Blessed am I when I am starving for justice. When the world around me feels so unfair that I could scream, but no one seems to be listening. No one seems to care. May justice flow like a river. - Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie
El Paso is at a breaking point amid a surge in refugee and migrant arrivals. Over 9000 people crossed the border on Sept 16 alone. So we pray for the refugees, for the cities sheltering them and for the health of a system not made for those in desperate need.
God, the overwhelm of people in need is staggering. Communities feel stretched and officials at a loss as to how best to help. While policies and higher ups figure out solutions, may the real people of El Paso be given strength and forbearance to help those in need as though they were helping you. May those seeking refuge find safety and real community. May your people be beacons of light and not damage anyone further.
While world leaders met at the 2023 African Climate Summit in September, its released statement In the end, leaders released the Nairobi Declaration, which only called for a phase-out of coal and made no mention of oil or gas.
In response, civil society and grassroots voices (including social movements, trade unions, women, Indigenous peoples, young people, people living with disabilities, faith-based groups and more) from across the continent gathered concurrently for the People’s Assembly and released The African People’s Climate and Development Declaration calling for a redefiniton of development and provision of basic needs for everyone. In these times where decisions are being made that do and do not represent all the interests of the region, let us pray for God’s Spirit to be present and active.
God of all energy, keep us from saying so many words and neglecting transformation. In a time of summits, conferences and meetings between the most powerful, may ears be open to hearing the least among us. This is where you said you’d be and whose voice you were found in (Mt 28). So help our leaders at all these summits and conferences and meetings hear your voice.
We hear in the news about a lack of affordable housing across Canada but for those living into the realities of not enough money to find a place to live, the crisis is very real. We pray for solutions and relief.
God, so many across Canada are in hard situations where what they earn is not enough to pay for housing in their city. The solutions are many so please help our city planners with insight, wisdom and courage to provide affordable, sustainably built housing. We pray that while new projects begin that you would provide financial and housing relief through your people for all those in short-term housing distress.
September 30, 2023 marks the third National Day of Truth and Reconciliation in Canada. The day coincides with Orange Shirt Day, a grassroots commemoration marked by the wearing of Orange Shirts for children forced to leave their families and attend residential schools. Join us again this year for a special personal reflection via the Do Justice podcast.
As Christians, we are called to gospel-shaped mission, but that looks much different today than in the past. This is due to a changing global society, to advances in communication tools and travel, and to the very important listening to local and global neighbours about dismantling harmful ways that mission has been done in the past.
At Synod 2023 delegates discussed addressing ministry decline and what it would look like for the CRC to live into mission in a new way. So as we seek to grow in the area together as a church how can we consider the intersection of justice and the great commission? How are mercy and justice part of God’s big mission for his church? In this Do Justice series writers will help us to consider this topic from the places they live out God’s mission.
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