“…for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to
drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me
clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” ~ Matthew 25:42-43
God of the poor and hungry, God of the lonely and homeless, God of the imprisoned and victims of injustice, at this time of giving thanks we turn to you with heads bowed in both shame and awareness of the ways in which we fall short of your call to love. As we look, often with tear-filled eyes, around this world of your creation, we grieve for the governmental instability which threatens peace and security in so many places: Zimbabwe, Lebanon, Germany, Syria. Breathe your wisdom into the leaders of the nations and breathe your peace into the countless peoples who live in fear.
God of grace and glory, hear our prayer.
God of the downtrodden and forgotten, God of the insecure and uncertain, God of the refugee and the immigrant, even as we sit at our tables of abundance within our safe and warm and secure homes, turn our minds and hearts to those who live in fear and uncertainty each day: the Rohingya of Myanmar; the Haitians in the United States who face deportation in 18 months; the nearly 700,000 illegal immigrant children allowed to remain in the US under the Obama Deferred Action for Child Arrivals program whose future has yet to be decided. We remember too the refugees throughout Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Australasia and elsewhere fleeing violence and war yet struggling to find a safe haven. Breathe your strength into all for whom tomorrow’s path is unclear and shine the light of your inclusive love into every darkened corner.
God of grace and glory, hear our prayer.
God of the fear-filled and angry, God of the rich and the poor, God of the sick and the abused, even as people in the US attempt to celebrate their holiday of Thanksgiving, our gaze is clouded by the miasma of scandalous sexual behavior of well-known men which daily fills the news in the United States, India, both North and South Korea, the UK, Europe and too many countries to list. Fear and concern soar due to the far-reaching potential effects of the proposed US tax bill upon those already stretched to the breaking point financially. This too is echoed in other countries where those with limited means or lack of job opportunities are being squeezed, taxed and marginalised at the expense of so many large multinational corporations. Darkness and despair threatens with the seeming never endless cycle of countless mass shootings in the United States, terrorist attacks reported and unreported across the globe including in Nigeria. Breathe your empowerment on women everywhere as they attempt to be all you have created them to be and fill those in positions of power with an awareness of how to exercise that power with responsibility, respect, and justice.
God of grace and glory, hear our prayer.
God of hope and wonder, God of joy and sorrow, God of earth and sky and sea, as we seek for the “Good News”, open our eyes to see and rejoice in the work of US Vietnam veteran, Michael Reagan, who has made it his life’s work to create portraits of fallen soldiers as gifts for their families; for the Giant Panda sanctuaries which have been established in the Sichuan Province, China, for the protection of these beautiful beings; for the meeting between the US Rev. William Barber of “Repairing the Breach” and Pope Francis, two men of deep faith, on Thanksgiving Day at the Vatican, Italy. Breathe love for your creation and all of its creatures into all of us and into those who make decisions which have far-reaching effects.
God of grace and glory, hear our prayer.
God of many names and many faces, God who looks like me and like you, God whose voice and presence fills this world, help us to see you in every person we meet, and to recognize that each place we stand, each encounter we have, is Holy Ground…today and every day. Amen
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