fragmented, torn-asunder lives.
And, rest assured, there is pain.
Grief, fear, anxiety…they are all VERY real.
There is no denying that we are a broken and hurting people;
living in a broken and hurting world.

Hurricanes and tropical storms wreak havoc around the world,
floods have killed over 100 in Nigeria,
Zimbabwe has declared a cholera emergency,
women and girls are attacked, mistreated, and abused,
needles have been found in strawberries in Australia,
and relationships suffer around the globe.

And yet, we are called to live abundant lives. (John 10:10)
We are promised that God’s kingdom is not only coming,
it is already in our midst. (Luke 17:21)
There are reasons to celebrate,
children are being born into loving homes,
teachers are transforming lives and guiding young minds,
people, young and old, are coming to a deeper relationship with God,
a 9-year-old girl in foster care celebrates one year with the same parents
(for the first time in her life).

Transform us, Holy One, ever more into who you have created us to be.
Open our eyes, our hearts, and our minds
so that we may be agents of transformation in this world,
shining the light of your love into the darkness around us.
Remind us, we pray, that the darkness has never overcome the light. (John 1:5)

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 2, 2018

On God alone I wait silently;
God my deliverer, God my strong tower.
Paraphrase from Ps. 62, John L. Bell*

When all efforts have been made to cope with natural disasters:
the earthquake in Lombok, Indonesia;
the wildfires in California, USA, Sweden, Siberia, Russian Federation, Greece,
water shortages in Yemen, the UK, Syria, Kenya;

On God alone I wait silently; God my deliverer, God my strong tower.

When people are exhausted from the struggles against injustice and terror:
those forced to care for the children of imprisoned gang members in El Salvador;
the Zimbabweans fearing their Presidential election has been hijacked again;
refugees in the US, Sweden, the European Union, Canada, India, Bangladesh, Turkey, Australia and so many other countries;

On God alone I wait silently; God my deliverer, God my strong tower.

When people seek to care for their fellow human beings in need:
Maria Makrogianni (Mama Maria) of Samos, Greece, still feeding refugees from
home having been forced to close her restaurant due to threats on her life;
firefighters (including prisoners) and people of all faiths and none helping those
burned out in Shasta County, California US;
all who act as care givers (paid or unpaid), medics, police, firefighters,
those who keep our communities clean and safe, often with little thanks;

On God alone I wait silently; God my deliverer, God my strong tower.

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; and we believe you have
a purpose for every season, even the waiting one.

On God alone I wait silently; God my deliverer, God my strong tower.  Amen.

*©1993 WGRG, Iona Community, Glasgow, Scotland

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 7, June 2018

(The hymn used in these prayers is “Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying” by Ken Medema)

Lord, listen to your children praying,

Lord, send your Spirit in this place;

Lord, listen to your children praying,

Send us love, send us pow’r, send us grace.

 Lord God, open our eyes to the power and promise of Nature, even as we pray for those being affected by the eruptions of the Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii and by the Fuego Volcano in Guatemala; for those in the paths of the wildfires burning in New Mexico; for those in Puerto Rico still suffering the after-effects of Hurricane Maria which devastated that island last September. And even as we pray, O God, grant us to see the ways in which we each and all are responsible for caring for this planet with integrity and love.

Lord, listen to your children praying,

Lord, send your Spirit in this place;

Lord, listen to your children praying,

Send us love, send us pow’r, send us grace.

Lord God, open our ears to hear the cries of pain and sorrow of the migrant families separated at the Mexico-United States border, even as they are trying to seek asylum and safety; the cries of fear and pain of Ethiopians as they seek to escape war in their nation, including the 46 drowned this week en route to Yemen. And as we pray, O God, grant us the courage to speak out with the voice of Jesus the Christ in behalf of justice and truth, even when it is difficult and unpopular.

Lord, listen to your children praying,

Lord, send your Spirit in this place;

Lord, listen to your children praying,

Send us love, send us pow’r, send us grace.

Lord God, open our hearts to care about our sisters and brothers throughout the world who are seeking free and fair elections. We pray for the people of Iraq, struggling over election results; for the people of Zimbabwe, as they are demanding election reform; for the people of Pakistan, as they fear for the honesty of election results; for the people of the United States, where gerrymandering and restrictive voting laws have made voting far more difficult for so many. And as we pray, O God, grant us the determination to play our own part in the elections of our country by voting and encouraging others to do the same, valuing this gift of franchise for the wonder it is.

Lord, listen to your children praying,

Lord, send your Spirit in this place;

Lord, listen to your children praying,

Send us love, send us pow’r, send us grace.

Lord God, open our minds to release fear over Iran’s refusal to permit nuclear inspections; over the up-coming meeting between North Korea and the United States; over this week’s G-7 Summit and its consideration of trade and tariffs, understanding that perfect love casts out fear. And as we pray, O God, we lift up all of this world’s leaders, that their hearts and minds may be filled with a determination to unite, rather than divide; to work together as friends, rather than against one another as enemies.

Lord, listen to your children praying,

Lord, send your Spirit in this place;

Lord, listen to your children praying,

Send us love, send us pow’r, send us grace.

Lord God, open our spirits to rejoice in and support the young people around the world who are working for and demonstrating for peace and justice and for what is right, especially in the United States, in Turkey, and in Jordan. And as we pray, O God, keep us mindful of and grateful for this next generation of world citizens, determined to bring our nations together and heal our broken world.

Lord, listen to your children praying,

Lord, send your Spirit in this place;

Lord, listen to your children praying,

Send us love, send us pow’r, send us grace.

All these things we place into your hands, Loving, Gracious God, asking that you will open us to be the people you intend us to be, people filled with the Spirit of the Living, Loving Christ in whose name we pray. Amen and amen

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, May 10, 2018

Lord, we come before you

Prayer is communication that invites at-one-ness with You, the source of our being.  We call you God, and as revealed in the flesh, Jesus.  We ask for empowerment. Transform us with the life-giving force of the Holy Spirit.  Make us channels of the your Eternal Love, Light, and Grace. Help us to continue this work of transformation, of ourselves and of all creation.

Lord, in your mercy hear us

As You are One, You call us to this oneness yet we are so divided by what should unite us, our religious beliefs, diverse cultures, resources and desires. You have shown us glimpses of Yourself according to what we are willing and able to receive, then, too often, we become exclusive and possessive.  Thinking we own the truth, we denigrate others.

We see this in the tensions in India between Hindus and Muslims leading to the torture, rape and murder of young girls.  Coptic Christians being attacked in Egypt. Conflict and sectarian violence continuing in Somalia, Sudan, Iraq, Syria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Nigeria and elsewhere around the world.

Lord, hear us and forgive us

You call us to care and nurture all creation, yet so often we treat it cavalierly and out of greed, abuse our resources. The continuing deforestation of huge swathes of Indonesia, Vietnam, Brazil, and even in protected ancient forests such as Poland. New gigantic off-shore platforms near Australia are drawing natural gas resources to meet our insatiable greed for energy.

Lord, teach us stewardship and how to touch the earth lightly for the benefit of all and generations to come.

Lord, hear us and forgive us.

We give thanks for the work in the United Arab Emirates by scientists from Norway who have developed a method to pump liquid clay nano-particles into sandy desert so that crops are planted in seven hours instead of seven years. Water required to grow these crops is also reduced by up to 50%. The blooming of the desert is a closer reality.

We give thanks too for the female armed rangers in southern Zimbabwe who are protecting highly endangered elephants from poachers.  Unlike their male counterparts, they are not succumbing to corruption or pressure but are arresting poachers even from their own villages or families.  Often having survived abusive relationships, these women can now send their children to school and support them.

Lord, continue to strengthen those taking such creative action in solving problems we humans so often have created.

Lord, we bless your holy Name: hear us and bless us.

We continue to remember all who fear. Remember those experiencing natural disasters such as in Hawaii, U.S., and dust and electrical storms in India.  Guide our leaders as we watch such political posturing as between North Korea and the rest of the world. Give us discernment in the Iranian nuclear discussions and in the latest financial crisis in Argentina.  Comfort those experiencing the devastating wave of knife crimes in London, England among the young. Be with those imprisoned throughout the world without trial or justice, those lonely, those who feel they have no self-worth.

Help us to reach out as need presents itself in all its forms.  We have heard your Truth. Prompt us to act on it and live it in our daily choices and decisions.

Lord, hear and answer our prayers for the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ who opened the way for Your kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven. Amen. 

World News this Week in Prayer – April 5, 2018

An Aftermath Prayer

(Luke 24:32-33)

Holy God, You defeated doubt and death on Easter morning. You turned the world of what is possible and impossible upside down. You gave us Resurrection.

Now comes the aftermath.

In the aftermath of many things in life we often fail to follow through with our joy, our intentions, our beliefs, our commitment. On that first Easter day some of Jesus’ followers struggled to believe. In the aftermath their tests were many.

God of Easter we count on You in all the days after, when Easter joy fades and circumstances challenge our faith.

In the aftermath of hurricanes across the Caribbean nations, the United States and it’s territories, help us not to forget the work of rebuilding and long recovery.

In the aftermath of refugees escaping Syria, Libya, Eritrea and Myanmar help us not to forget their need for peace and freedom from fear.

In the aftermath of families torn apart by immigration policies help us not to forget their love for each other and your love for the world.

In the aftermath of gun violence help us not to forget our stewardship of life.

In the aftermath of a martyrs assassination 50 years ago and as the tolling of the Clayborn Temple bell echos around the world help us not to forget that the work of freedom and justice calls us.

In the aftermath of misrule in Zimbabwe and Venezuela help us not to forget the yearnings of people to live free.

In the aftermath of religious persecution in China, North Korea and Pakistan help us not to forget the sacred in each worshipper.

In the aftermath of plant closings, wag discrimination, downsizing and outsourcing, help us not to forget that all work has dignity, that all workers need and deserve respect.

In the aftermath of atrocities and continuation of the horrendous civil wars in Sudan and Burkina Faso and Yemen help us not to forget the Prince of Peace who lives still.

In the aftermath of age-old enmity in the Balkans and in the Middle East help us not to forget the truth of Amazing Grace.

In the aftermath of this life, in this age, we pray that we experience your Emmaus-like presence and find our “hearts burning within us” (Luke 24:32-33), compelling us to declare “It is true. The Lord has risen.”

In our aftermath may we live the Good News. Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, January 18, 2018

Prayer for Lovers

“Faith, Hope and Love Abide.

But the greatest of these is love.”

(1 Corinthians 13:13)

 

Holy and Loving God,

Your voice is so clear. Your message unavoidable: to love. We confess, Loving God, that we fall short despite your best efforts to teach. We heard your still small voice to Elijah. We heard your prophets. We read your laws on stone tablets. Your admonitions, your exhortations, your instructions all pointed to love.

“Honor your mother and father… love your neighbor… is it nothing, all ye who pass by?… love your enemies… do unto the least… thou shalt not kill or steal… love deeply… love covers a multitude of sins.

Holy God, You are clear. Yet, Loving God, after these thousands of years of inspired writing we falter in our love. The unloving words of leaders, the unloving acts of governments, the unloving excuses of bigotry, the unloving closing of borders and hearts and minds, the unloving treatment of our environment, unloving laws, unloving religion – all these break your loving and sacred heart.

God, restore us to loving You with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Recommit us to loving our neighbor as we love ourselves. Remind us that all the laws we could ever think of must hang on those two.

May such love come to both sides of Jerusalem, to all within Myanmar and Somalia, from Yemen to Venezuela, from the United States to Zimbabwe, from the Congo to Congress to Parliament, from all the seedbeds of nationalism and tribalism to casteism and racism, among immigrants and refugees the world over. In every place of strife and hatred and bitterness and division, may we believe your disciple who declared, “God is love. For if anyone says they love God but hate others they are liars. Whomever loves God loves, well, just loves”.

Holy and Loving, Loving God, may it be so.

Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer- December 14, 2017

Holy One,
“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.” (John 1)

“My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.” (Luke 1)

We know this to be true: You speak to us and our spirits vibrate with your call. You breathe upon our lives and we breathe in your peace. You sing and our feet pick up the tune. You turn the world upside down, and our hearts are lifted high. Your light pierces the dark, your justice overturns the powerful, your grace shatters the illusion of our own grandeur; in so many moments, surprising and unexpected, we have witnessed the way you transform the world.
And yet, still we struggle when we turn to pray for the world. We struggle to remember these moments of your glory. We struggle to trust in your work. We struggle to magnify your peace and justice, your mercy and righteousness. When the world wants to drown us with despair, we struggle to let our hearts blaze with hope and joy.
We need your Word. We need your Word as proclaimed by John the Baptist in his fiery speeches about your Light. We need your Word in Mary as she sings forth the prophetically profound Magnificat. We need these words and your Word to realign our priorities, to refocus our gaze, to redirect us towards the dance of your Spirit in the world around us.
As we turn to pray for the world, we know we see with Your eyes. We need to look with Your eyes at the Democratic Republic of Congo to see the nearly half a million children who face starvation. We need to look with Your eyes at the entrenched Israeli/Palestinean conflict to see the civilians injured in recent weeks by mobs and rockets in the occupied Palestinian territories. We need to look with Your eyes at our current political partisan divides to see the hundreds of men and women who have had the courage to claim their experience of sexual assault in the United States and beyond. We need to look with Your eyes at Zimbabwe and Kenya, to witness the citizens involved in the tenuous transition of political power. We need to look with Your eyes at the refugees who remain in limbo in Greece, Syria, Turkey, Germany, Myanmar, Jordan, Israel, and the countries of Central America.
We need to look with Your eyes and hold these prayers in our hearts, because we believe that you are God with Us, Emmanuel, and all of those lifted up in prayer are your beloved children.
In you, we live and move and have our being. In you, we pray our prayers for the world. In you, we remember who and whose we are.
Thanks be to you, the Word Made Flesh.
Amen.

World News in Prayer Thursday, November 30, 2017

“Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.” ~ Isaiah 64:8

“The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them.” ~ Isaiah 9:2

“Either Christ is Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all.” ~ Rev George Macleod, founder of the Iona Community, Scotland

In the northern hemisphere, the earth is groaning with the approach of winter, which strikes fear and dread into the hearts of many. We remember especially those without homes, those without jobs, those without families and alone; those marginalized for being different whether through disability, illness, gender, ethnicity, or sexuality; those in refugee camps with little space, sanitation, water, heat, food, medicine, or education. The desperation which has forced so many to flee their beloved homelands often leaving family behind, trying to find peace, a means to live and provide for their families in safety and seeking hope laments a song of longing heard by you but by so few in governments and communities. Fear for their own status, families, and needs harden hearts.

Longing for light, we wait in darkness: come Light of all the World.

In the southern hemisphere, as summer approaches and the prospect of water shortage and natural threats to crops, it raises tension about sharing limited resources. We give thanks that the people of Zimbabwe have tentative hope for a new beginning with the change in leadership. We give thanks for the slight easing of the blockade on Yemen, where 7 million are on the verge of starvation; cholera still rages; and now diphtheria is spreading especially among the children. We give thanks for at least some aid getting through although it is drop in the ocean of need. Bless and protect all who are seeking to serve and care for those in need and protect all working for peace and reconciliation.

We ask for constructive change and new ways of working from the exchanges between Pope Francis and de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar. We continue to pray for the Rohingya people, tortured, murdered and exiled. Now many of their women are being trafficked for sex in the alleged ‘safe haven’ of Bangladesh. May truth, not falsehood, be the coin of exchange and, underpinning all efforts, may they be done in love and compassion for fellow human beings.

Longing for light, we wait in darkness: but we trust in your promise of hope, love, justice, and mercy.

As the litany of countries, problems, opportunities, crises, kindnesses, flow through our minds, Lord, God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – we seem to get confused by your seeming multiplicity when in fact you are the ultimate Unity. We give you thanks and praise that all love, beauty, truth, justice, and compassion shown in even one situation whether a Royal engagement or the extract allicin from garlic being shown to treat MRSA or harmonic music and art being shown to develop the left side of the brain, all are small but important steps to help us all grow to being the people you have created us and this planet to be – instruments of your grace and love.

Lead us from darkness to light; from unreality to what is real; from ignorance lead us to truth; lead us from fear and hatred to love and understanding; grant us peace, not as the world gives, but that we only find in you. In Christ’s name we ask this: Amen.