A Prayer for Our World

On Fridays I join with other sisters and brothers from around the globe to pray the Micah Challenge. The Micah Challenge is part of a global Christian campaign and its aims are to deepen engagement with impoverished and marginalized communities, to challenge leaders to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, and so halve absolute global poverty by 2015! The Micah Challenge USA is a movement of Churches, organizations, Schools, families, and individuals united by their desire to see the end of Extreme Global Poverty.

Each Friday an update is forwarded by Regine Nagel, Micah Challenge’s national campaigns coordinator, and prayers are focused around one of the MDG goals. Today's focus: Goal 2 which is to ensure access to primary schooling for all children. One of the targets is to ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling. The good news is that in the past seven years 40 million more children are in school and the gender disparity in primary and secondary schools has declined by 60 percent, but yet 75 million children remain out of school. When Barb and I were in Ethiopia, we experienced this reality - the blessing of seeing both boys and girls attending school and the reality that many children (for a number of reasons) to not have access as of yet to a simple, foundational education.

Today's prayer focus included a reflection written by Peter Grieg that was based upon the Lord's Prayer. As you consider all that is going on around the globe right now, both near and far and everywhere in-between, may these words enflame our hearts and embolden our actions.

"Our Father, holy and awesome is your name.
Your Kingdom come and your will be done on this broken earth,
as it is in the Heavens.

Have mercy on the millions of families oppressed by:
disease, disaster, unjust laws, poor living conditions or the destruction of their environment.

Forgive us Father for not considering how our choices affect them.

Move our hearts, enlighten our minds and stir our spirits to pray.

Help us to:
Act justly,
Love mercy
And walk humbly with you.

We volunteer.
Motivate us to become the answer to the prayers on our lips

In You is the power,
With You there can be change,
Through us make it happen;

Amen."

Stay connected...