fatvegan

I love St Johns. They have such funny prayers.

We pray for the world and your generous love and grace for peace. We pray for Isreal and Palestinian Territories where Israeli forces assassinated Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin; We pray for tolerance and justice where Hamas has vowed to kill Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in retaliation. Maybe the Israeli government cease their assassinations, And the Palestinians cease their suicide bombing. We pray for Afghanistan where fighting between rival warlords killed 100, including the country's aviation minister. May the production of so much heroine in Afghanistan by the warlords cease, And ways of peace, unity and development be found. We pray for developing nations where a UN survey shows that the average IQ in most developing is being drastically reduced byt dietary shortages of trace minerals and vitamins. And where and estimated 18 million children are born each year who are mentally impaired and that's not counting the 200,000 born each year with sever birth defects because their mothers didn't get enough folic acid. Thank you, God, for giving us hearts to care.

We pray for justice around the world: In the European Union where they voted to impose a massive find against Microsoft for its anti-trust activity in the way it sold Windows software. In Taiwan where President Chen Shui-bian narrowly won re-election, just days after he the opposition party accused him of staging the assassination attempt on his life to win votes and where the president himself called for an immediate recount to defuse the political crisis. Keep our actions open we pray, that we may be challenged when we do wrong, and not held guilty when we are innocent.

We thank you God that in India and Pakistan this past week, We saw sport bringing hopes for peace as cricket matches resumed after 14 years of high political and military tensions. We thank you, Lord, for all the cheers shouted by both sides, for the easing of international tensions, and the sheer pleasure of sports shared together. We pray for local governments around NSW, That compassion, community and justice make take precedence, Over short term gains and selfish ambitions. We pray these prayers in the name of Jesus. Amen.