World News This Week in Prayer
(Text only version)
Thursday, July 17, 2008
"God
will rejoice over you with happy song…God will dance with shouts of joy for you
as on a day of festival." --Zephaniah: 3:17
What wonderful words of love and
hope for a weary and troubled world, to know that God truly rejoices with
shouts of joy over us, in spite of our failures, our apathy, our lack of
compassion for others.
Let us stop for just a moment and
gaze at trees gracefully surrendering in dance with the soft summer breezes;
flowers gazing in awe at the morning sun, who in turn beams down in delight,
drying up the early morning dew and spreading light and warmth upon the
grateful earth. Majestic mountains,
wildflower-strewn valleys, mocking birds, wiggly caterpillars, vast oceans,
rippling streams all created for our delight and all testifying to his great
love for his creation. Imagine for a moment God's reaching out to each of us,
in dance taking our hands and skillfully guiding us through pathways we've
never before experienced, seeing his world as he meant it to be and as it one day
shall be, unravished by greed, hunger, pain, sorrow or fear.
O
God of laughter, joy and mercy, hear our prayer:
--For the peoples of
--For the peoples of
--For the children of your world,
children who are daily kidnapped or sold into slavery; where India alone is reported to have a half
million children as young as 10 years old in its brothels; where
sex-trafficking continues to escalate rather than diminish; where there are now
as many as 10 million children prostitutes.
--For children orphaned by AIDS;
where babies cry for milk and there is none;
for all the more than 58 million people, who, since the beginning of the
AIDS pandemic, have been infected with the virus that causes the disease.
--For the nine U.S. troops killed by Afghan insurgents this past week, as
well as 16 others wounded in the attack, and for the 47 Afghan civilians, 39 of
whom were women and children, killed by
O
God of laughter, joy and mercy, hear our prayer for all who suffer, all who cry
out for justice.
So, let us marvel at God's
unfathomable love, a love so beyond our imagination and comprehension, our God
whose laughter breaks forth uninhibited by man's folly. Let us join with him
and with all his angels and saints and all of heaven, singing songs of joy,
laughter and gladness.
--For the leaders of
--For Australian scientists who have identified a
potential treatment to combat malaria.
--For Israeli and Palestinian leaders who have expressed
optimism about peace talks.
O
God of mercy, we pray:
--For peacemakers and
peacekeepers
--For caregivers and care
receivers
--For all who serve you, by
serving others
--For weary firefighters
struggling to bring the raging fires in
--For all who live in fear
--For those who hate and all who
are hated
--And for all who have no one to
pray for them
O
God, of laughter, joy and mercy, hear our prayer:
Let us never lose sight that our
God is a God who delights in our delight, a God who rejoices with us in our
joys; a God who walks with us whenever pain or sorrow invade, ever present,
ever ready to heal our wounded souls.
O God, thank you for your
reassuring love and compassion.
So, let us see God's beauty and
joy in his creation and our responsibility in preserving and tending it;
wherever there is a need, teach us to reach out with a helping hand, to be
instruments of his love and peace; teach us to lift up prayers of gratitude and
intercession, acknowledging our God's many blessings, his gifts to us each day
and his love that never lets us go.
O God, Redeemer, Father, hear us
this day as we lift our prayer of thanksgiving to you, for the beauty of your
creation that we so often take for granted.
We so often forget we had no part in it, but that you formed it with
your own hands and gave it to us for our enjoyment and responsibility. For your
laughter, joy and mercy--O God, the only words we know are: thank you, we love
you.
In Jesus' name, we pray,
Amen
Alleluia
______________________________________________________________________________________
World
in Prayer is a ministry of the Episcopal Church of St. John the
Baptist
Write to us at worldinprayer@aol.com
Reproduce (or create links
to) this page with our blessings!
Return to graphic version of this page