World Prayers for August 14 – 20: New Zealand and Australia

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James Street Market in Queensland, Australia. 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 14 – 20: New Zealand and Australia

Prayer for the Side-lined, Lost and Over-looked People.

Holy One, may your Realm of Love come for
the insignificant, unremarkable, over-looked people of the world;
for the un-noticed and simply ordinary people;
back-water sort of people who will never make much impact.
For them 
MAY YOUR KINGDOM COME.

Holy One, may your Realm of Love come for
those who are lost; who have disappeared or are missing;
for the up-rooted, exiled and enslaved ;
lost-rights sort of people who will seldom be seen or heard.
For them 
MAY YOUR KINGDOM COME.

Holy One, may your Realm of Love come for
the fearful, the terrorised and the abused people of the world;
those who are unjustly imprisoned or entrapped;
voiceless people who will hardly dare to seek help.
For them 
MAY YOUR KINGDOM COME.

Holy One, may your Realm of Love come for 
the subjugated, silenced and subdued people of the world;
for the lonely, the lacking, the faded, the frightened;
shadowy people unable to bring attention to their suffering.
For them 
MAY YOUR KINGDOM COME.

Holy One, mayyYour Realm of Love come for
the handicapped and disabled people of the world;
for the redundant and poorly educated; the timid and un-appreciated;
struggling people who have to strive for support and respect.
For them, 
MAY YOUR KINGDOM COME.

In the dynamic of your Love, may your Realm become a reality for them all. Amen.
(© 2011 Glenn Jetta Barclay, Aotearoa/New Zealand)

Percentage of the gross national income of these countries that goes toward poverty-focused development:

New Zealand: 0.27
Australia: 0.27
United States: 0.19 (for comparison)

Source: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

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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