The theme of this week's prayers is violence and praying for peacemaking.
Israel military attacked the Palestinian refugee city of Jenin. More than a dozen have been killed, houses and infrastructure destroyed and hospitals were attacked. The increasing violence in the region has not been abated by this recent violence and the cycles of retaliation continue. We continue to pray:
Lord, we pray for violence and vengeance to lose their allure and for restoration to happen. We pray for your Spirit to move powerfully in families, individuals, communities and leaders. Not to ignore the damage or gloss over the real injustices but to heal them, and transform into life-giving realities. Lord, have mercy.
This past week, a professor and two students were injured during a targeted hate attack in a gender studies class at The University of Waterloo. We pray for the violent ideologies that make our schools unsafe to learn to stop gender based violdence.
Lord, conflict over ideas have led to violence in our sin since we started keeping any records. And we are dismayed now that it reaches into classrooms in our time. Be with the victims in their healing. Lord, this violence does not please you. Keep us all from lingering in violent spaces, online or in our own hearts. May ideologies that lead to violence be revealed in the light and protect all students, professors as they teach and learn. Help us to be peacemakers even in conflict.
This past week, a teen was shot by police in France during a traffic stop which has led to massive protests around the country. Over 45,000 police have been deployed and hundreds arrested. The victim’s grandmother has pled for the rioting to stop.
We join our hearts to pray for the turmoil in France, knowing this turmoil is under the surface in many parts of our world. May your spirit bring consolation to the family who lost a loved one in an unjust way. May your
Spirit bring justice to them. May your Spirit bring calm to tense communities. May your Spirit speak to the hearts of those who are caught up in the fervor of the riot. May you reign in the cities and towns where violence is happening and may your people be people who embody both peace and justice.
In the last two days, there have been major shootings in American cities, Philadelphia and Baltimore that both included the injuring of children. We pray in the desolation of this violence:
Lord, how long? We say it again and again, but we need your Spirit to change hearts and minds from the policy makers to those who hurt in community. We do not live but by your mercy, so Lord, in these violent times, may your mercy be what the witnesses come to know was present. May your mercy be what shapes our responses to these tragedies. May your people be peacemakers.
Sarah Yore-Van Oosterhout, founder and managing attorney of Lighthouse Immigrant Advocates, joins us to respond to some common questions about asylum. Explore more frequently asked questions about asylum and our response as Christians in this video series.
If you or your church want to learn more about continued and faithful welcome of refugees, check out our World Refugee Day Toolkit. This toolkit contains worship resources and many stories of CRC church members across North America who have resettled refugees.
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.
In order to steward ministry shares well, commenting isn’t available on Do Justice itself because we engage with comments and dialogue in other spaces. To comment on this post, please visit the Christian Reformed Centre for Public Dialogue’s Facebook page (for Canada-specific articles) or the Office of Social Justice’s Facebook page. Alternatively, please email us. We want to hear from you!
Read more about our comment policy.