World News This
Week in Prayer
(Text only version)
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Creator God, the heavens declare
your glory. Sitting in a sunny window while it freezes outside I wonder again
about the contrasts of our world – the times when we think we know what’s going
on and how it happens; the times when something unexpected changes us yet again
for your glory.
In the huge diversity of life and
environment; the way humanity acts together yet pulls apart, I try to puzzle
out where your hand is. I know it is there. I see it in the timing of the
events which affect me; the astonishing ways world events come together.
I ponder before you the contrasts
of:
***The rescuers from Australia plucking unknown survivors from
the sea following a ferry sinking off Papua New Guinea while a young Afghan mother is
strangled by her husband and mother-in-law for giving birth to a daughter.
***From the freezing weather
across Europe and the theft of ice from the Jorge Montt Glacier in Chile to the unseasonable weather and
storms in the U.S.
***Those who volunteer to work
with young female guides while others are trafficked into slavery even between
First World countries such as Britain and Sweden.
***The death toll in appalling
road crash in Florida (U.S.) and the rescue of rowers in the Atlantic.
***The debate about on-going
Facebook and Twitter accounts after the death of a person and the news that
scientists are beginning to decode words in the brainwaves of those unable to
speak.
***The overt deaths in the
football violence in Egypt and the silent deaths from drinking dirty water
across much of central Africa.
***The excitement in the art
world over the “new Mona Lisa” and the less than dramatic announcement of
undreamt deep ocean life near New Zealand.
***The military presence in Afghanistan and the talking in the UN
security council over Syria.
Lord, all these contrasts give us
pause for reflection. Where is your hand? Where are our priorities, are they
yours?
The heavens declare your glory.
Give us the depth of perception to appreciate the wider picture; to place a
concern for your Word in your World at the forefront of our being and our
thinking so your glory may be declared throughout the world.
Amen.
_________________________________
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., Canada and Great Britain.
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