I will pray for healing and justice in my community, in America, and in the world.
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Reflect on the context of Matthew 25. What is Jesus asking? Why?
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Create a Bible study around our three Matthew 25 values: feeding the hungry, healing the sick, and welcoming the stranger. Where in scriptures are these values discussed? How are they framed?
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Develop connections with other Christian denominations in your town, county, region, and our state. Share what you’ve learned. Identify ways to create ecumenical or interfaith actions.
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Pray for the hungry, the sick, the immigrants using the prayers below, other resources, or prayers of your own heart.
A Prayer for Those Living in Poverty and Hunger
O Creator of all living things:
We are all hungry in a world full of abundance.
The possibilities of food for bodies and souls overflow in this beautiful world.
We ask for the grace to see the abundance of our world and enough awareness to acknowledge our sins of greed and fear.
Give us openness of soul and courageous, willing hearts to be with our siblings who are hungry and in pain.
We ask for your intercession on behalf of every person hungry for earthly food and hungry for the taste of the Spirit of God. We give thanks that we can be part of that intercession.
This world is blessed with enough food of the earth
for every person to eat and be satisfied. We all can feed on the bread of Christ, through the Holy Spirit,
as God makes a home in our hearts.
We come together in awe and wonder at the Creator who loves us so much that we are invited and urged to be co-creators with God in the care of our brothers and sisters.
In the name of the tender Mother-Father of all people who hears every cry, Amen.
— Ann Case
A Prayer for Healing and Health Justice
God of wholeness and mercy, you who created us and called your creation good: we come before you with bodies that ache, spirits that are weary, and a world in need of healing.
Lay your hand upon all who suffer illness, who wait in pain for care delayed, who ration medicine no one should have to ration, who sit in emergency rooms as hours pass because they have nowhere else to turn. Hold them. Steady them. Do not let them be forgotten.
We confess, O God, that we have built systems that sort your children by what they can pay rather than what they need. We have allowed zip codes to predict life spans and profit to stand where compassion should. Forgive us for every way we have looked aside. Forgive us for calling unjust systems inevitable.
Stir in us the holy impatience of the prophets. Give us Micah's hunger for justice, Luke's eye for the ones pushed to the margins, and the stubborn hope of Mary's Magnificat — that the lowly will be lifted up, that no child of yours will be discarded.
Strengthen the hands of all who heal: nurses and aides worn thin by long shifts, doctors wrestling impossible choices, community health workers knocking on doors, and every neighbor who drives someone to an appointment or sits beside a bed in the long hours of the night. Bless them. Sustain them. Renew what the work has cost them.
Move among legislators, insurers, and executives. Trouble their comfort. Grant them the courage to choose people over profit and the wisdom to build what is just, even when it is costly.
And for those among us and our neighbors who are sick today, who are frightened, who are fighting, who have stopped fighting and need permission to rest, be their peace.
We pray all this trusting in your promise that you make all things new, through Jesus Christ, our healer and our hope. Amen.
— Palm Sunday Path Michigan
Prayers for Refugees and Immigrants
God our Creator: We ask for your loving presence and for your peace to be with refugees in our local communities and around the world. Be with all who are in fear. Be with those whose lives and livelihoods are under threat, and whose religious freedoms are being compromised. Be with us as we strive to enact your will in our welcome and support of refugees. Be with those in positions of leadership, that their decisions may bend toward peace and not division, and that they might realize the power they hold to do justice. Give us all strength and courage. Equip and empower us to be witnesses to your love – as advocates and as servants, as ministers of welcome and bearers of hope, especially for those seeking refuge. In your Holy name we pray. Amen.
Almighty and merciful God, whose Son became a refugee and had no place to call his own; look with mercy on those who today are fleeing from danger, homeless and hungry.
Bless those who work to bring them relief; inspire generosity and compassion in all our hearts; and guide the nations of the world towards that day when all will rejoice in your Kingdom of justice and of peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.