A Trinitarian Prayer for the World
01/19/15 
Jane Dempsey Douglass
God, our creator, we give you thanks for the planet you have entrusted to us, so breathtakingly beautiful and so astonishingly complex in the ways the lands and each of the creatures depends on one another for health and vitality. At this harvest time, we marvel at the rich colors of fall and the bounty of the fields to nourish and sustain our lives.
Still we also see the barren areas laid waste by pollution of the soil, air, and water and ask pardon for our neglect of the faithful stewardship you expect of us. We see species of the earth's creatures disappearing from the planet because of our mismanagement of its resources, and we mourn their loss. We see communities around the world struggling with floods and droughts in this time of startling climate change and feel the urgency for creative and energetic response to this crisis.
God, our creator, what are you calling us to do so that the earth can be verdant and life-sustaining for all your creatures?
Gracious God, our redeemer, who was incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth, we give thanks for Jesus' ministry that teaches us how to be truly human, how to reconcile the estranged, how to minister to the world. He shared the simple life of the poor, fed the hungry, healed the sick, reached out to include those whom society scorned and excluded, challenged legalistic religious authorities, and preached your loving care and forgiveness and the coming among us of your reign of justice. We know that Jesus' ministry must be the model for our own ministry. We also know that Jesus' bold witness to your will led to a cruel death, and we are often fearful of the consequences of bold ministry. We thank you that Jesus Christ's conquering of death and continued presence among us gives us hope and courage to undertake the ministry of reconciliation to which you call us, a ministry to bring faith, health and wholeness, justice, love, mercy to all the human family.
We give you thanks for all those in varied vocations who have the courage to place themselves at risk for the protection of others who are vulnerable. Today we pray especially for the West African medical workers who care for people suffering from Ebola, and the medical workers from around the world who volunteer to accompany them in such challenging work. We pray for scientists seeking effective vaccines and medicines. Grant them strength and wisdom for their task.
As we await the coming of the Prince of Peace in this Advent season, we pray for those in so many parts of the world who live in war zones, such as the Middle East and Ukraine, for refugees displaced from their homes by fighting, for women so often the special victims of violence, for children sent away from their homes on dangerous journeys to escape gang violence because they see no other future, such as those from Central America. We pray for members of ethnic and religious minorities who face discrimination, violence, and expulsion from their own countries, as in Myanmar. We pray for peoples of the same family who find themselves painfully separated and living very different lives under the threat of war, such as the Koreans. In this warring world, we give thanks for all those who dare to be mediators, seeking reconciliation and a just peace, for there cannot be peace without justice: family members, church members, legal and governmental agents, human-rights workers, international agencies, the United Nations. Grant them strength and wisdom for their task. We pray for all the world's leaders in government, that they may understand their obligation to work for health, peace, and justice for all the people of their nations and for the flourishing of the whole human family. Grant them strength and wisdom for their task. We pray for those who work to deal with the root causes of war: poverty, ignorance, intolerance, greed, oppression, vengeance, injustice, access to land, water, and resources. Grant them strength and wisdom for their task.
Gracious God, what are you calling us to do in our world to share in Jesus Christ's ministry of reconciliation?
God, whose Holy Spirit has called us into the body of Christ, the church, we rejoice that every day on every inhabited continent there are Christians praising you, studying your Word to understand better the meaning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and praying for one another and for the world. As we hear stories of the faithful witness of our brothers and sisters in Christ and come to know one another across all human barriers, we gain strength and courage for our own witness. We give you thanks for this global community of faith that nurtures us.
We know it is your will that we should be one family, and we know that our witness is weakened when the world sees our churches divided, disrespectful of one another. Help us dare to reach beyond our comfort level to find common ground with Christians who seem very different from ourselves, to accept other Christians as those you have called to share the journey of faith with us, so that we may grow in understanding and love. We pray that we may find fruitful partnerships across the globe where each can teach and each can learn, enriching our vision of the church's mission. We pray for global fellowships such as the World Council of Churches and the World Communion of Reformed Churches that seek to strengthen the churches' witness to the world and to minister to churches in daunting circumstances. Grant their leaders strength and wisdom for their task.
We pray especially for the Christian churches in the Middle East, the heartland of the early Christian church, in these days when we hear of church buildings desecrated and burned, Christians put to death, congregations exiled, schools and hospitals destroyed. We give thanks for the faithfulness of Christians who remain in the midst of war, worshiping wherever they can, continuing their diaconal work with the poor, the sick, the hungry, the injured, and the children. Give hope, courage, and strength to Christians everywhere who must carry on their lives of faith in hostile circumstances.
We pray that the heads, hands, and hearts of church leaders and members of congregations across the world will be freshly touched by your enlivening Spirit, bringing new vigor to our worship, service, and outreaching mission in the world. We know there is deep spiritual hunger in people untouched by our churches and a need everywhere for prophetic voices.
What are you calling us to do to make the Church a more faithful witness in our world today to the faith we profess?
We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, trusting in divine mercy, listening for divine guidance.
Amen.