This prayer was written for worship in Crown Terrace Baptist Church, Sunday past.
The news from Egypt continues to be distressing, and solutions and resolutions farther away than ever.
You are invited to pray this prayer.
Prayer for Egypt
God the Father of all Nations, in the ancient stories of Israel and the Church,
the great story of your love, justice and mercy has been told.
You brought Israel out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Lord we pray today, now, for the people of Egypt.
We have seen the pictures of lethal exchange,rocks and bullets, rockets and tear gas.
We have heard the arguments about numbers of casualties,as if the statistics have no human reality.
We have seen mosques used as fortress and refuge,besieged and stormed,
that which is holy and safeturned into a place of death and terror .
And our hearts cry out for the people, children, mothers and fathers,
You are the God of the oppressed, the poor and the suffering,
Liberating God, the oppressed you set free by your power.
God of Justice, the poor you fill while the rich you send empty away.
God of mercy, the suffering you comfort, and befriend in the comp anion ship of mercy.
Into the cauldron of hate, fear and violence, pour your Spirit of justice, mercy and peace.
Response Together
He has shown you O man what is good, and what does the Lord require of you,
But to act justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
Creator God, Lord of History and God of Hope,
we recognise the mixed blessings of TV and Twitter,
with their immediate images of conflict
with blood stained shirts,rows of bodies,
faces wild with rage or crushed in despair.
As followers of Jesus the Prince of Peace,
we have no right to hide from the reality of such suffering,
no remit to close our eyes to the cruelty of power out of control,
no excuse for switching stations to the fantasy of Reality TV
to escape the true reality of other people’s suffering.
Lord in our own words, actions, attitudes, make us passionate for justice,
practitioners of mercy, and humble followers of Jesus crucified and risen;
Not just card carrying Christians, but cross carrying disciples,
a resurrection people of hope living in the power of the Spirit.
Amen
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