World in Prayer

This Week’s Prayer

World News in Prayer – Thursday, 4 June, 2020

Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
So why has the healing of my dear people
not come about?  ~ Jeremiah 8:22

Is there no balm in Gilead, Holy God? For we, your people, desperately need a balm, a healing, a sense that the desperate pain we are feeling will come to an end. Even as people walk the streets of more than 75 cities in the United States of America, demonstrating against the deaths of African-American citizens: George Floyd, Steven Taylor, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbrey, among far too many others at the hands of the police, others are demonstrating in solidarity in London, England; Amsterdam, Netherlands; Berlin, Germany; Auckland, New Zealand; Paris, France; Copenhagen, Denmark; Milan, Italy; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Dublin, Ireland; Toronto, Canada; Perth, Australia; and many more places across the globe.

We need a balm, God of Love and Peace, a healing of the sin of racism. We need to be made whole.

All of this comes in the midst of the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic, which continues to sicken and kill people throughout the world, even as governments disagree on how best to contain and control the spread of the virus. Italy is reopening its borders, while the death toll in Brazil has passed 30,000, and cases in the African continent exceed 160,000, even as statistics every-where are uncertain and knowledge of the behavior of the virus remains the subject of intense medical and immunological research.

We need a balm, God of All People, a healing for our troubled bodies and spirits.

Around the world, situations of pain and threat demand our attention, and yours, O God. We grieve:

  • the death of Dr. Hu Weifeng in China, after four months of fighting Covid-19. He had been treating patients at Wuhan Central Hospital when he was stricken.
  • with the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and PiniKura People (PKKP) of Western Australia at the destruction of 46,000-year-old Aborginal caves by mining giant, Rio Tinto, last Sunday.
  • with the people of Mumbai, India, as Cyclone Nisarga makes landfall, with destructive winds and driving rains, threatening life and property.
  • with a barely-literate, poor Christian couple in Pakistan who have spent the past 6 years in jail awaiting an appeal of the death sentence they received for “blasphemy”, for allegedly sending text messages insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
  • the disappearances of two activists, Fang Bin and Chen Qiushi, in Wuhan, China, after their continued reporting about the Covid-19 crisis in that province, as families and friends fear they may have been killed.

We need a balm, God of Hope, a healing for the broken places in our world.

Driven to our knees by the loss and pain, our minds and hearts filled with questions and doubts, our spirits often at their lowest ebb in these recent days, we turn to you, Father-Mother God, in desperation, knowing that only in you can we find comfort, healing, a balm for those things we cannot seem to get right on our own. And, though we are not yet able to sing in our churches, we each and all can sing on our own, so we lift our quavering and tear-filled voices:

There is a balm in Gilead
to make the wounded whole;
there is a balm in Gilead
to heal the sin-sick soul.

Sometimes I feel discouraged
and think my work’s in vain,
but then the Holy Spirit
revives my soul again.

There is a balm in Gilead
to make the wounded whole;
there is a balm in Gilead
to heal the sin-sick soul.


Amen. Let it be so.

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World News in Prayer – Thursday, 4 June, 2020

Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
So why has the healing of my dear people
not come about?  ~ Jeremiah 8:22

Is there no balm in Gilead, Holy God? For we, your people, desperately need a balm, a healing, a sense that the desperate pain we are feeling will come to an end. Even as people walk the streets of more than 75 cities in the United States of America, demonstrating against the deaths of African-American citizens: George Floyd, Steven Taylor, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbrey, among far too many others at the hands of the police, others are demonstrating in solidarity in London, England; Amsterdam, Netherlands; Berlin, Germany; Auckland, New Zealand; Paris, France; Copenhagen, Denmark; Milan, Italy; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Dublin, Ireland; Toronto, Canada; Perth, Australia; and many more places across the globe.

We need a balm, God of Love and Peace, a healing of the sin of racism. We need to be made whole.

All of this comes in the midst of the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic, which continues to sicken and kill people throughout the world, even as governments disagree on how best to contain and control the spread of the virus. Italy is reopening its borders, while the death toll in Brazil has passed 30,000, and cases in the African continent exceed 160,000, even as statistics every-where are uncertain and knowledge of the behavior of the virus remains the subject of intense medical and immunological research.

We need a balm, God of All People, a healing for our troubled bodies and spirits.

Around the world, situations of pain and threat demand our attention, and yours, O God. We grieve:

  • the death of Dr. Hu Weifeng in China, after four months of fighting Covid-19. He had been treating patients at Wuhan Central Hospital when he was stricken.
  • with the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and PiniKura People (PKKP) of Western Australia at the destruction of 46,000-year-old Aborginal caves by mining giant, Rio Tinto, last Sunday.
  • with the people of Mumbai, India, as Cyclone Nisarga makes landfall, with destructive winds and driving rains, threatening life and property.
  • with a barely-literate, poor Christian couple in Pakistan who have spent the past 6 years in jail awaiting an appeal of the death sentence they received for “blasphemy”, for allegedly sending text messages insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
  • the disappearances of two activists, Fang Bin and Chen Qiushi, in Wuhan, China, after their continued reporting about the Covid-19 crisis in that province, as families and friends fear they may have been killed.

We need a balm, God of Hope, a healing for the broken places in our world.

Driven to our knees by the loss and pain, our minds and hearts filled with questions and doubts, our spirits often at their lowest ebb in these recent days, we turn to you, Father-Mother God, in desperation, knowing that only in you can we find comfort, healing, a balm for those things we cannot seem to get right on our own. And, though we are not yet able to sing in our churches, we each and all can sing on our own, so we lift our quavering and tear-filled voices:

There is a balm in Gilead
to make the wounded whole;
there is a balm in Gilead
to heal the sin-sick soul.

Sometimes I feel discouraged
and think my work’s in vain,
but then the Holy Spirit
revives my soul again.

There is a balm in Gilead
to make the wounded whole;
there is a balm in Gilead
to heal the sin-sick soul.


Amen. Let it be so.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, May 28, 2020

A reading from the Book of Genesis, chapter 11:

[In ancient times] the whole earth had one language and the same words. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built. And the Lord said, “Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

And a reading from the Book of Acts, chapter 2:

[On the Day of Pentecost] all of [Jesus’ disciples] were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”

God of all times and places, of all languages and cultures,

We confess that we are an arrogant people, a people more inclined to create divisions than to find connections.  We do damage to our relationship with you by building up our own self-centeredness, and we do damage to our relationship with others by refusing to see the divine spark of your life in those who look, sound, and act in ways that aren’t familiar to us.

As we hear of the death of a black man, George Lloyd, at the hands of white police in Minnesota, United States, fill us with the Spirit of Pentecost, so that we might cry out for justice with words that bring hope to those whose lives are put at risk because of the color of their skin and with words that reach the hearts and minds of those who cannot understand.

Help us to translate your love into places of racial discord, O God.

As we hear new of political turmoil and broken promises in Hong Kong, China, fill us with the Spirit of Pentecost, so that we might speak words that might lead away from violence and toward understanding.  Give us prophetic words to speak truth to those who abuse their power wherever they are found, and give us words of comfort for those who suffer at the hands of political oppressors.

Help us to translate your love into places of political discord, O God.

As same-sex weddings take place in Costa Rica for the first time, and we hear of religious groups lashing out in anger over this legal shift, fill us with the Spirit of Pentecost, so that we might speak words of true reconciliation, where the full humanity of one group of your children is not diminished and the deep theological concerns of another can be addressed – not with words of disdain and resentment, but with words of healing and transformation.

Help us to translate your love into places of religious discord, O God.

As our world continues to wrestle with the political, medical, economic, and cultural implications of the COVID-19 pandemic, fill us with the Spirit of Pentecost, so that we might speak to one another in ways that are respectful of the needs of those around us.  Remove from us our inward focus, so that we can see the ways we impact other people by the choices we make or refuse to make.  Surround us with people who are filled with the Spirit of Pentecost, so that they might speak words of wisdom to us as we navigate an ever-changing world.

Help us to translate your love into every corner of your beloved world, O God, so that the Spirit of Pentecost can transform our world from a Babel-like place of discord and suffering into the image of your kingdom.  Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, May 21, 2020

Even as the world turns, it seems the world has stood still in the shock of the pandemic. But we know this is not truly so, even as we know that you, Lord, hold all in your hand and love what you have created.

Science tells us that hurricanes and cyclones will continue to get more powerful – this week we are told that the ozone friendly chemicals we turned to thinking they would protect our atmosphere are themselves harmful.   Lord, help us get our responses right.

As Cyclone Amphan makes landfall (Wednesday afternoon) on the Sundabans off Bangladesh / India with an expectation that it will track across Bangladesh and India as far as Bhutan. In this supercyclone, the first in the Bay of Bengal for 20 years, people are already dying.  Lord help us to remember that science is not always the answer, but only provides a way for us to begin to understand the world you have made.

With shock, we pray for the residents who have been evacuated in the state of Michigan in the United States where dams have collapsed following days of heavy rain. The National Weather Service issued a flash flood emergency for areas near the Tittabawassee River after the Edenville and Sanford dams burst.

Even as heavy rain lashes these areas, so drought builds across parts of Europe and wildfires burn in Arizona, Florida, Britain. Lord, help us get our responses right. 

Lord, hear the cries of those in regions we don’t often hear about.  Local officials in Russia’s Dagestan region have described the situation there as a “catastrophe”, with reports of a rising death toll and serious shortages of equipment. Officially the region has recorded 36 deaths from the Coronavirus with more than 3,600 cases but health officials say hundreds more have died of pneumonia, including 40 medics.

We pray for the migrant workers of India, faced with walking many hundreds of miles home and dying of exhaustion on the way.  Without their labor, modern India would not be built. Lord, the worker is worthy of his hire ; you hear and know the cries of the desperate.  Lord, help us get our responses right. 

We pray for those whose Government’s  response to the Covid 19 crisis is less than compassionate; for the people of Brazil who are faced with “fake news – this is only a mild flu”; for the people of Britain and the  U.S. whose governments had dismantled pandemic procedures previously in place; for the residents of Sweden’s care homes who are not being hospitalized when taken ill.

There is good news; we give thanks.  On the remote Australian island, the Norfolk Island morepork owl, with an estimated population of only 45-50, has  had two owl chicks survive to fledgling, the first to do so in more than a decade.  White storks have hatched for the first time in over 6 centuries in England while, on world bee day, Monmouth in Wales has officially become the first ever “Bee Town”

We hear that scientists in Australia may have found a way to prevent coral bleaching – a killing event caused, in part, by ocean warming

Following the maternity ward attack on the Dasht-e-Barchi hospital in the Afghan capital Kabul, killing at least 24 people, including newborns, mothers and nurses, we give thanks for the nursing mothers who have visited the hospital to feed the orphan babies.   Lord, help us get our responses right.

Lord of all and every situation we place all this, our environment, our selves in your hand, may we respond to you in love so that our responses are loving and right for your world.  Let it be so. Amen

[Read more…]

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, May 14, 2020

Dear God,

We take so much for granted. We want things to go a certain way, our way: Forgive us our narrow-mindedness. Help us to see beyond our small spot on the planet, beyond our place in this moment of time. Move us out of our heads and into our hearts. Shake us loose from what we cling to that is false. Help us to ask, “Does this nourish?” “Do I really need this?” “Is it your will?” Transform our understanding. Make us instruments of your peace.

In this time of sheltering in place, we understand even more the sacredness of gathering, our need to gather – to share the joy of birth, and to be close and give comfort when laying someone to rest. We are horrified at the disrespect and senseless acts that have occurred in Afghanistan. We mourn the attack on the maternity ward at Doctors Without Borders’ Dasht-e-Barchi Hospital in Kabul, where two newborns and 11 others  were killed. We grieve for the 24 people killed and 68 injured during an explosion at a funeral in Jalalabad province. We pray for the injured, the terrorized evacuees and witnesses, and the frontline personnel and families. We lay our hearts before you in a moment of silence… Lord, have mercy.

Protect the hospitals, public health workers, and humanitarian organizations that work with so little and do so much, especially in this Covid-19 pandemic. Amplify their efforts. Cause our leaders to awaken to right and swift action at the incredible loss of health care workers around the world to the virus. May they be moved to action by photos such as the one taken by Eraldo Peres on May 12, International Nurses Day, in Brasilia, Brazil. That photo, distributed by the Associated Press, pictures nurses at dusk protesting the deaths of their colleagues by lying down, arms outstretched on the earth, each holding a paper with the name of a colleague and a candle resting on their chest. Lord, in your compassion, strengthen us to do good and speak out at injustice.

Help us to hear your call in the cries of all your people. Help us to listen for your call in those who can hardly speak and who suffer silently.

  • Comfort the many who are isolated at home, quarantined in ICU’s, and families who do not get to say “good bye,” “I love you” one last time.
  • Sustain those who are depressed and soothe those who are so very anxious.

Oh God, you embrace all regret and deep remorse. You have room for everyone. What a mighty comfort. Help us likewise to show mercy and tender kindnesses, as we sort out loss upon loss around the world.

We groan at the wanton criminal neglect and malpractice of a South Korean multinational chemical factory and the layers of Indian board, state and central environmental authorities that led to the deaths of 12, including two children, and the poisoning over 1,000 as polystyrene gas entered the streets and homes of Visakhapatnam, India. We are reminded of the Bhopal, India, methyl isocyanate gas industrial disaster in 1984 at an insecticide plant that killed over 15,000, and pray for the contamination that still exists more than 35 years later, continuing to cause anguish, birth defects, and mental retardation.

We are angered at the easing of U.S. environmental laws to allow industrial pollution that steals air and water; snuffs out lives; and kills and destroys habitat. Help us to shine light on these grievous imbalances of power. Lay bare the acts of greed and corruption. Shed your light on the false values of expediency for the sake of profit. We offer again a moment of silence… Lord, have mercy. Give us purpose and clarity, as we regain a sense of urgency for the stewardship of our planet your creation.

We turn in gratitude for so many caring people and organizations, like the Washington Potato Growers Association (U.S.), which gave away over a million pounds of potatoes this week. Help us to understand generosity as a powerful and beautiful act, an act that acknowledges the other, the food insecure, the hungry, and those choosing between rent and groceries. As countries around the world take the risk of reopening businesses and other non-essential operations after Covid-19 shut-downs and stay-at-home orders, support the small business owners, the workers who are at risk, and the still unemployed. Give us patience and unity of purpose.

Help us in these turbulent times to understand the stability of our faith, hope and love: Faith with action, hope in the knowledge of your enduring love, and love itself that has conquered sin and death.

May we live inside the words of Paul in his letter to the Romans 8:37-39. “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Amen.

World News in Prayer – Thursday, May 7, 2020

Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer,
we come to you in prayer today,
longing to see and sense your presence in these uncertain times.
We pray for your world,
as we seek to understand
and find a way to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Bring comfort to those who grieve,
remembering especially those in India who died
or are suffering due to the Styrene gas leak;
peace to those who are anxious,
caution to those who needlessly risk their health,
hope for all who are struggling
economically,
socially,
mentally,
physically,
and in any manner
because of this pandemic.

Lord of Lords, even as countries like
Peru, the US, and the UK
see a continued rise in cases,
other countries like
Germany, New Zealand and Australia
are lessening the restrictions on their residents.

Guide the leaders in government
and health officials
as they make exceedingly difficult decisions
in the days and weeks to come.

We give you thanks for the blessings we have seen,
for the rapid response of a lighting manufacturer
to create personal protective hoods for medical staff in Southampton, UK, 
and offering the design free of charge online;
for time with family,
for the opportunity to reevaluate our choices
and how we allocate the precious resource of time.

We pray for the farmers and people of Africa, Healer of the World,
as they are experiencing a second,
larger surge of locusts.
As the insects rise to plague levels,
they are causing widespread destruction in
Kenya,
Yemen,
Somalia,
Ethiopia,
and other nearby countries.

In the United States we pray for justice
following the killing of Ahmaud Arbery,
a 25 year-old black man out for a run in his neighborhood.
May this tragedy bring a swift end
to the racism and discrimination
which plagues us all in every country of your world.

Also in the United States,
this weekend is a celebration of mothers
and mothering figures in our lives;
many students are completing their studies
under strange circumstances.

Therefore, O God, we offer these prayers:
We come to you today, O God,
honoring the mothers in our lives:
those who give us life,
who nurture us, care for us, love us and guide us.

We pray, Holy One, for women who can not,
or choose not to have children of their own,
women for whom this remembrance sparks pain, grief, and loss.

Comforter of the hurting, we pray for children
who have not known the love of a mother,
the nurture of a loving parent,
​and women who have struggled to provide the care their children need.

God of the loving heart, we know
the care and love of mothering
extends beyond the boundaries of blood;
beyond the boundaries of biology;
beyond the boundaries of age;
beyond the boundaries of gender.

Your care and love, Eternal Giver of Life,
extends beyond the boundaries of space and time;
beyond the boundaries of creed and doctrine;
beyond all boundaries the human mind can imagine.

We join our hearts and minds in prayer,
Comfort of sufferers and Companion of the lonely,
seeking your peace and mercy,
your presence and comfort,
for those of us who grieve;
for the sick and hurting
and those who care for them;
for the poor and the oppressed,
and for the advocates who speak for them.

We celebrate with those who have recently or will soon graduate
from high-school, college, and all schools;
that they might feel you at work in their lives;
that they might stay safe
during this time of celebration;
that they might find joy in their future.

We pray for those for whom schooling is difficult,
who are working toward their GED or other exams;
who are struggling with trouble at home;
who must join the work-force too early just to survive.

Guide us, we pray, so that we may do your will,
today and every day.

Form us into a healthy, vital, growing followers of Jesus,
joined in purpose and vision;
united in our search for a deeper relationship with you,
Mighty God,
empowered by our salvation through Christ,
and guided by the presence of the Holy Spirit.

AMEN

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, April 30, 2020

Dear Lord,

Sometimes we feel so alone and unprepared and exhausted.

Sometimes we feel forgotten and stepped upon.

Lord, remind us to breathe,
to look outward
and
to look inward.

Lord, remind us that in praying we are doing your will.

Help us to examine ourselves and to prepare for each day, knowing you are leading us, speaking to us and TOUCHING us with great love.

We are steeped in news, stories that make us weep and grow deeply sad, reminding us of so many vulnerabilities and so much human loss. Help us to set down our fears and burdens, to find sleep, to have healing dreams that connect us powerfully to you and all of your creation.

May we know what it means when our hearts are inscribed by the Holy Spirit. Guide us. Awaken us. Refresh us. Comfort us. May we come face to face with the unbidden stranger and understand this great wondrous mysterious love.

For those who work in fire and rescue, emergency rooms and intensive care units with the ventilators and monitors, the beeping and lights, before them a feverish human completely dependent on their ministrations, God we ask for your compassion. Sustain those who give of the mind, body and spirit to care, to heal and restore. We grieve as we hear of more deaths and even suicides as the stress and risk of being on the front line accumulates. Shelter these intelligent, deeply caring souls in your eternal time. We grieve with families, the newly diagnosed, those passed, and those struggling to heal and find a new normal. So many directions to look. God have mercy. We hold the dead in a moment of silence…

For the firefighters in the Ukraine, battling forest fires around Chernobyl. where radioactive ash and smoke is ascending and spreading beyond borders. Lord have mercy on us. Forgive us for these seemingly unending man-made calamities.

For those who donate their money and talents, volunteering in all manner of ways, in shelters, at food banks, tending neighbors, providing care to children of essential workers; for summer camps turned to respite sites and places to quarantine and receive a warm meal.   A little goes such a long way. A tear can be wiped or watched to fall. Help us to be present in those moments. Lord, have compassion for our desire to do everything we can. Love us when we feel we can’t do enough or figure things out fast enough.

Help us to remember those who are forgotten, the “not newsworthy,” the “last year’s news,” those in the “wrong” country. Break down our prejudices and hatred, shake apart our sinfulness and false righteousness that have nothing to do with compassion and good will.

Be with tribal peoples who are disproportionately suffering from this plague. School us in matching resources to need. Cause swift action to help, versus to deny and degrade. Be with the Dine’ (the Navajo peoples of the U.S. Southwest). Be with all tribes and aboriginal peoples as they bury their dead, seek testing and shelter in place.

May our masks speak of our love and care – to be a symbol of openheartedness. Teach our eyes to smile, our eyebrows to lift in welcome and show those funny awkward distant embraces as we wrap our arms around ourselves when we see another. Cause us to wave and yell hello from windows.

Oh Lord, we ask that you breath your Pentecostal fire in us–now–in this moment. Help us take up our “plowshares” to address the emergency in our most fragile nations. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) reports this week that COVID-19 is eminent in over thirty so-called crisis countries unless we take swift action. Take us away from the podiums of falsehood. Direct us to the faces of those already suffering from war, displacement, those sheltered in dense refugee camps, those who lack water and sanitation, and those near famine. The IRC, with the Imperial College and the World Health Organization, have determined that if help is not forthcoming soon in those countries, 3 million deaths and 1 billion infections are likely.

We lay before you then, these our gravest fears. Burn through our dread and inaction. Create in us awareness and right action. We lift up our mighty resource of prayer to tend to the sorrows of Syria, Yemen, South Sudan, Burkina Faso and Venezuela, of refugee camps in Greece, of the peoples in Afghanistan.

Remind us that a virus can cause suffering and
that we can remove suffering in so very many ways.

May we do your will and see your kin-dom on earth as it is in heaven.
We pray, we work, we give and we shelter.
In your name.

Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, April 23, 2020

Praying with Psalm 116 in this time of pandemic*

We love you, O God, because you have heard the voice of our supplications,
because you have inclined your ear to us whenever we called upon you. (Psalm 116, v. 1, adapted)

Because you have been faithful to us, O God, from time immemorial, bringing us time and again out of despair into hope, out of death into new life, yet even now in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic shall we trust you.

The cords of death entangled us;
the grip of the grave took hold of us;
we came to grief and sorrow. (v. 2, adapted)

The count of the dead, and the ill; the endangered; the closed-in, the unemployed or out-of-business or unable to provide for their families – the numbers are beyond our comprehension.

  • San Marino, Belgium, Andorra, Spain, Italy, France, St. Marten, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Sweden, Isle of Man, Switzerland, Channel Islands, Ireland, United States, Luxembourg, and Monaco are all reporting more than 100 deaths per 1M population. That’s 2,714,942 confirmed cases worldwide and 190,395 deaths reported so far – but we know those counts are likely to be way underreported, since testing for the virus is basically unavailable in many developing countries.  And the first wave of the pandemic hasn’t even peaked yet. (Statistics as of today from https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries).
  • Handwashing with soap and water is crucial to preventing the spread of COVID-19. Yet in sub-Saharan Africa (that’s 46 countries), 63 per cent of people in urban areas lack access to handwashing. It’s 22 per cent in the urban regions of Central and South Asia, and 28 per cent in Indonesia. Even many health care facilities don’t have basic sanitation.
  • The International Labour Organization this week reported that more than 4 out of five workers globally live in countries affected by full or partial lockdown measures.  In the U.S., nearly 27 million people have lost their jobs and filed for unemployment since the crisis began.  Half of the private sector workers in France are now unemployed.  The United Nations is predicting 195 million jobs will be lost worldwide due to the virus.
  • Severe famine “of Biblical proportions” is likely to hit 30 or more under-developed nations due to the labor shortages and supply disruptions caused by the pandemic, according to reports released this week by the United Nations. The greatest worry is for people living in conflict zones and those forced from their homes and into refugee camps, especially in northeastern Nigeria, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

We can’t even name, let alone mourn, that many lives lost, so many countries locked down, so many people trying to shelter in place, so many families disrupted, so many at risk of starvation. We are buried in our grief and shock; tangled between our desire for life to return to normal (soon, if not even sooner) and fear-filled and realistic prudence (that warns it may be months or years before we can safely end our social isolation).

The sheer numbers are beyond our stunned comprehension. Yet you, O God, have known and adored us before we are even born. You count the hairs on every head. You accompany every person who dies, and comfort every person who grieves. You restore the trembling nations. Even now, we shall trust.

Then we called upon your holy Name:
“O God, we pray you, save our lives.” (v. 3, adapted)

And we see your saving hand at work, not through a sudden magic snap of your fingers, but in so many large and small daily items:

  • Thousands of scientists, researchers, doctors and other health professionals across the globe, sharing ideas and data across national boundaries in the rush to find a vaccine, a cure.
  • An overwhelming number of people in Spain stepping in to foster the pets of those who have fallen ill
  • Eric Kim, an Oregon, U.S., high school student who is making clear face masks so the hearing-impaired can communicate while protected.
  • Ireland pledging to quadruple its pledge to the World Health Organization. and last Saturday’s “One World: Together At Home” concert in the U.S. that raised $127.9 million for WHO’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.
  • Restaurants and bakeries and food trucks in many places donating meals to health care workers and seniors, and individuals and agencies donating money so these businesses can buy more food and pay their employees.
  • People posting on the internet, “If anyone near me can’t afford food or medicine, message me, and I’ll help.” And then doing so – for strangers.
  • The factory in Kenya that – overnight – transformed from making gardening clothes, to assembling 30,000 surgical masks a day. And what this change symbolizes for the workers there. Josephine Wambua, 24, who never went to school, said, “To sit here and do something that is useful to the world is a dream. I never thought I would be part of something that has the potential of saving millions from dying.”

You, O God, are the one who gives us life, and gives it abundantly. Even now, we shall trust.

We will walk in the presence of God,
In the land of the living. (v. 8, adapted)

We celebrated Earth Day on April 22, marking the 50th such annual celebration. Even from within our COVID-19 restrictions, we could look out and know the presence of God…in a flower, a hummingbird, the stars, the wind….in the face of a loved one here with us, or online, or in our memories…in the commitments we make, to made this a life-giving planet…

For you, O God, have entrusted us with this your world, and with one another – your beloved children.

How shall we repay God
for all the good things done for us?

We will lift up the cup of salvation
and call upon the Name of God.

We will fulfill our vows to God
in the presence of all people. (v10-12, adapted)

Even now, we trust.
Amen.

*Portions of Psalm 116 will be read this coming Sunday in all churches that use the Revised Common Lectionary. Verses here are adapted from The Saint Helena Psalter.  Since we are all so physically isolated these days, it seemed appropriate to change the language of the psalm from a personal, first-person prayer, to one prayed by and for all of us.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, April 16, 2020

A reading from the Gospel of John, chapter 20, verses 19 through 29, in the New Revised Standard Version:

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the authorities, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

God of peace, while the fear of the disciples cowering behind their locked doors can be felt in a much more literal way for so many of us this year, we are reminded that we often hide behind locked doors of many kinds out of fear, distrust, and anxiety. Be with those of Asian descent who face persecution and hate crimes in the United States and elsewhere because of the inaccurate association of the coronavirus with China. Protect those for whom locked doors cannot provide safety because their greatest threats come from among their own family members. Fill all of your children with a deep understanding of your peace, your shalom, which represents more than just the absence of struggle, but points to the wholeness and restoration that you desire for all creation. Lord, in your mercy,

Hear our prayer.

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

God of relationship, you send us out to fulfill your mission in the world, bringing comfort to the afflicted and hope to the hopeless. Raise up among us creative and faithful people who can address the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of all people during this time of global confusion and uncertainty. Help us to resist the temptation to withdraw our connections and support of one another. Remind us that sin is being turned inward, and put our focus on our neighbors and the well-being of our communities. Lord, in your mercy,

Hear our prayer.

But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

God of creation, so often we sneer at Thomas for his lack of faith and demand for empirical evidence. Remind us of the many times we have failed to act despite the evidence before our eyes. Even in the midst of international crisis, keep us mindful of other crises like the climate change impact on Greenland, where 600 billion tonnes of ice sheet were lost last year due to change in jet stream and weather patterns. Help us to see in Thomas not just a cynic to be pitied, but an example of how important it is for us to maintain a proper balance of science and faith as we move forward in our responses to the needs of your children and your world. Lord, in your mercy,

Hear our prayer.

A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

God of hope, your love for us surpasses anything we could ask, imagine, or even perceive. Open our eyes to the evidence of your presence in this world that we encounter every day, even in the midst of pain, suffering, and loss. We rejoice at signs of love and hope as people like Francis and Veronica Gitonga of Nyahururu, Kenya, marry despite the restrictions and limitations placed on their ceremonies and celebrations. We pause together as nations and families to show gratitude for those who risk their lives to serve others, like in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where images of medics and signs of hope were projected onto the famous Christ the Redeemer statue. Make us your hands and feet in the world, O God, so that, upon seeing our faithfulness, others might recognize your presence and bring glory to your name. Lord, in your mercy,

Hear our prayer. Amen.

World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, April 9, 2020

Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
        ~ Lamentations 3: 21b – 23

[Early on the first day of the week] Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”.
       ~ John 20: 17

This journey through Holy Week is a journey of discovery in a totally unfamiliar world – at least for most of us. Now we experience what those on the margins – those with severe disabilities or illness, the migrant, the refugee, the homeless, the poor, the jobless, the voiceless, the powerless, victims of violence, those with mental illness – all experience as their “normality”:  uncertainty, fear; lack of food, money; without access to basic necessities and for too many, healthcare, clean water and sanitation.

Jesus, Light of the World: Pierce the darkness of our world and understanding.

For many there is the added trauma of grieving the loss of loved ones while separated by ‘social distancing’, quarantine, or lockdown. Words are useless at times like this, but we meet the Christ within – in the still centre in each one of us whether we lay claim to faith or have none.

Jesus, Light of the World: Come in your loving compassion; pierce the darkness of our world and understanding.

We celebrate and give thanks for the kindness of so many rediscovering the joy of sharing and the joy of loving those who are our neighbors.

  • In Italy, the Rainbow in Every Street movement leaving food for those in need.  “If you don’t have food, please take.  If you have, please give.”
  • Two Nigerian software engineers fixing faulty ventilators for free at the University of Jos teaching hospital.
  • The gangland truce in Capetown, South Africa’s townships helping to provide food instead of killing each other and hurting the community in lethal turf wars.
  • We rejoice in the inventiveness of so many individuals and companies across the globe trying to solve the critical shortage of medical equipment and personal protective supplies.

Jesus, Light of the World: Heal our selfishness and help us reset our values where every one of us truly looks out for each other as one family under God.

You went through the evil of the hatred, injustice, cruelty and a degrading tortured death, to overcome evil once and for all in our stead. As we go through our own Good Friday experience during this pandemic, may we come out to the reality of new life for us all if we choose to follow you. Forgive us, Lord, for seeking to shield ourselves behind illusory masks which hide our true selves. You know us are we really are and you love us with an everlasting love.

Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

Help us to travel the road to freedom to live in your Light, and be open to the promptings of your Holy Spirit, made possible by your descending into Hell and rising again on the Third Day through love for each one of us. May we enfold and uphold each other to God’s Healing Light and Love – today and always.

Jesus, Light of the World: May we joyfully cry out, “Christ is risen. Come let us worship.”

 

World News in Prayer – April 2, 2020

Nobel Peace Laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (President of Liberia from 2006 to 2018, including during the Ebola crisis) writes:

Dear fellow citizens of the world,

… It does not mean that we are on our own, every country for themselves. On the contrary, it is the sign of a communal response, that border closures make a difference. Her letter concludes:
I have full faith in the relentless spirit of the individual, a conviction that leaders emerge in times of crisis at every level of society, and that our religious and communal differences pale in comparison to our collective belief in the power of prayer, and our respective faith in God.

As we all hunker down in the next few weeks, I pray for the health and well-being of our global citizens, and I ask that everyone remember that our humanity now relies on the essential truth that a life well-lived is a life in the service to others.
[Note: you can hear her read part of this letter on https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w172x1gdf07d89j from about 05:30 to 09.00. The unedited text (also on the BBC website) includes: ]

Lord, all-seeing, always present, you call us to live in community.

In this year when the community of Oberammergau, Germany would have celebrated their decision to lock down to stop plague spreading, we give thanks for that understanding of community which is about keeping one another safe. We give thanks for visionaries such as the community of Eyam, United Kingdom, the Nobel peace prize winner, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and the Governor of Ohio, Mike DeWine.

In our prayers we remember those from whom the eyes of the world have moved:

The people of Yemen starving as many air raids strike Sanaa this week,

The displaced and the dispossessed especially those in refugee camps. We give thanks for those refugees, in groups like Help from Refugees in Switzerland, who put their much-needed skills at the disposal of their new communities.

The rough sleepers with no safe space to obey the rules of lockdown in Lagos, Nigeria, and many cities worldwide.

The migrant workers, especially those in India where a lock-down was imposed at 4 hours notice, and Nepalese are stuck at the border.

The people who are more persecuted than ever because of the perception that no one will notice; especially the Palestinian community of Khirbet Ibziq in the northern Jordan Valley. Their existing community clinic and generator were demolished by the Israeli army and building supplies for an emergency field clinic destroyed or confiscated.

We pray for those who think no one will notice when they pilfer hospital supplies, buy up and hoard goods needed by carers, nurses, doctors, ambulance crews and others. We give thanks that those called to work in all these essential areas still work despite knowing they are unprotected and will probably be taken ill. Remind us that it is not enough to call them heroes but to do what we can to support them. We give thanks for donations of real equipment from film sets, as from the sets of “Casualty” and “Holby City” in England.

We pray for those who are harmed, such as those caught in the shelling in Tripoli, Libya, as warring factions seek to hide the lack of a ceasefire while the eyes of the world turn inward.

For farmers and growers, the world is not standing still, for researchers too. As crops are planted with no knowing if there will be hands to harvest we pray for the springtime and the harvest. As news breaks that a blood test is being developed to determine early signs of cancer we give thanks that people still go about the work despite fear, sadness, and anxiety.

Remind us that while the sound of silence, the sound of bird song, and the sound of the wind and the rain, beguile us in the newly revealed quiet; our environment is still not safe. Birds, wildlife, and plants need our continuing protection and care.

All things praise you, glorious Lord,
great Creator, powerful Word,
omnipresent Spirit, now
at your throne, we humbly bow,
lift our hearts in praise to you:
so we praise you, Lord, anew.
[George William Condor – 1821-1874]