Kita berdoa untuk mereka yang sedang menghadapi ancaman bahaya kelaparan karena kurangnya pasokan makanan, karena gagal panen dan akibat lain dari perubahan iklim yang membuat kurangya produksi bahan makanan yang dialami oleh banyak komunitas lokal. Semoga Tuhan terus menyediakan yang apa yang mereka butuhkan dan mereka yang berkelimpahan kiranya digerakan untuk berbagi bagi mereka yang berkekurangan, baik pada tingkat lokal, maupun internasional.

Doakan Communauté des Églises des Frères Mennonites au Congo (CEFMC) untuk harus bertahan karena kehilangan para pemimpin dari generasi yang lebih senior. Sejak bulan Januari, sinode ini terus berduka karena berpulangnya 5 pendeta mereka. Doakan  keluarga dan jemaat yang ditinggalkan oleh Pendeta Muyombo dari Kikwit, Pendeta Mavungu dari Kinshasa, Pendeta Ndala dari Kinshasa, Pendeta Mukidi dari Panzi dan Pendeta Kasombo dari Kajiji. Kiranya Tuhan menghibur mereka yang sedang berduka.

Social isolation increases the vulnerability of many people. Pray for those who do not have safe homes to shelter in.

Loving God, who walks alongside the neediest and the little ones of this world, we give many thanks for helping us to accompany our refugee and migrant brothers and sisters. We wish to assist them with bread, with comfort, with a willing and attentive ear and heart. We also desire a more just and humane world where we all have a place to be with dignity and joy. Thank you for your faithfulness; at no point has the oil run dry. Just as you did for the widow and the prophet, you have generously provided. We also thank you because we have felt your presence more closely, and we have become more aware of your being God with us.

—Refugee and Migrant Peoples Project, Iglesia Menonita de Quito, Ecuador

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We are so thankful for the good rains that are covering the whole country of South Africa. They have come late for good crops in areas, but we are glad to get water. The countryside is good and green. We are very thankful. We do need our dams to fill up though.

—submitted by MWC regional representative for Southern Africa Barbara Nkala

Malawi’s constitutional court overturned the 2019 presidential election result citing poll irregularities. Our brothers and sisters in Malawi call us to pray that all parties will accept the news peacefully.

Thank you, God our Creator, who seeks to restore fallen humanity by calling us to faithful fellowship, worship, service and witness together. We worship you, Jesus, Son of God. Through your life, teachings, cross and resurrection, you showed us how to be faithful disciples, redeemed the world, and offer us eternal life. We call upon you, Holy Spirit, to empower us to trust God in all areas of life. May we become peacemakers who renounce violence, love our enemies, seek justice, and share our possessions with those in need.

As the world sees more extreme weather patterns due to climate change, Australia has been fighting widespread bushfires and some cities in Indonesia have suffered flooding from excessive rainfalls. In both countries, more than a dozen people have died and thousands more are displaced.

Mennonite World Conference calls brothers and sisters in Christ to pray for the calamities to be brought under control, for the displaced to soon return to their homes, and for protection for the response teams as they work to save others.

As stewards of God’s creation, let us also pray that governments will create more environmentally-conscious policies to mitigate further climate risks.

As a world-wide community of faith and life we transcend boundaries of nationality, race, class, gender and language. We seek to live in the world without conforming to the powers of evil, witnessing to God’s grace by serving others, caring for creation, and inviting all people to know Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord.

—Shared Conviction 7

“Listen to me, my people, and give heed to me, my nation; for a teaching will go out from me, and my justice for a light to the peoples. I will bring near my deliverance swiftly, my salvation has gone out and my arms will rule the peoples; the coastlands wait for me, and for my arm they hope” (Isaiah 51:4–5).

Praise God for the salvation we find in Jesus, who crossed the barrier between God and people to show us how to live justly. This Christmas, may we share this good news across barriers with neighbours, friends, and family.