O God, you created us all in your image and declared us good, yet we question your judgment and act as though some lives are worth less than others. Our hearts are so often heavy with the news of the world, yet we do not carry it alone.
Let us know that Jesus weeps with us when innocent lives are lost. We lift up the more than 400 lives lost after an airstrike on the Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan where people were trying to get well, as the conflict between Afghanistan and Pakistan continues.
As the war between the United States/Israel and Iran is all over the news, we fear the impact of what is happening now and the impact of what is coming, as Iran’s new Supreme Leader declines de-escalation proposals demanding Israel and the US be “brought to their knees” and as the World Food Programme warns that the Iran war may push 45 million people into acute hunger by June.
And, we continue to remember and hold in prayer all war-torn areas of our world, including Ukraine and Russia, as Ukraine waits on the US and Russia to schedule the next round of talks, as Turkey is ready to host these talks; Palestine and Israel, as the U.N. human rights office expressed concerns about possible “ethnic cleansing,” denouncing an acceleration of Israeli settlements and displacements of thousands of Palestinians in large parts of the occupied West Bank that has grown “more relentless” in recent months; South Sudan, where the violence of Civil War worsens as the army has intensified strikes and thousands in small towns have now had to flee their homes in recent days; and all areas affected by violence around this beautiful earth that also bears the scars of our violence.
O God, you call each of us your beloved, yet bombings in Maiduguri, Nigeria have killed 23 people and wounded 108 others; US strikes against supposed drug boats have killed at least 157 people; as oil shipments have been withheld from Cuba for more than three months, causing widespread, major power outages, further deepening the energy and economic crises.
O God, you call us into solidarity with one another, as we pray for Muslims in the Middle East and around the globe as Eid al-Fitr, the culmination of the holy month of Ramadan, when celebration feels harder amid fear of war and anti-Muslim rhetoric; while Chile‘s new President, Jose Antonio Kast, began preparations for building a border barrier to keep immigrants out; as ICE continues its reign of terror in the United States.
Too often, we turn from your truth and receive the lies that devalue and condemn. Mend the brokenness within us that causes us to harm ourselves and others as we strive to love you and love our neighbor more deeply.
Jesus said “I am the resurrection and the life.” Help us to remember that resurrection does not mean a return to how things were. Resurrection is new creation after something has died and can be no more.
Fortify us, as the Body of Christ, with new life through your creative energy, your desire for liberation, and your love. Amen and may it be so.
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