O Lord, let our spirits arise to meet with you today as the morning rises to meet the sun.
Let our hearts rejoice in your unfailing goodness.
Let our mouths sing new songs of praise and adoration when we consider your creation and the wonders you have made.
We are in awe of the splendor of your majesty, the glorious sunrises and sunsets, the winds of the plains, and the waves of the seas. How marvelous are you and all you create and sustain.
While we notice the beauty of this world, we also notice brokenness and devastation. Forgive us, humans, for the ways we have helped perpetuate pollution, the greed of wanting more than we need, and the places where truth gets twisted and replaced with convenient speeches, where unfettered corruption seems unchecked. We have seen the ravages of wars, diseases, and famine. We come to you and ask you to help us live rightly, with generosity of spirit, and to advocate for justice and peace where we have influence.
Loving God of Light, we ask this week for you to:
- Ease international tensions due to trade disputes, tariffs, and inequities, and guide the talks of new trading alliances with the European Union and Canada.
- Give guidance and wisdom amid the maritime boundary dispute between Cambodia and Thailand in the Gulf of Thailand as UN-backed conciliation conversations started in Singapore on September 14.
- Help the artificial intelligence companies in the USA who are sounding an alarm after security incidents and breaches, requesting legislative and governing guidelines and oversight in the expanding field of AI.
- Guide the cleanup efforts continuing after glacial collapse and severe flooding in Nepal and Tibet, with roads, bridges, and settlements swept away. We rejoice that one person was dramatically rescued after nine days trapped in a hydropower tunnel. We grieve with families awaiting news of their missing loved ones.
- Send assistance and medical help for people and communities suffering Ebola’s worst epidemic this year in the DR Congo, which has surpassed 7000 cases caused by the Bundibugyo virus spreading through infected bodily fluids.
- Grant favor to the environmental advocates for clean water and air quality who actively oppose the action of the USA Environmental Protection Agency administrator who signed a final partial repeal of carbon pollution standards for fossil fuel-fired electric generating units on September 14.
- Replace the curse and consequences of war with ceasefires leading to international treaties and peace between countries in the Middle East, with the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, and Israel, and more this week with Yemen and Saudi Arabia, and Iran and the USA. Free up the stalled shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
- Accompany with wisdom those endeavoring to broker peace between Ukraine and Russia as the war and drone attacks continue.
- Grant relief to families paying high food consumption taxes as Japan’s Cabinet approved temporarily lowering grocery food consumption taxes in Japan for two years starting in April 2027 from 8 percent to 1 percent as the government aims to offer relief for low- and middle-income households.
Hear our prayers, God of all creation. Answer us with specific indications that you are at work in your world. Thank you for the answers to prayer we have already seen this year. Continue to lead us as we navigate the next steps as your representatives in the world you created. May our prayers lead us to actions for love and light in the world. Amen
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