By The Rev. Susan Balfour

Beloved,

I pray for you daily, giving thanks to God for your faithfulness and love. I know that you pray for each other and for our church, for which I am grateful. It is inspiring to see how you check on one another to comfort and encourage. I’m so glad you’re you.

I ask, too, that as you pray for one another, that you include all who suffer in God’s good creation. Pray for those whose lives are ravaged by war. Pray for those facing famine and thirst. Pray for those left without power during some of the coldest months of the year. Pray for those who no longer have habitable homes. Pray for those whose children have been taken by exploitation, blind cruelty, and indiscriminate violence. Pray for peace.

As the late Pope Francis said: “You pray for the hungry. Then you feed them. That is how prayer works.”

Whatever you’ve prayed for, seek a way to fulfill it. Don’t wait on God—God is waiting on you. Should war and violence horrify you, God bids you work to end war and violence. If you are aghast at the exploitation of children, hold the accused accountable so that the cycle ends and no more children will be harmed. If you shake your head at famine, seek ways to advocate for food aid and environmental policies that protect the water and soil in which we grow our food. If you find war morally indefensible, rebuke and admonish those who would wage it. God is waiting on you to fulfill God’s prayers.

So pray. Unceasingly. And act to manifest those prayers in the world around you. That is worship pleasing to God.

In Christ,

Rev. Susan