At the Sydney Prayer Breakfast, CEO Meredith Scott offered this prayer for our city, our country, and our world. As part of the Opportunity community, this is also our prayer for you.

Dear Lord

We come humbly before You with thanks for the multitude of gifts You have given us, and acknowledge our responsibility of stewardship over those gifts, and to follow Your command to be Your hands and feet in this world.  Forgive us when we don’t do as Jesus would have done.

Lord, we think of the marginalised of our city—those impacted by ill health, be that financial, physical or mental; those who have suffered from violence and addiction, or those simply shunned.  Lord, give us the courage to bend and talk to the person begging on the street, ask them if they have eaten; give us time to ensure they are fed, remembering the loss of dignity that has placed them on the street.  Let us not be compared to the Pharisee or the Levite, but let us work with organisations such as AngliCare, Wesley Mission, and Matthew Talbot, to provide dignity and purpose to those marginalised in our city.

As we think of our wider country, Lord, show us the way to use our resources to help farmers desperate when drought, bushfire, flood or cyclone hits, and life becomes unbearable.  We think of our indigenous countrymen and women. Lord, we pray we will be moved to not only nod and say things are tough, but give us the push to find solutions.

Help us be mindful of the 800 million around the world who live on less than $2 per day.  Allow our hearts to be exposed, and our minds to be shocked by the daily struggles of those living in poverty.  Let us think about the millions of girls who won’t be educated, not treated medically, or risk being trafficked simply because they are female. Lord, let us be moved to address the plight of victims of war and conflict, and the not-so-innocents who believe wholeheartedly they are fighting on the right side.  

We see a lot of pain in the world. Use us, Lord, and the resources you have bestowed on us, to be the salve to ease that pain.  

In the name of our Lord Jesus, Amen.