“Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our mother? What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth. This we know: the earth does not belong to humankind, humans belong to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Humanity did not weave the web of life, but is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself. One thing we know: our god is also your god. The earth is precious to God and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its creator.” Chief Seattle of the Duwamish and Suquamish people (1780-1866)
I begin these prayers from the land of the Occanuchi-Saponi, the Catawba, the Cherokee, and the Coharie peoples of North America, as many throughout the world and we in the United States and our neighbors in Canada commemorated Indigenous People’s Day on October 11. We honor these siblings who have been inhabiting this radiant but fragile planet since long before Christ walked the earth, and who have cared for this planet lovingly and respectfully.
In the name of the Creator of us all: we offer our prayers for the well-being of all people.
We pray for the people of Korea, both North and South, as Kim Jong-Un is determined to build up the army in North Korea and to enlarge their nuclear program, posing an increasing threat to the stability of Southeast Asia.
We lift up our hearts and voices for the people of Ethiopia, where continued armed conflict has resulted in the deaths of thousands and the displacement of more than two million who have fled their homes.
In the name of the Creator of us all: we offer our prayers for the safety of all people.
We pray for those on the Greek island of Crete and on the Hawaiian islands who have been affected by earthquakes. Though, blessedly, none have died, homes and businesses have been damaged and destroyed, making day-to-day life very difficult.
In the name of the Creator of us all: we offer our prayers for the well-being of all people.
We pray for all those impacted by the large fire at a crude oil facility in Lebanon which both caused a 24-hour blackout and helped raise crude oil prices throughout the world where so many have already been suffering from the economic impact of Covid-19 which continues to ravage so many places in our world.
In the name of the Creator of us all: we offer our prayers for the economic stability of all people.
We pray for the ancient Sequoia trees of California, U.S.A., some of which are thought to be more than 2,700 years old and which are being threatened by wildfires driven by higher temperatures and extreme drought. Firefighters have been wrapping the oldest of the trees with fireproof blankets in an attempt to preserve them.
In the name of the Creator of all life: we offer our prayers for the well-being of the natural world.
Even as our hearts are breaking with what is happening all around us, we offer thanksgiving for those places where we see the love and grace of God at work:
- in Tunisia where Prime Minister Najla Bouden has appointed nine women to the cabinet.
- in the rescue of 126 Haitian migrants from an abandoned shipping container in Guatemala.
- in the re-opening of Sydney, Australia after a 107-day lockdown in response to the Delta variant of Covid-19.
- in the malaria vaccine which will soon be available in sub-Saharan Africa, where more than 260,000 children under five die from the disease each year.
- in Afghanistan dozens of activists, judges and others and their families have been helped to flee to safety. These are people who worked for the former Afghan government or as interpreters for western countries or for women and children but were left behind in the chaos of the Taliban takeover. Rabbi Moshe Margaretten, the Tzedek Association and his Afghani associates worked together to achieve this. When asked why an Orthodox Jewish Rabbi from Brooklyn, USA is helping Muslims in Aghanistan he said: “The answer is very simple. My parents and grandparents are all Holocaust survivors.”
In the name of the Creator of us all: we offer our prayers of thanks for the ways in which God is at work in our world.
And in gratitude and celebration, we give thanks for the life of Holocaust survivor, Eddie Jaku, who died this week at the age of 101. Known as “The Happiest Man on Earth”, the title of his memoir, he had been imprisoned in four concentration camps, broke free from a death march, and survived for months in the forest before being rescued by the Allies. In his memoir, he said this: “I do not hate anyone. Hate is a disease which may destroy your enemy, but will also destroy you.”
In the name of the Creator of us all: we offer our prayers of thanks for those who have the courage not to hate.
All of these prayers which flow from hearts which both ache and rejoice we offer to you, Creator and Parent of us all, for to whom else shall we go? Amen and amen.
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