So take all that I dream
Take all that I plan
You you hold all my days
There within Your hands
The Navajo and Hopi Nations in the U.S. report inadequate water reserves with 1/3 of the population without running water in their homes. Many are now forced to drive many miles after the largest US coal producer, Peabody Energy Corp., contributed to the main Navajo Aquifer drying up before closing its last mining operation in 2019.
Steady, unrelenting are the beats of the drum,
Echoing a hopeful rhythm through the land.
Deep, pulsing are the beats of the drum,
Throbbing from home to home in search of relief.
Creator God, our cries are the beats of the drum.
Let your water flow through the land again.
Let your justice flow through the land again.
Steady, unrelenting are our beats as they surely reach your ears, Lord.
The UN Refugee Agency announced 1% of all humans on earth are currently displaced, the agency’s highest number ever reported. Millions of refuges and others have been displaced by conflict, persecution, or significant events. The number of those displaced long term has grown dramatically, as people able to return home is now 75% lower than it was in the 1990s.
Lord, we build our homes on you. Comfort, warm, and shelter those who are far from home. Guide us to hospitality and generosity in our homes to bring glory to your name. Wipe away our sins as we enter your doors and lead your household to peace.
The 2020 Global Status Report on Preventing Violence Against Children, reported that less than half of countries were strongly enforcing laws to protect children against violence. UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore warned that the violence against children may become more pervasive as lockdowns, school closures and movement restrictions have left children without the safe space school would normally offer. “It is urgent to scale up efforts to protect children during these times and beyond, by designating social service workers as essential and strengthening child helplines.”
Our hearts ache at the thought of children enduring violence of any kind. We do not ache without hope. Lord, equip the nations to provide systems of care that provide for the voiceless, most vulnerable in society. Equip communities and families to lives of truth and love and prevent the conditions for abuse.
Calvin Seminary invites you to its third biennial Loving Your Neighbor Conference, which will be streamed online July 6-7, 2020. Our keynote speaker is Reverend Dominique DuBois Gilliard, who is the Director of Racial Righteousness and Reconciliation for the Evangelical Covenant Church. He is the author of Rethinking Incarceration: Advocating for Justice that Restores, which won a 2018 Book of the Year Award for InterVarsity Press and was named Outreach Magazine’s Social Issues Resource of the Year. Gilliard also serves as an adjunct professor at North Park Theological Seminary and is on the board of directors for the Christian Community Development Association. In 2015, the Huffington Post named him one of the “Black Christian Leaders Changing the World." For more information and to register for this online only conference, visit http://www.calvinseminary.edu/lyn2020.
Continuing Welcome, a progress report on Canada’s commitment to refugee sponsorship, identifies emerging barriers to sponsorship, including the prospect of COVID-related processing backlogs. Join us in encouraging Canada to continue deepening its commitment to welcoming refugees as an integrated element of pandemic response and recovery. Take action and read more today.
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