The Prayer for Syria, Gaza, North Korea and South Sudan

Yesterday, I posted two posts that were, in actuality, Praying for Peace posts. The thing is, though, since it had been so long since I did the last one, I forgot one of the cardinal rules I set for myself: I'm supposed to end in a prayer.  I told people what to pray for, but I forgot to write my own prayer out.  So, here's that prayer...

Dear God,

Thank you for loving us so deeply, for knowing us so intimately, and for never, ever abandoning us, even while we abandon one another. I'm sorry we have failed so miserably at loving your children.  Let me rephrase: I'm sorry I fail so miserably at loving your children.  Please forgive me.

Lord, I lift up South Sudan to you, where your children are killing each other.  Lord, please bring peace there. I pray those who are persecuted find comfort in knowing you and ask that you stop the fighting and the killing and the persecution.  You tell us to pray for our enemies, though, so I also want to life up the persecutors, both past and present, and ask that you change their hearts. Help those who are fighting to put down the weapons of war and to search for your heart in this mess.  Help them to see you in those they are fighting - to see your love, to see your creation, and to see you as you live through each of us.  Lord, protect the civilians, and the UN forces, and those giving out aid and assistance.  Stabilize this new state and help them to transition to a place of sustainable peace.

Lord, I also lift up Gaza to you. I pray for those who have been displaced by the flooding there. Help them find refuge. Help them to rebuild their lives.  Help change the hearts of those who would limit the resources available to these, your children. Let there be a renewed commitment by the international community to alleviate the suffering of those in Gaza.  Bring them supplies and food and medical services, and offer them peace - true, sustainable, growing peace. I pray for all the leaders involved who can bring about a change here, give them heart responsive to those in need.  

Lord, I pray for peace on the Korean peninsula. I pray that you will move miracles in North Korea, changing the heart of those who lead there, allowing for freedom to enter. Give guidance to those with responsibility in this situation.

Finally, Lord, I lift up the Syrians to you. Lord, help those who are seeking refuge to find shelter; those in need of medical care to find relief; and those who are hungry, food.  Help those who are weary from war and freezing from the cold to find rest, warmth and peace. Help us to open our doors and our communities to those in need, to see in others ourselves and, more important, you and who you are.  Give those with power wisdom to see how we can offer our brothers and sisters relief, how we can push forward for peace, and how we can ensure that peace is sustainable. I pray for those working in aid agencies, and for the Red Cross and Red Crescent.  Help them to stay safe while being effective; help them to reach those in need.  Let those with money fill their funds up, so they can do their work.  Lord, I know you work miracles, so I ask that every dollar they get turn to an effectiveness ten-times that. Help me to remember how connected I am to those who seek asylum. Help me to be a better advocate for those in Syria, to find ways to work for peace and to alleviate suffering. Help us to love the Syrian people as we would wish to be loved, as we love ourselves, and our families.  Help us to serve them well, and completely from our hearts. Finally, Lord, I just pray for peace there.  Let us find peace on Earth - in Syria. Let the Syrians feel restored.  Help them Lord.

And Lord, I want to pray for my friends from Syria.  People I love and hold dear already - whose faces I see clearly whenever the news stories fail to tell me the names of the Syrians they cover.  I pray for M, M, M, A, S, and the others, whose families are still in Syria and who cannot leave.  Give them strength; keep them safe; and let them know each day how loved they area.  

I commit all these things to you, Lord, and seek your wisdom, your grace, and your love.
Amen.

Duck Dynasty and the World: Part 1

I was supposed to do a situation for prayer a week, but I failed.  Massively, publicly failed.  I blame my PhD, and a book chapter, and a book, and multiple workshops, and a slew of other things, but ultimately I failed. So, I’m sorry.  One of the nice things about being a Christian, though, is that I’m acutely aware of how frequently I fail but how much I live in grace and love even when I fail.  Still, I’m trying this again – and just in time for Christmas.

Unfortunately, though, a lot of other Christians failed this week as well so they’re stuck discussing whether a rich guy on a popular TV show should be suspended from the show for saying things that were hurtful and dismissive of two vulnerable groups in our society – homosexuals and black Americans, who are racial minorities. In this discussion, somehow it is Christians who are being persecuted rather than the two groups that are actually vulnerable in our society. 

And by vulnerable, I’m discussing power dynamics and discrimination; not anything else that people will want to misconstrue vulnerability as. Statistically, blacks have a smaller share of economic and political power than whites and have therefore been subject to systemic discrimination. Statistically, the LGBT community have less power and are subject to rampant discrimination in civil rights and economic opportunities. 

Christians on the other hand?  Puh-lease.  

I’ve been around significant parts of the world – every continent but Catholic-dominant South America and our-slightly-more-rednecky-cousins in Australia – and there are few places where Christians wield as much power, and as much freedom to do and say whatever they want to do and say, as the US.  Yet, somehow whenever people suffer social consequences for saying things that hurt others, Christians in America feel they are the most persecuted people in the world.

To those in the Church who think Duck Dynasty is what we should be discussing, I respond solely with this article and a long list of things the US Church should care about a lot more than Duck Dynasty and anything associated with it:

-        A South Sudanese town was just taken over by rebels. Three UN peacekeepers, along with a large, untold, number of civilians were killed.   South Sudan is a newly established Christian-majority state formed after decades of religious-based violence – where persecution actually meant persecution.  Christians had been killed for their faith, arrested, tortured, beaten, etc. Now, the new state faces another armed conflict – this time both sides dominated by Christians killing each other for power, with ethnic divisions used to justify the killing – that threatens the future of the country.  So, when we pray about persecution, let’s pray for those who have been persecuted for their faith and who are now really being persecuted for their ethnicity.  Let’s pray for, and speak out against, South Sudan.

-        40,000 Gazans have fled their homes from flooding.  You know those beautiful pictures of Jerusalem in snow that were playing around the world? Well, that same snowstorm left an area the UN has describedas "one of the most densely populated areas in the world: with 40,000 new homeless people.  1/3 of the 1.4-1.7 million people in Gaza are currently refugees." They have no place to go – Egypt has closed its borders and Israel does not let many from Gaza into Israel, even for humanitarian reasons. Israel also unilaterally decides how much aid – food, fuel, blankets, housing materials – can come into Gaza.  When we pray for God’s kingdom come on Earth, let’s pray that those in Gaza receive the humanitarian assistance they need. That they receive God’s blessings here, and that we as Christians work to serve them as Christ served others, that we look for avenues and opportunities to ensure greater security for food and housing and health care.  Let’s pray for, and speak out against, the crisis in Gaza.

-        When Kim Jong Un executed his uncle, it was an indication of a coming reign of terror for North Koreans worse than they’ve faced in the past, and on par with the very worst dictators in the world. Then he threatens South Korea (by fax mind you), and that threat means the US may need to go to war. We have a treaty with South Korea that requires us to go into war for their self-defense.  So, let’s pray for, and speak out for, peace. Let’s pray for a changed attitude in North Korea, and for an opening up of space on that.

So, when I hear Christians in the US talk about how we need to be vocal on the rights of the Ducky Dynasty thing, I just think… is this really what the Church needs to be focused on?  And the thing is that these aren’t even the situations that I find most troubling in my heart right now…

I initially did this as one long post, but it's too long. So, I'll continue in a separate post.