Prayer Cycle (23 - 29 March, 2014): China, Hong Kong, Macau

Intercessions

Give thanks for:

• The survival of Christians and Christian churches even though they have been persecuted.
• Those who struggle for human rights against great odds.
• Christians meeting in house churches.
• Growing congregations.
• The China Christian Council, the Amity Foundation, the Hong Kong Council of Churches.
• Ancient Chinese pottery and works in jade.
• Chinese characters, and the illuminating ink strokes of Chinese calligraphy.
• Peking duck, sweet and sour sauce, and snake soup.
• Those with a concern for the poor and disadvantaged.

Pray for:

• Those suffering unemployment in cities and those who are unable to find homes.
• The rural poor, and those forced to labour in the countryside.
• Refugees from North Korea.
• Women and female children, who do not have equal status or opportunity.
• Those suffering from forced sterilizations, abortions and infanticide.
• A spirit of compassion, tolerance and acts of love for new arrivals in Hong Kong from mainland China.
• Marginalized groups such as the aged, disabled, single parent families, and migrant workers.
• Educational reforms, that they may bring about a holistic approach to learning.
• Miners and all those who face hazardous working conditions.
• A reduction in the amount of pollution and environmental damage.

Prayer

Lord our God,
Enlighten your church,
That wherever it may be,
It will never seek for its interests
But will only serve you faithfully.
Grant your church wisdom and courage,
That it may break down all boundaries,
So that humankind will become one again.
In Jesus’ name.

 

prayer text for 2007

As they face this day, O God,
find those who are lost,
separated from those they love,
crossing unknown borders,
without a country or home,
not knowing where to turn:
Find them, God, who always seek for the lost,
and cover them safely as a hen covers her chickens.

As they face this day, O God,
stand among the ones in refugee camps around the world,
in the hunger and despair,
in the crowds and the emptiness,
in the wet and the thirstiness:
Be their hope and their strength
in the crying out for justice
and open the ears of the world to hear their cries.

As they face this day, O God,
may those who live with us,
uprooted from their homelands,
find a new home
where their history is respected,
their gifts and graces celebrated
and their fear departed from them.
May we be their home,
may we be the ones who open our hearts in welcome.

As we face this day, O God,
sing to us your song of encouragement,
paint for us your bright pictures of a new world
where people need not flee from wars and oppression,
where no one lacks a country or a home,
and where we are all part of your new creation.
For we long to be your people, in spirit and in truth.
We pray in the name of Jesus the Christ,

who knew the life of a refugee.

Source: oikoumene.org