“If you want to get warm you must stand near the fire: if you want to be wet you must get into the water. If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them.” C. S. Lewis
G20 climate and environment ministers from the world’s largest economies ended their fourth meeting this year on Friday without an agreement on key environmental challenges as the planet battles through one of the hottest summers in history.
41 Ministers from the Group of 20 countries – who together are responsible for about 80% of global planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions – failed to agree on four of 68 points of discussion, including phasing down fossil fuels, doubling the rate of energy efficiency while tripling renewable energy capacity, and implementing green border taxes.
While billions of people will live with the effects of climate inaction, we pray for those in leadership positions now:
God of all power,
That those with the most money and power continue to haggle over words in the face of climate collapse is demoralizing. We need to be working together, not defending our own powers. May your truth make its way into our own hearts, and may our leaders listen when we ask them to represent us well on the global stage. May they come to agreements and may we know that you are the God of all possibilities. May there be no fear or climate anxiety in us but just the honest task of working for the common good.
Niger’s military have taken over the government in a coup that has European nations pulling their support and evacuating their citizens. Leaders from other Western African nations have condemned the coup while neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso have declared that any action to reinstate former president would be considered an act of war against their countries as well.
Lord of all power,
While the powers and principalities war and threaten war, we pray for the people on the ground. We pray for safety for Niger’s citizens and safety for foreign nationals. For all involved we pray for peace and may the resolution be free from corruption and violence. Protect your people and may your love amongst your people diffuse the situation in communities across the nation.
August 1st is the day in 1834 when the Slavery Abolition Act came into effect for Canada after being passed by the British Parliament,laying a way to freedom for 800,000 African slaves in Canada, the Caribbean, South America and South Africa. Today it is a day to remember that if we truly seek God’s way of justice for all going forward, there must be truth about the past.
Father of all freedom,
We, your people, too often use the freedom you gave to ignore sins of the past instead of repenting and turning from them. May we remember always the pathways of sin that have damaged your creation, our neighbors and ourselves. May we remember the resiliency of your creation in the ways communities once deemed less than human keep thriving even under oppressive policies and cultural forces. We pray for the freedom you give us all to make us loving and honest about the consequences of actions.
Charges related to the deliberate fomenting of the January 6 insurrection based on false claims of a stolen election were laid against former president Donald Trump on August 1, 2023.
Lord, we pray for the politics of America. We pray for truth to come forth and for your people to see it. We pray for justice to be done, for criminal actions to be held to account and for peace to reign even when people disagree about policy. May your spirit bring truth and kindness and repentance to our churches navigating these criminal charges and all the turmoil political power-mongering has fomented in these last years.
On Monday, July 24, 2023, a retired Christian Reformed pastor was charged in a murder case. Rev. David G. Zandstra (now 83) was the pastor at Trinity Chapel CRC in Broomall, Pa., in 1975 when 8-year-old Gretchen Harrington was kidnapped and murdered on her way to Vacation Bible School. While Zandstra denied involvement at the time, he has now confessed to the murder.
You may have heard this news earlier and have a heavy heart. You may be just hearing it now and picturing the thousand fold ways that this impacts beloved children of God. We offer you this prayer based on Psalm 13 which was used at a special prayer service at Trinity CRC on Sunday, July 30.
Welcome Corps is a Public-Private Sponsorship Program that allows individuals and groups to sponsor and resettle refugees-without the support or financial assistance of Resettlement Agencies. With refugee resettlement numbers down after years of cuts to the resettlement budget, Welcome Corps is an opportunity to offer a pathway to safety to more refugees and live out our biblical call to welcome the stranger as found in Matthew 25.
The Reformed family is a diverse family with a diverse range of opinions. Not all perspectives expressed on the blog represent the official positions of the Christian Reformed Church. Learn more about this blog, Reformed doctrines, and our diversity policy on our About page.
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