God , You have compassion for those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

especially when wrong is being done and injustice is rife.

You give sustenance to those trying to live with integrity

when it’s easier to go with the flow.

May we be given the strength to seek you with urgency during this period of Lent;

and although we are not able to change everything

help us to change what we can in ourselves and in the world around us.

We come to You, God of all who came before us and all who will come after us,

to pray for Your world broken by greed, selfish ambition and obsession with power.

We pray for all working against the odds for peace

We pray for all sowing seeds of justice.

We think of people still suffering from the effects of war –

whether bombardment, danger of violence, shattered infrastructure or trauma.

We pray for peace, for rebuilding lives and buildings,

and for a return to normality.

We think too of people living under daily threat –

people who have no home and must sleep on the streets,

people in prison who fear violence and extortion,

people at home who live in terror of physical or psychological abuse.

We pray that more money will be given to support people living in fear

and to bring change and rehabilitation among those who cause it.

We think of the planet bearing the wounds of the climate crisis

and what that means for us, especially the poorest off people in the world.

We pray that leaders currently ignoring the crisis

or maintaining that targets to bring change are “impossible”

will be replaced by leaders who take these things seriously.

We pray for people who are on our minds this week, especially for:

Mary, Peter, Cath,

David, Leona, Margaret,

Ged, Murdo, Joy,

Jess, Mary, Leigh,

Eric, Catherine, and the Wexelstein family,

Irene, Raphael and family…

We bring our prayers for them and others on our minds.

We pray that You will bless them and all who hunger and thirst for justice.

Amen.