You are mightier than all the breakers pounding on the seashores of the world! - Psalm 93:4
In the continuing aftermath of the earthquake, 100 people have been arrested in Turkey amidst a collapsed building probe. We pray for justice, healing and also a solid rebuilding.
Lord, you know the hearts of the over 41,000 people who were taken from this earth last week. You know their families, their questions, the heartbreak and the deep unknowns of how to keep going after this deep loss. Help justice come by bringing to light the real-life building policies and rule-breaking that made this earthquake so deadly.
Imperial Oil’s Kearl oil sands facility in Northern Alberta has been leaking wastewater for almost nine months. It’s seeping into groundwater and bubbling up into the nearby watershed, according to the Alberta Energy Regulator. The original leak, reported on May 19, continues and a second leak, reported by the company on Feb. 4, spilled an estimated 5.3 million litres of industrial waste-water — the equivalent of about two Olympic-sized swimming pools — into nearby forest and wetlands from a storage pond. The land is adjacent to tributaries for two rivers — the Muskeg and Firebag.
Creator, Instead of rivers bring life these rivers, wetlands and watersheds become casualties of business. We lament this. And we pray for your Spirit to help us make policy decisions around extraction that bring life and not only profit. We know energy resource policies are complicated but we also know that our watersheds are your gift of life. Help us Lord to not destroy your gift.
The CDC has released data from research on the lives of America’s teen girls showing increases in the numbers of in rape and sexual violence, as well as record levels of feeling sad or hopeless.
Lord, information does not transform us. But your Spirit does. We receive this data as information to search our souls, to repent from cultures of misogyny and abuse, silence and despair. We need your Spirit of life to transform communities so we can offer something different to our daughters. Protect them from harm. Help our community support our teenagers with hope, possibility, safety and peace.
On February 13, 2023, a mass shooter at Michigan State University in East Lansing killed three students, and injured five more. The gunman later died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound when he was confronted by police off campus.
Jesus you are with the wounded, the anguished, the broken-hearted. That is where you’ve said you’ll be and that is where we find you. Where the wages of sin, of indifference, of violence and despair are truly brought to bear on your creation is where you are. Be present and tangible to those grieving loss of love, and the loss of their safety and help the community heal and support one another.
Lord, in a country where going to the theatre, the grocery store, a dance club, to work, to a prayer meeting or to school as a kindergartener or a university student could be a death sentence, may the fear and terror of living not rule us. But make us able to see clearly.
How Long is a question we ask knowing that there are things we could do but haven’t. How long till those words do not ring hollow?
Join us for the Philadelphia premier of This is Hunting Park, a documentary film project of the Climate Witness Project, exploring how people of faith & neighborhood residents are working together to fight climate injustice. Sat, 4 March 2023 from 7:30 PM – 9:30 PM EST at 4261 North 5th Street Philadelphia, PA 19140. REGISTER NOW
Justice and hope. Can these two words really go together? As justice-seekers whose ears are attuned to the voices of marginalized people, where is our hope when the poor are trampled underfoot and it seems that the powerful take the day every time? Where is our hope when even our churches too often turn their faces away? We have hope because we are not saving the world, Christ is. Check out our resources for Justice and Hope Sunday (the first Sunday of Lent).
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