Two Prayers for April 24, 2023

A Prayer on the 14-month Anniversary of the War in Ukraine

How long, O Lord, how long will the Russian military send people into battle only to be slaughtered?

How long, O Lord, how long must both Ukrainian and Russian families bury their dead in a needless war?

How long, O Lord, how long will this evil continue to be enacted?

How long, O Lord, how long?

We pray that you would tear open the doors of heaven and send down heaven’s armies to bring peace.

We pray that you would turn guns into garden implements, and tanks into tractors, we pray that you would destroy the missiles before they could strike. We pray that this war, this violence would end.

Strengthen, O Lord, those who care for the wounded and the grieving. Protect children in body, mind and spirit. And bring all peoples to their knees in humility before you who are the Ruler of all things and before your Son, Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, in whose name we pray. Amen.

 A Prayer for Sudan – April 24, 2023

Lord God, show your might and majesty and end this violence in Sudan.

It is the responsibility of adults to care for children – that is how you, O Lord, have made human beings, made the creation. But in Sudan the adults with power care nothing for the 21 million children in Sudan. Show your power, O Lord, break the power and pride, break the control and arrogance – bring the leaders of both sides to account, bring them to their knees. Smash their military machinery.

We weep for the children – children without food, children who have no place to shelter, children who have no adults to care for them. We weep for the children who have never known peace, never known what it is to feel secure, never known a day in which they have not worried about getting enough to eat. We weep for the children.

Lord God, cause the adults of the world to rise up, and speak for the children who cannot speak. Cause the adults of the world to take their responsibility to care for children seriously.

We pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ, who took children in his arms and blessed them. Amen.