World Prayers for April 30 – May 6: Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan
Bread for the World believes prayer is central to the work of ending hunger by 2030. Hunger happens in every corner of the world. In this blog series, we will provide a prayer for a different group of countries each week and their efforts to end hunger.
This prayer series will follow the Ecumenical Prayer Cycle, a list compiled by the World Council of Churches that enables Christians around the world to journey in prayer through every region of the world, affirming our solidarity with Christians all over the world, brothers and sisters living in diverse situations, experiencing their challenges and sharing their gifts.
We will especially be lifting up in prayer the challenges related to hunger and poverty that the people of each week’s countries face. In prayer, God’s story and our own story connect—and we and the world are transformed. In a prayer common to all of us—the Lord’s Prayer/the Our Father—we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” This line from this prayer can also be a prayer for the end of hunger.
We invite you to join Bread in our prayers for the world’s countries to end hunger. And we encourage you to share with us your prayers for the featured countries of the week or for the end of hunger in general.
For the week of April 30 – May 6: Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan
And so, that is why, at nightfall when my people are asleep, kneeling barefoot, close to the altar of my little chapel, I become their intercessor - like Abraham, Jacob, Moses, like Jesus. A stick of sandalwood sends forth its fragrance, the symbol of all of those who today are worn out with their labours in suffering, or in love. And I am there, weighed down with all the faults of my people, afflicted with all their sorrows, heavy with all their hopes - all of those who today have fallen asleep thinking only to meet a Judge - to them I present him as their Saviour, and I introduce them to the eternal Nuptials. All those little children who were born this day, I make children of God. All the prayers said today in the homes, the mosques, I transform into an "Our Father". My heart is nothing more than the melting pot, where, in the fire of Christ's love, all the dross of my people is turned into gold - and through my lips it is the whole of Afghanistan who cries that "Abba" to the Father that the Holy Spirit inspires.
(Afghanistan: from A Procession of Prayers - Meditations and Prayers from Around the World, compiled by John Carden, © by Cassell, London, and WCC Geneva.)
Percentage of the population of these countries living below the national poverty line:
Afghanistan: 35.8
Kazakhstan: 2.8
Kyrgyzstan: Not available
Mongolia: Not available
Tajikistan: 32.0
Turkmenistan: Not available
Uzbekistan: 16.0
Source: World Bank World Development Indicators as found in the 2017 Hunger Report.
Prayer is a central part of Bread for the World’s work. Learn more about how you can get involved with prayer at Bread.
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