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Thursday, May 8, 2008

 

"All will be well, and all will be well, and all manner of things will be well"

--Dame Julian of Norwich

 

God, sometimes that's so hard to believe.  Myanmar this week, that horrible cyclone.  First the reports said 200 dead, then 350, then 10,000, then 22,000, and now they are estimating 100,000 or more.  The Myanmar government is stalling, delaying allowing foreign aid to reach survivors, maintaining that they want the aid, just not the foreigners.  Don't they want all to be well, or, well, at least, somewhat better?

 

Then there's North Korea.  Once again famine is looming, as lingering effects of massive flooding in 2007 and political tensions over the country's nuclear program are severely affecting food supplies.  But allow foreign aid in?  Of course not.  God, how can you say that all will be well, when governments seem to prefer starving their own people?

 

The list of needless deaths goes on:

·        At least 18 prisoners were killed during a fight at a jail in Honduras - the second such incident in less than a week.

·        Twelve people died and more than 40 are missing after a boat capsized on a tributary of the Amazon in Brazil.

·        Somali troops killed at least two people in the capital while trying to halt riots over rising costs and counterfeit money.

·        A Sudanese government air strike on a school in Darfur killed at least seven children

·        Burundi's army says it has killed 50 rebel fighters, as the insurgents say they will discuss a ceasefire.

·        Ten Iraqi soldiers were killed in an attack on a checkpoint in the province of Diyala

·        The Turkish army says it killed over 150 Kurdish guerrillas in air raids over northern Iraq this week.

 

What is "well" in this kind of news, God?

 

Is it "well" that armed men cut off the left ears of 16 villagers harvesting cashew nuts in Senegal's rebel-hit Casamance region?

 

Is it "well" that rising food prices could reverse gains made in reducing poverty in Asia, according to a warning issued by the Asian Development Bank?  Or that food prices have escalated so far out of reach that factory owners in Bangladesh have had to start subsidising food for thousands of their lowest paid workers?

 

Is it "well" that, according to Amnesty International, civilians in Somalia are completely at the mercy of armed groups who carry out killings, torture, gang rape, beatings, arbitrary detention and forced disappearances, even in refugee camps. The group says more than 6,000 civilians have been killed in the past year.

 

This Sunday is Pentecost, the day when we rejoice that the Holy Spirit came upon the fearful and uncertain followers of Jesus, filling them with the courage to believe and proclaim and go forth--even when their very lives were in danger.

 

Dear God, send the Holy Spirit upon us, and heal us of our unbelief.

 

Let us pray:

May all be well, and all be really well, and all manner of things be completely well,

with the dead and the dying,

the homeless and displaced,

the oppressors and oppressed,

the rebels and the government forces,

the violent and the violated,

the hungry and the well-fed,

the poor and those who live in abundance,

the compassionate and the compassion-less,

the loving and the loveless,

the fearful and the bold in spirit:

 

"All will be well, and all will be well, and all manner of things will be well"

In Jesus' name, we pray.

Amen.

 

 

Note:  Thanks to all of you who responded to our plea for help last week!  We’ll be getting in touch with you in the next week or so, and look forward to working with you! 

 

 

 

World News This Week in Prayer is (normally) compiled and posted every Thursday, and is also available by email subscription.  To subscribe, or send us suggestions of items to include in next week’s edition of World News This Week in Prayer, or make any other comments, click here or write to us at:  worldinprayer@aol.com.

 

World in Prayer is a ministry of the Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist

Lodi, California, USA, and is written by a team of writers representing different denominations throughout the U.S.

 

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