Pray today at noon wherever you are–and if you can’t make it at noon or see this blog too late, well, pray now and it’ll be noon somewhere.
December 10 the world is praying to end hunger and the prayers are starting far east in Tonga, when the sun is high noon in the sky, and will end in American Samoa. One of the claims we make at OurPrayer is that we have people in all different time zones so that if you wake up in the middle of the night needing prayer, there’s going to be someone awake who can read your request and pray for you and with you.
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Same thing with world hunger.
The sun never sets on prayer.
Can prayer end hunger? Won’t it take more than just prayer? Of course it will and always has. It takes growers who farm the land respectfully and merchants who bring the food to the people and governments that rule equitably and people who live generously. We’ve seen tremendous strides in diminishing hunger in many parts of the world in the last few decades, but we also know that even in our midst, even in the abundance of our country, there are people who go hungry.
I think of a young couple with a baby who showed up at our church on a Saturday evening. They had heard that we have a soup kitchen. We do indeed, but the kitchen was finished serving for the day. Fortunately we had another event going on at the church and gave them some of our dinner, the first plates.
The thing that keeps haunting me: If I’d seen that nice-looking couple pushing their baby in the stroller down the street I would never have suspected they were desperate for a meal.
So along with prayers to end hunger, I add a prayer: Open my eyes, Lord. Let me see who and how I can help. I’ve always loved that interpretation of the miracle of the loaves and fishes that suggests that once Jesus blessed the five loaves and seven fish, the five thousand were fed because people shared what they had already.
That is how prayer ends hunger. Hearts are changed. Hope is recovered. The rains come, the harvest is good. Those who have share.
Click here for more information on the organization sponsoring this important day of prayer.
