As we enter the Vernal Equinox today, March 20, when day and night are roughly equal all around the globe, we long for your balance, O God.
Too often we find ourselves lost in what seems like the endless darkness of the news and we are unable to see the light. This day, guide us to recognize, name, and pray for the areas of our lives and of your world that need more hope, and remind us that there is always good happening simultaneously with the bad.
Holy One, we ask for your guidance and love to touch the hearts of all our world leaders, governments, and decision makers, this day and each day.
As bloodshed resumes once again in Palestine with airstrikes Tuesday morning while beloved human beings were sleeping, we continue to mourn and pray for your shalom in the holy land.
During the month of Ramadan, a time of prayer, reflection, and fasting in the Muslim tradition, we long for salaam for all your people.
We continue to pray for peace in all areas of the world, and lift up Ukraine and Russia this day with a breath of relief as the exchange of 372 prisoners of war were swapped in an agreement brokered by the United Arab Emirates, which has been one of the largest exchanges since 2022. We pray that this gesture of goodwill leads to a ceasefire.
We lift up the United States, where legal residents are being deported for being activists and fear that rights of free speech only apply to some, and we lift up all those who are unsafe in “peaceful” surroundings.
While we hold our fears and hopes at once, we also lift up prayers of joy for Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, U.S. astronauts who returned safely to Earth after being stranded on the International Space Station for 9 months.
We rejoice with Sebastien Beauzile, the first patient ever cured of Sickle Cell Anemia, in New York, U.S.A.
We watch with awe the viral video of a boy saving his classmate by doing the Heimlich Maneuver at an elementary school in Raleigh NC, U.S.A., and are grateful for glimpses of hope for our future in videos like these.
We celebrate a human rights win that comes after Nagoya High Court rules a same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutional, being the fourth court to do so, creating a path to marriage equality and robust non-discrimination laws in Japan.
So, as we both mourn and celebrate, remind us of the reasons we pray, the purpose you call us to, and the importance of each of the ways we can individually and collectively do your will in the world. Help us get past balance, that we might bring a little more of your reign here on Earth.
Amen.
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