Social Justice Prayer Network
Prayers for the Period beginning July 1, 2008

The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs.
But it’s not only around us, it’s within us…
Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting,
 God’s Spirit is right along side helping us along.
If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter.
 [The Spirit] does our praying in and for us,
making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans…
That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love
 for God is worked into something good…
I’m absolutely convinced that nothing…
absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love
because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.*

We are filled with anguish as we observe and participate in this pain filled world.
Every month we catalog our concerns; every month most of them don’t seem to have improved.But we continue to pray, continue to work because we, like Paul, are absolutely convinced that God is working for good in all things and that nothing can prevent God from continuing to love God’s entire creation.

***

We pray for Zimbabwe. We pray for Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Palestine, Burma, China, and Sudan. We pray for all those places and people suffering from natural disaster or human sinfulness.

We pray for those who are persecuted because of their religion, race, ethnicity or gender. We pray for the lonely, rejected, abandoned, or unwanted.

We pray for immigrants and refugees and those who are homeless.

We pray for those who are hungry, sick, medically neglected, or simply exhausted by their effort to survive.

We give thanks for recent improvements in farm worker pay and for those who continue to work on behalf of exploited workers. We pray for those who work in dangerous jobs, who are underpaid, abused, or enslaved.

We give thanks for California’s recognition of gay marriage and pray that society and churches will accept and affirm gay, bisexual, lesbian, and transgender persons.

We give thanks for this and all other rays of hope that shine through the darkness and remind us of God’s love for all creation.

*Romans 8:22-39, selected verses, The Message, Lectionary June 20 & 27