World Prayers for Jan. 17 – 23: Cyprus, Greece, and Turkey

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Cape Greco National Park‎, Cyprus. Wikimedia Commons.

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 Jan. 17 – 23: Cyprus, Greece, and Turkey

Our spirit seeks you in the early dawn, O God,
for your commandments are light.

Teach us, O Master, your righteousness
and make us worthy to follow your commandments with all our strength.
Take away from our hearts every darkness.

Grant to us the Sun of Righteousness
and protect our lives from any bad influence
with the seal of your most Holy Spirit.

Direct our steps to the way of peace
and grant to us that this present morning may be peaceful
so that we may send up the morning hymns
to you the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,

the only God,
who is more than without beginning
and Creator of all.
(St Basil the Great, 4th century)

Percentage of the population of these countries living below the national poverty line:

Cyprus: Not available
Greece: Not available
Turkey: 2.3

Source: World Bank World Development Indicators as found in the 2016 Hunger Report.

Prayer is a central part of Bread for the World’s work. Learn more about how you can get involved with prayer at Bread.

Photo: Cape Greco National Park‎, Cyprus. Wikimedia Commons.

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