World Prayers for August 7-13: Canada and United States of America

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Grand Canyon engulfed by fog. Wikimedia Commons.

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 August 7-13: Canada and United States of America

To wake from sleep into this day 
is gift enough for thanks.

To hear a child’s delight in laughter 
is gift enough for thanks.

To sip a glass of clean, cold water 
is gift enough for thanks.

To watch the sunset paint the sky 
is gift enough for thanks.

To share a moment with a friend 
is gift enough for thanks.

To smell the fragrance of moist soil 
is gift enough for thanks.

To feel the comfort of clean clothing 
is gift enough for thanks.

To form the words that make a prayer 
is gift enough for thanks.
(Keri K. Wehlander, also published in Wisdom Is Calling, comp. Geoffrey Duncan, Canterbury Press, UK, and United Church Publishing House, Etobicoke, Ont., Canada 1999,pp.126-27,142)

Percentage of the population of these countries living below the national poverty line:

Canada: 12.9 (low income cut-offs)*
United States of America: 15 

Source: U.S. Census and the Government of Canada. *Canada does not have an official government poverty rate. Rather, an income inequality measure known as low income cut-off published by Statistics Canada is frequently used as a poverty rate.

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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