Holy one of fire and transformation,
O lord, upon us is the unfolding travesty begun more than fifty years ago with the U.S. intervention and destabilization in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The news today reports of the world’s largest humanitarian crises as fighting and defending the mineral extraction industry in the east by armed militias, rebel groups, and government has displaced up to seven million people. These conflicts seem ageless and unresolvable. Stop the flow of arms. Succor those in peril.
Forced labor is occurring to refugees from sub-Saharan Africa and those fleeing from war in the Middle East. We pray for the advancing of knowledge of these criminal networks such that those working to bring justice to these systems are effective.
Give your comfort to those in detention centers, juvenile prisons, the homeless youth on our streets and roads who are looking for someone to trust. Surround those children living in impoverished and dangerous places, those in the midst of bombardment and unendurable war. We pray for Gaza and Palestine, the lost, the orphaned, those in shock and terror. Release the hostages, the captives, those imprisoned. Mighty is your work in these complicated times.
We pray for childhood lost, obliterated schools, ball courts, broken swings, parks and streets that once knew happy voices – gone… all gone.
We pray for children abducted, trafficked, those injured in war and those killed. Our hearts are stunned at this loss.
We pause to hear their voices. Help us to reckon with what they are saying, to amplify their voices.
(…Silence…)
UNICEF has documented 1,993 children killed or injured since the beginning of the full-scale war in Ukraine, although it is likely to be much higher.
Over 4,000 schools have been destroyed in Ukraine.
Five million Ukrainian children have been displaced, either internally, or as refugees in Europe and North America.
Russia has been implicated by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the war crime of unlawful deportation of children. Moscow stands accused of using the method to crush Ukrainian identity. Bring your light to these children and their families. Break open the systems of deportation and kidnapping.
Global estimates of over 150 million children are being subjected to child labor. Girls are taken into modern day slavery. Work is grueling and dangerous. Comfort those who seem hidden from the world. Bring the light of justice. Lord have mercy. Help us to stand up to this scourge.
Awaken the government of Bangladesh to the trafficking of Rohingya refugees, to their humanitarian needs. Bring justice through public awareness and right action.
Migrant families and unaccompanied minors traveling through Central America to the United States are exploited. Lord bring your mercies to those suffering, those fearful, those searching and seeking safe harbor. Bring nations into partnership and defend people from gangs, thugs, and trafficking.
The sexual enslavement of women and girls in Europe is omnipresent. Bring comfort to those who are hidden, denied basic freedom, and help us to create a safety net of justice and restoration.
The Annie E. Casey in the U.S., its foundation’s family wellbeing movement, is bringing to light and addressing racial inequities in child welfare. Families of color are more likely to have children enter the child welfare system due to circumstances and lack of resources. We pray for cultural knowledge that can transform the system and empower families and fathers.
Spirit of watery depths your ageless wisdom is like the ancient living corals, existing now but formed before the dinosaurs walked the earth. We call on you for healing and restoration for this planet. Awaken its warring nations. Cease the making of war materials that only bring starvation and death, ruin, rubble and horror.
We lift all in prayer.
Unimaginable and wonderful is your the creation. May we focus on what is good and right, bringing goodness and righteousness.
Amen.
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