Jesus said, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”
God of Love and Light and Life, God of All Time and No Time, sometimes the demands of everyday life just overtake us and we forget, we lose track, we neglect those things to which we have committed ourselves- like praying for those in our lives, in our world, who need our prayers, who need our loving concern. Forgive our mindlessness and fill us with your love.
Love one another as I have loved you.
- Our hearts are broken by the helicopter crash in Pakistan which took the lives of the ambassadors of Norway and the Philippines, the lives of the wives of the ambassadors of Malaysia and Indonesia, as well as those of the two pilots.
Be with their families, their nations, Loving God, and bring comfort.
- We send love to the people of Oklahoma in the United States, where severe storms spawned 51 tornados which took the life of one and injured 12 others.
Be with their families, Loving God, and bring comfort.
- We ache together for Baltimore, Maryland, USA, and other American cities where unrest and distrust between police and black citizens persists.
Be with them all, Loving God, and bring reconciliation and peace.
- We are thankful for the peaceful election in the United Kingdom this week and pray that the winning parties will work for the well-being of all citizens.
Be with the leaders and the citizens, Loving God, and grant them wisdom and tolerance.
- We give thanks that the nation of Liberia is set to be declared Ebola-free, for the diligent and dedicated work of countless health and aid workers in that nation.
Be with those working for health and healing, Loving God, and grant them strength.
- We unite our hearts with those remembering VE Day this week on the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe.
Be with those whose hearts are heavy, Loving God, and grant them comfort.
- We are aware of the Security Council of the United Nations debating over a resolution to censure Syria for chlorine gas attacks upon its own citizens.
Be with these world leaders, Loving God, and grant them wise discernment.
- We celebrate with the members of “Inyenyeri”, a reconciliation-focused association in northwest Rwanda bringing together genocide survivors, perpetrators, and their families in an effort to form relationships of trust and support.
Be with them all, Loving God, and grant them forgiveness and the peace only you can give.
- We rejoice that Saudi Arabia has proposed a 5-day humanitarian truce in Yemen after weeks of airstrikes and fighting.
Be with the citizens in that place, Loving God, and grant them peace.
- Even as those in the United States celebrate Mother’s Day this weekend, we surround with our love Eugenia Chirilova of Russia, an environmental activist and critic of Putin, who has gone into exile in Estonia because of the government’s threat to take away her children.
Be with her and her family, Loving God, and grant them safe haven.
And Jesus said, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”
May this be our prayer, Loving God, today and every day. Amen
[…] praises for “good news” as well as lift up the “bad news” before God. The May 8 edition of World News This Week in Prayer is a great […]