This Week's Prayer

Dear Grace and Mercy, be with us.

Violence is done in the name of God. May our ideas about the eternal and infinite promote kindness rather than cruelty to the temporary and finite beings around us.

Dear Grace and Mercy, be with us in our sadness. Ethnic cleansing occurs by the Islamist State in Iraq. Children starve; women are sold; the dead are buried under rocks. Thousands are exiled: Shabaks, Turkmens, Yazidis, Christians, Shiites, and Sunnis. Be with us and with all of them. Be with the victims of US air strikes in Iraq and with the beneficiaries of US airdrops of food and water.

Dear Grace and Mercy, be with us, and with all our siblings as tensions grow between Russia and the United States, European Union, and Australia. Be with Russian citizens as their government imposes a food ban that may affect their access to basic staples.

Dear Grace and Mercy, be with us, and with the 1,875 killed in Gaza, of which the United Nations reports at least 85% are civilian and 415 children. Be with the 64 Israeli soldiers and 3 civilians killed in Israel. Be with those who grieve them.

Dear Grace and Mercy, be with us, and with President Obama and 40 African leaders at their summit in Washington, DC. Be with those in Western Africa threatened by the Ebola virus outbreak.

Dear Grace and Mercy, be with us, and with the family, friends, loved ones and community of Eric Garner, who died in Staten Island on July 17 after a police officer’s chokehold. Be with the NYPD as it seeks better ways to police and respond to resistance to arrest and citizen disrespect.

Be with us. May we find peace. May we become more effective instruments of peace.

Amen.