(from the UMC Development Center)
Dear Holy One, God,
We come to you with humble hearts. We come asking for your mercy and grace for your people here on earth. We pray especially for the Nepalese people God. We implore you to steady the ground beneath them as they begin the hard road to recovery. We pray for all those compelled by their faith or conscience to go and help in this shattered land. Provide safe passage so that those without food and water can be reached with needed provisions. May those who have it upon their heart to help through giving, be blessed for making it possible for UMC aid agencies to go to these areas of terror and sadness and show the love of Christ to the people by being Jesus’ hands and feet. In Jeremiah 29:7, you extol to your prophet for the Israelites to seek the welfare of the city to which God had exiled them. To pray to the Lord for the city. For in its prosperity lay their prosperity. So we come before you praying for all the cities of the world, which find themselves in unrest. We lift them up to you Lord. We hold up their powers and principalities to your will God. We pray for justice and peace, righteousness and grace to reign over them. Help our peoples to live with one another, for we are all your children. Let us see each other as such. Remind us Lord that we are our brother’s and sister’s keepers. Assist us in remembering one another even though we may be far from each other, we are but only a prayer away from one another’s souls. The world might seem dark today, but we as children of the light know that darkness has no lasting victory. Gird us Lord with the fruits of your Holy Spirit for the coming battle – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. No matter what city we live in, Baltimore MD or Timbuktu, Nepal help us to live in the light. Amen.