Prayer cycle (24 February - 2 March 2013): France, Germany
Week 9 - France, Germany
24 February - 2 March 2013
Intercessions
Give thanks for:
- The fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany and its families.
- The witness of such ecumenical centres as the Taizé community, which has revitalized worship, particularly among young people.
- Those working for tolerance and support for immigrants and refugees, so that hatred and violence based on ethnicity are eliminated.
- Chocolate mousse, croissants, French fries, sauerkraut and sausage.
- Magnificent church art and architecture, which tell the gospel story and praise God.
Pray for:
- The struggle to unite east and west in Germany, that the gap between the rich and poor may decrease and that all citizens be treated with justice.
- Revitalization of the church amid increasing secularism and atheism.
- The environment, particularly in the eastern half of Germany, with its ageing factories and lack of pollution controls.
- Refugees and immigrants who often face discrimination and racism.
- The unemployed and those who face economic uncertainty in the midst of globalization.
Prayer
When I behold the problems of our world, O Lord,
I pray not to be tempted to quick answers.
When every tongue declares a different truth,
when every people praises its own righteousness,
let me pause before I speak or praise or hope.
Let me look inward seeking to discover eternal truths
implanted there by you,
truths greater than those heard in the outer multitude
of voices and words.
And let me remember always that to be loud is not to be right,
to be strange is not to be forbidden,
to be new is not to be frightful,
to be black is not to be ugly.
Thus let me find truths true to you,
that I may live with them, and you, and myself in peace.
Source: oikoumene.org
