Tag Archives: prosperity
A prayer for a world divided
A Prayer of Hope
Let us pray:
We pray today for God’s world. We pray that it
might discover its human face. We pray for a
world divided.
Divided unequally between the prosperous and
the desperate.
Between those born into privilege and power and
those born into poverty and pain.
Divided unequally between the wealthy and the
The power-filled and the poor.
The greedy and the poor.
The corrupt and the poor.
The poor who always get more than their fairshare
of poverty.
God of life, into your world you come. Into this
divided human community you arrive.
You sit amongst the poor but the wealthy do not
see you.
You walk with the lonely and the abandoned but
those with power cannot hear your footsteps.
You stand among the hungry crowds waiting for
food but the greedy will not share their food with
You live among the powerless, the frightened
and the weak but the corrupt fail to notice you
and continue to exploit you.
God of hope, deliver us all from selfrighteousness
so that whilst we may call the
world towards a different way, we might also, in
your name, become the
answer to the prayers of the silent, suffering,
struggling ones.
God of justice, not just us, grant us the courage
to live as well as proclaim your gospel.
God of life, grant us the energy to serve others in
your name.
God of love, enable and allow us, with
all our weaknesses and fears, to
continue this walk of faith, for faith
and in faith.
a prayer by the Rev David Pargeter, Executive Director, Commission for Mission, Uniting Church in Australia)
destroyng the rich doesn’t help the poor
Happy 4th of July! I pray that you have a blessed Independence Day.
I came across this quote in one of my emails this morning. Although I agree with the sentiments, the quote was ascribed to Abraham Lincoln, which I seriously doubt. Anyone know who is actually responsible for these words?
“You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot lift the wage earner up
by pulling the wage payer down.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man
by inciting class hatred.
You cannot build character and courage
by taking away people’s initiative and independence.
You cannot help people permanently by doing for them,
what they could and should do for themselves.”