Hello friends, I’m Jonathan Wilson, and I am the senior consultant for Theological Integration with CBM. I work with all of our partners to help us ground what we do in our theological convictions about God’s work in the world – that it embraces all creation, that it embraces every relationship – with God, with other humans, and the larger creation. Thank you very much for being a partner in prayer. God be with you.

Holy God, Father, Son, and Spirit, we know that you created this world in peace and that one day your shalom will be the life of all creation for eternity. But now we live in a world that seems to be in constant, violent conflict. We pray for our brothers and sisters who live in the midst of war or have fled war. Most of us can’t be present with them or know their trauma. May we be present with them by your Spirit through our daily prayers. Today we pray for our sisters and brothers in DR Congo. With the headlines blaring at us, may we not forget the unreported, ongoing and unpredictable violence that surrounds them. And we rejoice in their faithful and courageous witness. We also pray for our brothers and sisters in Lebanon, who live with their own challenges but also welcome and care in Jesus’ name for refugees. We rejoice in their sacrificial service. I pray for my students, Feodor, who lives in Ukraine, and Andrei, who lives in Russia. Strengthen and protect them as they bear faithful witness and serve those around them in very different circumstances. May they remember each day that they are united in Christ. You are the God of peace. As we pray for these brothers and sisters in other lands, may we be people of peace and makers of peace where we live. We long for shalom, the wholeness of all creation. And so, we pray, Come Lord Jesus. In the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit, Amen.

Please pray:

• pray for those in the midst of war and those displaced by war
• pray especially for DR Congo where horrific violence has taken place outside the cameras and reporting of media and where violence continues to be a constant threat.
• pray for baptist sisters and brothers in Ukraine and Russia who are isolated from one another by war but still one in Christ -pray that the vision and sure promise of shalom will sustain our faithfulness in this torn and violent world
• pray that we will not simply pray for peace in war-torn places but that we will seek peace where God has placed us
• pray that we will “study peace” more than we “study war”
• pray for me as I study and write about “Peace: The Way of Jesus.”