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 August 28-September 3, we pray for Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania:
O Holy Spirit, flow over us as rain over parched fields
so that new life enters into the hearts of all.
Pour yourself over our land so that it blooms and bears the fruit of righteousness.
Encourage all to renew themselves in their mind and spirit!
You, Spirit of Strength, make the weak strong,
the fearful confident, the doubting faithful.
You, Spirit of Love, tie us all together with your bond of completeness
so that we live with our neighbours in peace and harmony without hate and envy.
Refresh those who are in trouble and sorrow
and make us all worthy to praise and glorify you, O God our Father,
with new hearts and tongues.
(© Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church)
Percentage of the population of these countries living below the national poverty line:
Estonia:
Latvia: 19.4
Lithuania: 20.6
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: A Latvian dinner at Lido (a chain of grocery stores that often have a cafe inside) – cold soup, cooked cabbage, a cutlet of meat, a pickle, sour milk (kefir), and some Russian kvass (fermented drink). Photo by By aigarius.
