{"id":55971,"date":"2024-07-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-29T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/?p=55971"},"modified":"2024-08-01T13:05:48","modified_gmt":"2024-08-01T18:05:48","slug":"pray-with-italy-august-4-2024","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/resource\/pray-with-italy-august-4-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Pray with Italy, August 4, 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lectionary Selection<\/strong>:  John 6:24-35<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prayers for Italy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

God, Father and Mother,<\/p>\n\n\n

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We thank you for the light, sun, sea, and mountains you gave Italy. We confess we have not been responsible custodians of this exceptional heritage, and today, facing catastrophes and floods, we pay the price for our greed. Forgive us, God, for our irresponsibility and our selfishness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We thank you for placing us in the middle of the Mediterranean. Today, this sea is the route through which thousands of refugees escape, driven by warfare, hunger, desertification, and persecution. Unjust and dehumanizing laws reject them, sending them back to their jailers and returning them to desperation and poverty. Forgive us, God, and help us change these laws and open our hearts so that they are open to the love and acceptance that your son Jesus has taught us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We thank you, Lord, for the gift of peace, which allows us to live in a community of people who seek unity in Europe. Yet, just beyond our borders, there are two tragic wars. We confess our guilt for not being able to stop them, for having allowed deadly weapons to be built in our country, and for being passive and resigned to the power of war. Forgive us, God, and help us set out on the path of shalom and agape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the name of Jesus, Amen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mission Moment from Italy  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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This year, the Waldensian church celebrates the 850th anniversary of the spiritual movement born from the preaching of Waldo of Lyon in 1174, approximately 350 years before the Protestant Reformation. Today, the Waldensian church is a church of the Reformed family and maintains ecumenical brotherly relations with dozens of evangelical and Protestant churches around the world. Among the most solid relationships are those with the United Church of Christ and the Disciples of Christ, which developed especially after World War II when the Waldensian Church and the ecumenical movement were engaged in the construction of Agape, a meeting center in the Waldensian Alps which would allow young people from all over the world to meet and overcome the hatred and nationalism of war. Agape was a school of peace and reconciliation, and today, when wars and conflicts are still being fought, it carries out its preaching and mission. Even the Waldensian Church – integrated with the Methodist one today – is committed to this field, promoting initiatives supporting interreligious and intercultural dialogue, financing development cooperation projects, and peace and democracy education programs. Always according to the Waldensian tradition, putting the Gospel at the center of its mission and looking at the needs of the poorest and most discriminated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Partners in Italy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n