Jackie Macadam

A PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN AID WEEK

This red envelope, Lord, has been put through my letterbox.
And I have delivered others like it through other doors
in this Christian Aid Week.
As have hundreds of others in churches and faith communities all over
the land.

It seems such a small thing,
in the face of such global hunger, poverty and injustice.

And yet, small and slight as it is, this red envelope is a sign, a
symbol,
of an unwillingness to do nothing,
to let the powers and principalities of entrenched inequality
remain unchallenged and unchanged.
For you, Creator God, have told us what is good,
and what you require of us –
to do what is just, to show constant love
and to live in humble fellowship with you.

So I thank you for these red envelopes,
for all those who deliver and collect them,
for all those many more, of all faiths and none,
who give through them.
And I pray that as a result
someone somewhere will be able
to buy a mosquito net, or rebuild a house,
or send their daughter to school, or dig a well,
or sow seeds and in due course
reap a harvest – a harvest of hope.

Let your blessing, change-making God,
be upon the work of Christian Aid and all agencies
and people of good will everywhere
who seek your Shalom and pursue it.

In the name of the One who came that people might have life –
life in all its fullness.

Donate here

This prayer appears in Like Leaves to the Sun, Prayers from the Iona Community
Wild Goose Publications 2013. http://www.ionabooks