Worldwide Prayer & Meditation Group
Updated: July 10, 2008 10:54 PM EST
SIGNED UP ALREADY? Quick access to this week's prayer focus
Welcome to the latest wing of Earth Clinic. At Earth Clinic we have sought to bring individuals the surest remedies and the most natural cures. Now we would like to bring those individuals together into a circle of prayer and meditation—to hold our ailing planet in our hands and work to heal it and the human community inhabiting it wherever it suffers, through the proven power of collective prayer and meditation.
We are determined to put together the largest prayer/meditation group on the planet to tackle some of its most pressing issues. This is an all-inclusive prayer and meditation group with Jewish, Catholic, Christian, Buddhist, Native American, Hindu, Muslim, Spiritual But Not Religious, and all variety of other members longing to walk in beauty. Many in the group are also healers and have worked with prayer and meditation for years.
As of July 1st, 2008, we have 2,854 weekly and monthly members participating in this group!
*** NEXT MONTHLY SESSION IS AUGUST 3, 2008 ***
Why We Call It An Experimental Prayer Group
All of us who have been involved in prayer and meditation groups within our religious or spiritual communities have witnessed how powerful group prayer or intention can be. Our group will be unique in that we will be tracking via various news agencies from around the world how quickly (or slowly) the group is able to attain results and trying to find ways to improve the next session. In that way, we follow up a little faith with a bit of science—neither one seems to work perfectly alone, but together we hope the two can make the world, in every way, a healthier place.
Here's how we'd like the prayer group to best utilize its time and energy:
1. As a group we decide on a pressing matter in the world that we can monitor via news agencies.
2. The first Sunday of each month (except for U.S.A. holiday weekends which fall on the first Sunday of the month, in which case we will do the session the following Sunday), we each spend at least 10 minutes meditating/praying on the subject matter at hand. [Note: You can also sign up for our weekly group, which prays on various issues every Sunday.]
3. We then look for results in the media.
Example: A total of 1,323 people participated on Sunday, July 8th 2007. Our goal was to _________. Each participant spent a minimum of 10 minutes focusing on _______. On Wed, August 21st, the BBC reported that _______ happened.
INTERNATIONAL CONFLICT WITH IRAN
Sometimes, a problem is so large and complicated that no simple solution will ever be found, but there is always a path to peace. Iran presents the world with this type of situation. Several of our members have already powerfully stated as much: Iran is a substantial modern nation that deserves respect for its petroleum-rich economy, magnificent Persian history, and as the foremost representative of the Shia branch of Islam, but the country's leaders try to demand this respect with nuclear threats and disdain for the larger community of nations. Iran bluffs its way through nuclear development, calls for the destruction of entire nations, and refuses to participate in productive conversation with its international peers-who sometimes respond with fits of pique, rather than good common sense.
We would like to spend the next several weeks dedicating our Sunday meditations to the worldwide conflict with Iran. We will send out a reminder and new ideas to approach this problem each week, and we eagerly invite your comments and suggestions in the meantime.
This week we begin with a group intention for a general peace between Iran and the community of nations. We need an end to the deafening rattle of sabers and scimitars that deafens the rational conversation of mutual respect between nations and peoples. Instead, we envision a luxuriant Middle Eastern marketplace of ideas-the fair exchange of personal histories and compatible national hopes for a peaceful future.
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PREVIOUS TOPICS:
SUNDAY, JULY 6th
We let democracy decide this month's topic (though it was a very close election). Many thanks to those few who left a comment on the new monthly prayer request page.
ZIMBABWE'S STOLEN ELECTIONS
It is hard enough to bear the insult of a nation whose people live without freedom, but it is absolutely deplorable for the leaders of Zimbabwe to torture, threaten, imprison, and murder their own countrymen into a false show of democracy in thoroughly un-free elections. This month, we direct our meditations toward South Africa and the other countries that are neighbors to Zimbabwe, praying that a coalition - a brother- and sisterhood - of African nations will peacefully influence an end to Mugabe's long and merciless reign over the country he once liberated.
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SUNDAY, JUNE 29: KENYA'S SUFFERING CHILDREN
6/26/2008: Monica from Round Rock, TX writes, "I would like to suggest us praying for the Children in Kenya who are being kidnapped, abused, and tortured. I believe we need to pray for us, the world, to stop abusing and taking advantage of one another especially those who are so venerable and depend on us. Please, let's come together like we do in prayer every Sunday and pray for these innocent children who are in a living hell. Here is a link to the article that explains more in detail their situation. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080625/ap_on_re_af/kenya_children_in_crossfire
Thank you, Monica A.
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SUNDAY, JUNE 22: WORLDWIDE OIL CRISIS
This week we ask that you direct your Sunday intentions to the escalating oil crisis - which is more than an unpleasant increase in the cost of living, it threatens to suddenly topple the world's fundamental mode of operations for dependable food, livable economies, and stable governments - by praying that the necessary solutions for today's needs and for freedom from conflict in future years be sensibly adopted.
6/11/2008: Lourdes from Spain writes, "For next Sunday, I propose, if all are in agreement, to pray for a positive solution for the highest good of all, to the increasing price of oil which is causing chaos and conflict world over. The whole of Spain is affected by a "strike" of truck drivers because of the increase of the price of "Gas oil". My hometown is already without petrol and no goods are coming in. Serious conflicts are also happening all over because of the same. Thanking you always for your kind attention and prayers. Blessings, Lourdes."
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SUNDAY, JUNE 15th: THE ALBINOS IN TANZANIA
Desperation convinces us to believe the most unlikely promises and drives us to cross moral boundaries we would otherwise never step anywhere near. This week, we pray for the Albino citizens of Tanzania who are being murdered for the supposed magic of their skins, that the country's legal efforts to protect them may succeed, and that the country can bring itself out of such desperate hungers and fear as would make Tanzanians willing accomplices to murder.
Read the article in last Sunday's New York Times
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SUNDAY, JUNE 1st: MONTHLY TOPIC
World Food Crisis
Only when our basic needs are met can we readily step outside of ourselves and offer our care and concern to others. Even where cyclones and earthquakes haven't made the situation all that much worse, a perfect storm of problems has driven basic food prices upward at a dangerous rate, driving people across the world to the brink of starvation. This Sunday we ask the group to concentrate their intentions on a fair distribution of food to all the people of the world so that none may starve and each of us will have the energy to care for our brothers and sisters.
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SUNDAY, MAY 25th: WEEKLY TOPIC
More Help for Burma's Cyclone Victims
Excerpt from the BBC News:
Friday, 23 May 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7415873.stm
" ...The UN estimates that only a quarter of the 2.5m Burmese affected by the cyclone have received the help they need.
The Red Cross has said that in districts further south-west of those shown to Mr Ban, waterways were still clogged with corpses and that many people had received no aid.
One foreign doctor told the BBC many were drinking water from puddles, while children and old people were suffering from dysentery, dengue fever and dehydration.
The generals have agreed that some UN helicopters can join the aid effort, but British, French and American naval vessels are still standing by off the Irrawaddy Delta, having been refused access to the area...."
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SUNDAY, MAY 18: WEEKLY TOPIC
China Quake Victims
Lourdes writes, "Hello everyone. Whilst we are all still in shock because of the terrible devastation caused by the cyclone in Myanmar, China is also suffering the consequences and effect of an earthquake. I propose we unite in prayer for the victims of the earthquake. Once again thanking you for your kind attention and my sincere blessings to everyone. Peace love and light, Lourdes"
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SUNDAY, MAY 11: WEEKLY TOPIC
Myanmar (Burma) Cyclone
5/7/2008: Lourdes writes, "Hello everyone. I propose that we pray for everyone affected by the devastating effects of the Cyclone, including those who failed to warn the people that a cyclone was about to hit causing even greater devastation.
With my sincere best wishes and blessings to all Lightworkers of Earth Clinic.
Lourdes"
ADDITIONAL TOPIC:
5/2/2008: Merry S writes, "Late but hopefully people would be open to this topic for the next prayer session: A day of gratitude where we pray all day long in appreciation for all that we have - it can be little things that we are grateful for such as the ability to wash our clothes or as big as thanking the earth for all it gives us. Of course we are all thankful for family and friends. I believe when we focus on the good then more good will come to us. I'm so appreciative of Earth Clinic and for all the healing your communication provides for us all. Thank you!"
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SUNDAY, MAY 4th: MONTHLY TOPIC
Our group members had a host of topic suggestions this month. There were so many different issues needing prayer and all of them so worthy of our attention, it has been difficult to distill a single intention for our Sunday Group. The world is full of challenges, and it can be saddening just to read the number of prayer requests that have been posted. We don't like to see the evil of the world.
But look at the blessing we have in our international community of prayer, banding together across the miles and the differences between us, in an era when those divisions seem smaller by the day. What an amazing group!
Still, we look at the news and know that childhoods have been stolen by cultists in Texas and a deranged father in Austria, while young people choose violence in New Zealand, Southern California, and Chicago. American politics fixates on the hatred of small, angry voices of racial division. A single man once seen as Zimbabwe's savior has grown into a rapacious monster. Even our attempts to do right and use fuels that are safer for the planet cause families in Haiti to go hungry. More than ever, we can see that we are all united - alike in our pains as in our shared pleasures.
With all of that in mind, this week we meditate on the need for strength, in our group and in like-minded people, to look into the hatred, poverty, and sorrow in the world. This Sunday, we ask the group to pray for truth, that its light shine ever deeper into the darkness of selfishness and fear.
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SUNDAY, APRIL 27th - WEEKLY
World Hunger
Many thanks to Monica A. for sending us the following news article, Silent tsunami of hunger threatens world: WFP
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/04/22/un-world-food.html
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SUNDAY, APRIL 20th - WEEKLY
Prayers for the Animals and the Children
4/12/2008: Venita from Sheridan, USA writes: "Hello Everyone, I would like to suggest "Blessing the Beasts and the Children" for a prayer topic. They are the souls who are most vulnerable to physical, psychological, and mental abuse at any given moment in time. They need prayers all the time.
Love and thanks to all. Venita"
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SUNDAY, APRIL 13th - WEEKLY
The Energy Crisis:
4/10/2008: Amanda from Salt Lake City, UT writes: "There is something I would like to add to the topics the prayer group is focusing on: a prayer for individuals, corporations and governments put more focus on finding and using sustainable, environmentally friendly energy sources.
Gas and oil prices keep going up http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/
and there seems to be no sign that they will go back down. This drives up the cost of everything, and is making life more difficult for people.
There are alternatives but people need to know about them, and need to put pressure on governments and corporations to perfect these new technologies and make them more widely available:
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/SuperModels/Shucktheethanol
I hope we can find some time in our prayers/meditation to focus on finding solutions to the energy crisis, so that we can continue having power for our homes, transportation, etc; but do it in a sustainable way that does not damage the environment and contribute to global warming."
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SUNDAY, MARCH 23 - APRIL 6th
TIBET:
In this first week of spring, the season of renewal, let us please join in prayer for a restoration of peace in Tibet and neighboring provinces. We pray that the Dalai Lama's influence will calm the protests and that China's government will moderate its response in order to open a renewed germination of peace between the two peoples.
HAPPY EASTER!!
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SUNDAY, MARCH 16th - WEEKLY
IRAN
3/15/2008: Tracy E writes, "Iran is a cause for concern - this is an excellent place to focus energy. I would just like to make sure that we keep our energy focused in a positive yet powerful place... May I just suggest that we pray for peace between us and Iran & Iraq instead of praying for 'no war'. I think it was Mother Theresa that said, "I will never attend an anti-war rally, invite me to a peace rally and I will come." I truly believe that when you come at any problem from a positive angel it is resolved much faster. Just a thought... Much Love, Tracy
3/14/2008: Amanda writes: "I've enjoyed participating in the prayer group. Sometimes it seems that things in the world are so bad that all I can do is pray for help.
Today I read a disturbing article in the NY Times online:
Admiral Fallon, the man who famously said that an attack on Iran would "not happen on my watch" was just "retired". Now, he is no longer on the watch.
Things are bad enough already--too many lives have been lost in the Iraq war, and it is also partially responsible for the problems in the US economy. A war with Iran would make things even worse, and not just for the US, but the entire world. I think a US attack on Iran could spiral out of control and become World War 3.
I am so scared. I think we should all pray that that there will be no war with Iran, and for an end to the Iraq war (and all war for that matter). And I think we should do it sooner rather than later. Thanks, Amanda"
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SUNDAY, MARCH 9th - WEEKLY
PRAYERS REGARDING THE GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS.
Two excellent articles for review:
From the Economist Print Edition
December 6th, 2007
Rising food prices are a threat to many; they also present the world with an enormous opportunity
From THE TIMES ONLINE
March 7, 2008
Lewis Smith and Francis Elliott
Rush for biofuels threatens starvation on a global scale
UN sees more people going hungry in Philippines as rice prices soar
by Cecil Morella Fri Mar 7, 1:25 PM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080307/hl_afp/philippinesfarmriceunaid_080307182506
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SUNDAY, MARCH 2ND: MONTHLY
2 topics were chosen by our prayer group (2050 members this month): Prayers for the Returning soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan, and Prayers for Peace and Stability in Kosovo.
2/22/2008: Karen B. from St. Wendel, IN writes, "Soldiers coming back from Iraq and mentally decompressing: So many of our boys are having a hard time, returning to their sweet selves after they have had to callous up to be a soldier of war. I feel so sorry for them. I am sure some of their actions are hard for them to let go."
2/23/2008: Denise S. writes, "I think that next Sunday's large prayer group topic should be the struggle and turmoil going on in Kosovo right now."
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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24th: WEEKLY
PART 1: PROTECTION FOR THE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES
2/20/2008: Gail S. from Santa Monica, CA emails, "I would like to request the group pray for the safety of the U.S. presidential candidates, especially Obama. No matter what your political beliefs are, he seems at risk both from history, and from all the very excessively profitable interests that he is confronting. An acquaintance of mine in St. Louis told me he went to an Obama rally recently in a huge venue. When he had attended other events at this same venue (sorry, I didn't learn the name of the venue) metal detectors were used to screen people, but not at the Obama rally. So for many reasons, we should now be very concerned about his protection and safety and that of all the candidates.
PART 2: NATIONAL DEBT OF TRILLIONS
Gail goes on to write, "I would also like to suggest that the group pray about how we can eliminate the trillions of dollars of debt that now threatens the US with complete bankruptcy. Just to give an idea, I was told this week by a state politician that every man, woman and child in the United States now owes at least $400,000 EACH to pay this debt that is growing by the minute because of the Iraq war. When Bill Clinton left office, we had a surplus of $250 million dollars and the national debt was completely paid. So in just this 7 years of the Bush administration, we have gone from a surplus to a debt of trillions with no plan of how to pay it back. The war is costing us 2 billion dollars per week. We desperately need prayers to address this looming financial crisis which will effect all Americans when it happens.
Former Senator Sam Nunn was on Charlie Rose last week discussing this very scenario and he said that by 2020, all the United States will be able to pay is only the interest on this debt, Social Security and Medicare. We won't have another penny for anything else. He goes on to say that no one is addressing this and there is no news coverage of it.
We need to make this public and start praying very sincerely for a solution."
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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2008: MONTHLY TOPIC
A giant THANK YOU to everyone who wrote in topic suggestions for Sunday's session. Tallying up the greatest # of votes, we were able to pick 2 topics for Sunday.
TOPIC #1. PRAYERS FOR THE 2008 U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS:
Per Pam: "The thing most on my mind lately is for the US to have a new president who will work to bring peace, love, harmony, healing, and unity to our country and to the world. Pam"
TOPIC #2: PRAYERS FOR THE POOR PEOPLE OF HAITI:
Per Monica: "There was an article on the news about how poor people from Haiti eat dirt cookies made of dirt and shortening because of the high prices of food and their $2/day salary. This place has not yet being declared a state of emergency but I believe it is. This food is being given to children and whole families as the main source of food, sometimes three times a day. I believe organizing a prayer group for them is the least we can at the moment. Let's all join together and pray for them. Please let me know if you agree and if you do, what date and time can we do this"
News Article on Haiti http://www.maltastar.com/pages/msFullArt.asp?an=18446
SUNDAY, JANUARY 27th WEEKLY TOPIC: PRAYERS TO QUELL THE TERRIBLE VIOLENCE AND UNREST IN KENYA
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080125/ap_on_re_af/kenya_election_violence
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7210310.stm
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SUNDAY, JANUARY 6th MONTHLY TOPIC: 2008 U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
It seems like the election cycle will never end, but these next several weeks may very well decide the presidential election, so we need to keep our energy and our attention sharp. This Sunday, we ask our members to direct their prayer intentions toward the 2008 U.S. Presidential Elections. We ask that you envision the ideal of leadership and goodness in order to guide the very best candidate, for the U.S and for the world, to an election victory.
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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 16th WEEKLY TOPIC: PRAYERS FOR THE USA & JAPAN TO GET ON BOARD WITH THE REST OF THE WORLD AND AGREE TO REDUCE EMISSIONS NEEDED TO REIN IN GLOBAL WARMING
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/environment/2007-12-13-gore-climate_N.htm
December 13, 2007 "BALI, Indonesia (AP) - Former vice president Al Gore said Thursday the United States is "principally responsible" for blocking progress at the U.N. climate conference, and European nations threatened to boycott U.S.-led climate talks next month unless Washington compromises on emissions reductions.
Gore urged delegates at the conference to take urgent action to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.
"My own country, the United States, is principally responsible for obstructing progress here in Bali," said Gore, who won this year's Nobel Peace Prize for helping alert the world to the danger of climate change.
The United States, Japan and several other governments refuse to accept language in a draft document suggesting that industrialized nations consider cutting emissions by 25% to 40% by 2020, saying specific targets would limit the scope of future talks.
The European Union and others say the figures reflect the measures scientists say are needed to rein in global warming and head off predictions of rising sea levels, worsening floods and droughts, and the extinction of plant and animal species.
"No result in Bali means no Major Economies Meeting," said Sigmar Gabriel, top EU environment official from Germany, referring to a series of separate climate talks initiated by President Bush in September. "This is the clear position of the EU. I do not know what we should talk about if there is no target."
The U.S. invited 16 other major economies, including European countries, Japan, China and India, to discuss a program of what are expected to be nationally determined, voluntary cutbacks in greenhouse gas emissions.
The Bush administration views the major economies process as the main vehicle for determining future steps by the U.S. - and it hopes by others - to slow emissions. But environmentalists accuse the U.S. of trying to undermine the U.N. process.
The talks in Bali are scheduled to wrap up Friday."
MORE ARTICLES: 2007 Among the Warmest Years on Record
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/2007-12-13-2007-temperature_N.htm
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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2007: MONTHLY GROUP SESSION
You'll hear no alarm bells, see no flashing lights or speeding rescue trucks to get our hearts racing, but the world's scientists have declared that there is a planetary emergency, and they're right.
This Sunday, please pray that each of us will take up our particular responsibility to the global environment on which we all depend. The time is right, with the new Australian government pledged to come on board with Kyoto, the UN IPCC issuing its alarming cumulative report, and a new round of international environmental talks slated to begin at the end of this week in Bali.
This Sunday our group will pray that leaders and citizens on every level will begin to take more ambitious and consistent action so that the family's recycling will inspire the city to set aside more park space, which the state can support with green cities funding, as a model of effort for our national leaders to take to Indonesia where all the countries of the world can take up the cause.
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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18: PRAYERS FOR THE BANGLADESH CYCLONE VICTIMS http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071118/ap_on_re_as/bangladesh_cyclone
By PARVEEN AHMED, Associated Press Writer
"BARGUNA, Bangladesh - The death toll from Bangladesh's most devastating storm in a decade climbed to at least 2,300 on Sunday and relief officials warned the figure could jump sharply as rescuers reach more isolated areas. Teams from international aid organizations worked with army troops in a massive rescue effort that drew help from around the world. Rescue workers cleared roads of fallen trees and twisted roofs to reach remote villages, but tents, rice, water and other relief items were slow to arrive. Hungry survivors, thousands of whom were left homeless, scrambled for food..."
Please direct prayers to the survivors of this devastating cyclone.
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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 11th ---- WEEKLY GROUP FOCUS
PAKISTAN
On Sunday, November 11, 2007, we would like to continue our prayers for peace and stability in Pakistan, and also for the release of all prisoners including judges, lawyers, political workers, civil society activists and media persons.
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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 4th -- MONTHLY GROUP
WORLDWIDE REFUGEES
Many thanks to our new member Janet L. for suggesting Sunday's topic: praying for the huge number of refugees all over the world.
Statistical Snapshot as of 12/31/2006:
Total Number of Refugees and Asylum Seekers: 13.9 million
New Refugees and Asylum Seekers: 1.1 million
Refugees Warehoused 5 years or more: 8.8 million
Total Number of Refugees Resettled: 69.4 thousand
Source and Further Research: http://www.refugees.org/article.aspx?id=1942
We will send out an email Monday morning with a link to our feedback survey. At the end of the survey there will be a comments box where you can describe the visions and insights received during your prayer or meditation session.
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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 28th -- WEEKLY GROUP FOCUS
WILDFIRES
We would like to continue to pray on the wildfires raging across Southern California. The Santa Ana winds did cease last Wednesday, but we would to pray for the safety of thousands of firefighters risking their lives each day, as well as for the hundreds of thousands of people who have been displaced by these fires.
MYANMAR
50 activists were recently released in Myanmar. Let's pray for the continued safety and release of the pro-democracy protesters.
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MONDAY, OCTOBER 22 -- TO WEEKLY AND MONTHLY GROUPS
IMMEDIATE PRAYERS NEEDED FOR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES
We have received an emergency request for the group to immediately pray on the wildfires raging across Southern California. We would like to request that all 1,700+ members of our Prayer Group pray today specifically for: a) the Santa Ana winds to cease for the next 5 days; and b) a powerful rainfall to douse the wildfires within the next 24-48 hours, if not before.
About Santa Ana winds: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Ana_wind
About Southern California Wildfires: http://www.latimes.com/
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OCTOBER 21st -- WEEKLY GROUP PRAYER FOCUS
Sunday's prayer focus session has 2 topics:
PAKISTAN
Prayers for healing and peace in Pakistan following the suicide bombing of Benazir Bhutto's homecoming parade which left 136 people dead and countless more wounded.
SOUTHEAST USA
More prayers for rain in Southeast USA and the West Coast. Please consider focusing your prayers on persistent rainfall to fill Lake Lanier. http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1674054,00.html
By: AP/Greg Bluestein
..."More than a quarter of the Southeast is covered by an "exceptional" drought - the National Weather Service's worst drought category. Georgia is smack in the middle of the affected area, which extends like a dark cloud over most of Tennessee, Alabama and the northern half of Georgia, as well as parts of North and South Carolina, Kentucky and Virginia.
State officials warn that Lake Lanier, a 38,000-acre north Georgia reservoir that supplies more than 3 million residents with water, is already less than three months from depletion. Smaller reservoirs are dropping even lower, forcing local governments to consider rationing."
..."Scorching summer temperatures and a drier-than-normal hurricane season fueled the drought. State climatologist David Stooksbury, who said it will take months of above average rainfall to replenish the system, is now predicting the drought could worsen if "La Nina" conditions develop and bring little winter rainfall.
"I tell people we need 40 days and 40 nights," he said with a sigh."
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OCTOBER 14th -- WEEKLY GROUP PRAYER FOCUS
October 14th's prayer focus topic for the weekly group is based upon last Sunday's deeply disturbing New York Times front page article, "Rape Epidemic Raises Trauma of Congo War" by Jeffrey Gettleman. Our sisters in Eastern Congo need immediate and ongoing prayers of strength, healing, recovery, compassion, protection, and an end to their immeasurable suffering.
Warning: The following excerpt from the New York Times article is an important but agonizing read. Please proceed with caution.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/07/world/africa/07congo.html
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
Published: October 7, 2007
BUKAVU, Congo - Denis Mukwege, a Congolese gynecologist, cannot bear to listen to the stories his patients tell him anymore.
Every day, 10 new women and girls who have been raped show up at his hospital. Many have been so sadistically attacked from the inside out, butchered by bayonets and assaulted with chunks of wood, that their reproductive and digestive systems are beyond repair.
"We don't know why these rapes are happening, but one thing is clear," said Dr. Mukwege, who works in South Kivu Province, the epicenter of Congo's rape epidemic. "They are done to destroy women."
Eastern Congo is going through another one of its convulsions of violence, and this time it seems that women are being systematically attacked on a scale never before seen here. According to the United Nations, 27,000 sexual assaults were reported in 2006 in South Kivu Province alone, and that may be just a fraction of the total number across the country.
"The sexual violence in Congo is the worst in the world," said John Holmes, the United Nations under secretary general for humanitarian affairs. "The sheer numbers, the wholesale brutality, the culture of impunity - it's appalling.
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PRIOR TOPICS:
Sunday, October 7th -- monthly group (1,650 participants)
Part 1: Prayers of hope, protection and strength to the people of Myanmar and to the hundreds of Buddhist monks & nuns who were reportedly imprisoned after last week's demonstrations.
Part 2: Prayers for rain in drought-stricken areas around the USA and world.
WORLD DROUGHT MONITOR: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2007/sep/hazards.html
Summary: "Across the United States, severe to extreme drought conditions persisted throughout much of the western U.S., the Southeast region, and parts of Minnesota. Exceptional drought endured in Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, North and South Carolina. On September 25, 63% of the western U.S. was in moderate to exceptional drought, 77% in the Southeast, and 44% for the contiguous U.S., according to the Federal U.S. Drought Monitor.
Across southern areas of the state of California, 25 fatalities were attributed to a heat wave that prompted temperatures to soar past the 40°C (104°F). The excessive heat resulted in the declaration of an 'electrical emergency' by energy officials during the week of Sept 2 and thus left about 55,000 people without electricity for two days (BBC News)."
THE US DROUGHT MONITOR:
http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html
THE NORTH AMERICAN DROUGHT MONITOR: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/img/climate/monitoring/drought/nadm/nadm-200708.jpg
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Sunday,September 9th: The tragedy of 9/11 was no misunderstanding. It would be wrong and demeaning to suggest so, but failure or refusal to understand was at its root and has continued to be its widespread consequence. This Sunday we call our expanding group of 1,570 members together to meditate on the possibility and the reality of peace. Please concentrate your prayers on inspiring the patient understanding in all our world leaders - elected officials, powerful groups, and inspired individuals - that will be required to guide us to that greater peace.
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Sunday, August 31st: Immediate Prayers Needed for Wildfires in Greece. Heat wave and high winds forecast for the weekend, fueling fear of more devastating wildfires. Map of area with wildfires here.
9/3/2007: See latest update for Monday, September 3rd.
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Sunday August 26th: Prayers to address global warming (weekly group). We ask that our prayers inspire people around the world to engage in conversation, reflection, commitment, and personal action concerning the threat to our planet posed by global warming.
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Sunday, August 19th: 1. Utah Mine Tragedy: Prayers for the miners, their rescuers and their families. 2. Prayers for the victims of the 7.9 magnitude earthquake in Peru. 3. Keeping watch on Hurricane Dean. (weekly group)
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Sunday, August 12th: Prayers for the Earth. See prayer vision from Rolling Thunder. Also, prayers to end the drought in Southeast USA, round 2.
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Sunday, August 5th: Immediate prayers for the safe and peaceful release of the 21 remaining South Korean hostages in Afghanistan (monthly group).
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Sunday, July 29th: Prayers for the Animal Kingdom (after the Michael Vick's dog abuse case)
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Sunday, July 22nd: focusing on time zones and group connection (weekly group).
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Sunday, July 15th: Quelling 60+ wildfires in Western USA (weekly group).
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Sunday, July 8th: Topic of Terrorism: Creating calm in hearts and minds of all (monthly group)
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Sunday, July 1st: Drought in Southeast USA (weekly group)
Sunday, June 24th: Gaza (weekly group)
Sunday, June 17th: Iraq (weekly group)
Sunday, June 3rd: Darfur #2 (weekly group)
Sunday, May 27th: Quelling raging wildfires in GA and FL (monthly group)
Sunday, March 18th: Darfur (monthly group -- This session was the first of the group.)
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Prayers that Heal
Rolling Thunder's Prayer for the World
