Bread for the World believes prayer is central to the work of ending hunger by 2030. Hunger happens in every corner of the world. In this blog series, we will provide a prayer for a different group of countries each week and their efforts to end hunger.
This prayer series will follow the Ecumenical Prayer Cycle, a list compiled by the World Council of Churches that enables Christians around the world to journey in prayer through every region of the world, affirming our solidarity with Christians all over the world, brothers and sisters living in diverse situations, experiencing their challenges and sharing their gifts.
We will especially be lifting up in prayer the challenges related to hunger and poverty that the people of each week’s countries face. In prayer, God’s story and our own story connect—and we and the world are transformed. In a prayer common to all of us—the Lord’s Prayer/the Our Father—we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” This line from this prayer can also be a prayer for the end of hunger.
We invite you to join Bread in our prayers for the world’s countries to end hunger. And we encourage you to share with us your prayers for the featured countries of the week or for the end of hunger in general.
For the week of Feb. 12 – 18: Austria, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland
Affirmation of faith
Hear! The Lord your God is One,
the creative origin of all that is,
the Alpha and Omega of my life,
the source of my resources.
Jesus Christ is the One’s messenger
to us humans, who get by as best we can.
In the midst of contradictions, conflicts and absurdity
he offers us the light of reconciliation
with ourselves, with others, and with God.
The One’s Spirit is my guide
through the immense complexity of this world.
The Spirit opens up to each one the treasures of his gifts.
The One’s Spirit lives in what I am now offering
and is my foundation on what endures
Beyond all that is transitory.
(Pasteur Vincent Schmid, Genève)
Percentage of the gross national income of these countries that goes toward poverty-focused development:
Austria: 0.26
Liechtenstein: Not available
Switzerland: 0.49
United States: 0.19 (for comparison)
Source: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Prayer is a central part of Bread for the World’s work. Learn more about how you can get involved with prayer at Bread.
