Morning Prayer: Psalm 25:17; Isaiah 40:28-31; 2 Timothy 4:10-11 ~ strengthen us

Morning Prayer:

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Opening sentences

Lord Jesus – To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.

Morning readings

Psalm 25:17 ESV:

The troubles of my heart are enlarged; bring me out of my distresses.

Isaiah 40:28-31 ESV:

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.

Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

2 Timothy 4:10-11 ESV:

For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.

Reflection:

O Holy Christ, bless me with Your presence when my days are weary and my friends are few.

Intercessions:

Mighty and Everlasting God, Maker of heaven and earth, Comfortor of all… especially those who are in trouble and great distress this day – look with favor upon Your people. We think particularly of those who are suffering great persecution because of their faith in Your Son Jesus Christ:

+ For the victims and families of those affected by the killings and mayhem in the Westgate shopping center in Nairobi, Kenya… we pray to the Lord
+ For the victims and families affected by the suicide-bomber massacre at All Saints Church in Peshawar, Pakistan… we pray to the Lord
+ For the victims and families of Christians murdered and displaced in the Syrian civil war… we pray to the Lord
+ For the victims and families of Coptic Christians targeted for revenge in Egypt… we pray to the Lord
+ For the Christians around the world who are being murdered, raped, plundered, abducted, forcibly converted to Islam, or otherwise oppressed by Muslims… we pray to the Lord
+ For all of our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world who are imprisoned because of their faith… we think especially of those in North Korea and Iran… we pray to the Lord

Give power to the faint and strength to the weak… breathe life into those who are exhausted… speak a word of hope and encouragement to those who feel abandoned… and comfort all who are suffering great loss this day. We ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Song Christ Be in My Waking

Blessing
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever He may send you. May He guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May He bring you home rejoicing at the wonders He has shown you. May He bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

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Peanut Gallery: The Morning Prayer readings are from the Daily Office of the Northumbrian Community as available online here… and in the book form, Celtic Daily Prayer available on Amazon.com.

The website and prayer book are rich in prayer resources and I commend them to you. For our purpose here, I will limit my selections to the Morning Prayer resources.

Pray for Christians in Egypt – reblog Deacon Greg Kandra

You can’t watch this video and be unmoved by the plight of Egypt’s Christians

August 26, 2013 By Deacon Greg Kandra

A priest reader sent this my way and he said he found it “sobering.”

I find it devastating.

The music: Procession (The Trisagion) by St. Symeon Orthodox Church Trio “Antiphony” from the album Their Souls Shall Dwell With the Blessed: A Service For Those Who Have Fallen Asleep.

Pray for Egypt.

Please pray for Christians in Egypt

Peanut Gallery: The chaos continues in Egypt and Christians are easy targets for Islamist thugs.

The Western world had pretty much abandoned Egypt’s Christians since the onset of the so-called Arab Spring… and their situation deteriorated steadily under the Morsi-Muslim Brotherhood regime. They simply could not count on the Morsi government to protect them from Islamist attacks. That’s why Coptic Christians generally supported the Egyptian military’s overthrow of Morsi.

Now it’s pay-back time for the ousted Islamists. How bad is it? In the last few days, 58 Christian churches, schools, institutions, shops torched by the Muslim Brotherhood.

See photos here… here… and here. The list below, compiled by Asia News, tells the sad story.

Is it any wonder that Christians have turned to the Egyptian military to protect them? And they have found a champion in the Egyptian military, Gen. Abdel Fattah El-Sisi . El-Sisi has vowed to rebuild Coptic Churches destroyed by the Muslim Brotherhood. In fact, the Egyptian military broadly represents the demographics of the Egyptian people and is intimately entwined with the industrial / manufacturing / commercial community of Egypt. It is the only entity capable of stabilizing Egypt today… and has broad popular support.

PLEASE PRAY:

For Pope Tawadros II – wisdom and courage to lead the Coptic Church through these dangerous times
For Gen. Abdel Fattah El-Sisi – wisdom and restraint in the use of force to restore order in Egypt
For Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood – reject violence, days of rage, and the forces of darkness that permeate their ranks
For Egyptian People – God’s guidance through the wilderness in which they find themselves

Egypt: Islamists Burn Down Dozens Of Coptic Christian Churches

The List of Christian Churches, Schools, Institutions, Shops Torched by the Muslim Brotherhood in the Last Few Days

Cairo (AsiaNews) – At least 58 Christian churches, schools, institutions, homes and shops have been attacked, looted and torched over the last three days by the Muslim Brotherhood and supporters of Mohamed Morsi, the former Egyptian president who was deposed on 3 July . On August 14 the army has tried to evict the sit-in of the Islamists in Rabaa El Nahda Square and Adaweya. In a wave of devastating violence, over 600 people were killed and thousands injured. But violent attacks were also carried out on Catholic, Orthodox, Evangelical churches as well as the homes and shops of Christians, as we have documented
The representatives of the Christian Churches have drawn up a list which we publish below. The list was handed over to AsiaNews by the Press Office of the Catholic Church in Egypt.

The following list of 58 looted and burned buildings (including convents and schools) has been verified by representatives of the Christian Churches.

Catholic churches and convents

1. Franciscan church and school (road 23) – burned (Suez)
2. Monastery of the Holy Shepherd and hospital – burned (Suez)
3. Church of the Good Shepherd, Monastery of the Good Shepherd – burned in molotov attack (Asuit)
4. Coptic Catholic Church of St. George – burned (Minya, Upper Egypt)
5. Church of the Jesuits – burned (Minya, Upper Egypt)
6. Fatima Basilica – attacked – Heliopolis
7. Coptic Catholic Church of St. Mark – burned (Minya – Upper Egypt)
8. Franciscan convent (Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary) – burned (Beni Suef, Upper Egypt)
9. Church of St. Teresa – burned (Asuit, Upper Egypt)
10. Franciscan Church and School – burned (Asuit, Upper Egypt)
11. Convent of St Joseph and school – burned (Minya, Upper Egypt)
12. Coptic Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart – torched (Minya, Upper Egypt)
13 Convent of the Sisters of Saint Mary – attacked (Cairo)
14. School of the Holy Shepherd – attacked (Minya, Upper Egypt)

Orthodox and Evangelical Churches

1. Anglican Church of St. Saviour – burned (Suez)
2. Evangelical Church of St Michael – surrounded and sacked (Asuit, Upper Egypt)
3. Coptic Orthodox Church of St. George – Burned (Minya, Upper Egypt)
4. Church of Al-Esla – burned (Asuit, Upper Egypt)
5. Adventist Church – burned, the pastor and his wife abducted (Asuit, Upper Egypt)
6. Church of the Apostles – burned (Asuit, Upper Egypt)
7. Church of the Holy renewal – burned (Asuit, Upper Egypt)
8. Diocesan Centre Coptic Orthodox Qusiya – burned (Asuit, Upper Egypt)
9. Church of St. George – burned (Arish, North Egypt)
10. Church of St. George in al-Wasta – burned (Beni Suef, Upper Egypt)
11. Church of the Virgin Mary – attacked (Maadi, Cairo)
12. Church of the Virgin Mary – attacked (Mostorod, Cairo)
13. Coptic Orthodox Church of St. George – attacked (Helwan, Cairo)
14. Church of St. Mary of El Naziah – burned (Fayoum, Upper Egypt)
15. Church of Santa Damiana – sacked and burned (Fayoum, Upper Egypt)
16. Church of St. Theodore – burned (Fayoum, Upper Egypt)
17. Evangelical Church of al-Zorby – Sacked and destroyed (Fayoum, Upper Egypt)
18. Church of St. Joseph – burned (Fayoum, Upper Egypt)
19. Franciscan School – burned (Fayoum, Upper Egypt)
20. Coptic Orthodox Diocesan Center of St. Paul – burned (Gharbiya, Delta)
21. Coptic Orthodox Church of St. Anthony – burned (Giza)
22. Coptic Church of St. George – burned (Atfeeh, Giza)
23. Church of the Virgin Mary and father Abraham – burned (Delga, Deir Mawas, Minya, Upper Egypt)
24. Church of St. Mina Abu Hilal Kebly – burned (Minya, Upper Egypt)
25. Baptist Church in Beni Mazar – burned (Minya, Upper Egypt)
26. Church of Amir Tawadros – burned (Minya, Upper Egypt)
27. Evangelical Church – burned (Minya, Upper Egypt)
28. Church of Anba Moussa al-Aswad- burned (Minya, Upper Egypt)
29. Church of the Apostles – burned (Minya, Upper Egypt)
30. Church of St Mary – arson attempt (Qena, Upper Egypt)
31. Coptic Church of St. George – burned (Sohag, Upper Egypt)
32. Church of Santa Damiana – Attacked and burned (Sohag, Upper Egypt)
33. Church of the Virgin Mary – burned (Sohag, Upper Egypt)
34. Church of St. Mark and community center – burned (Sohag, Upper Egypt)
35. Church of Anba Abram – destroyed and burned (Sohag, Upper Egypt)

Christian institutions

1. House of Fr. Angelos (pastor of the church of the Virgin Mary and Father Abraham) – burned (Minya, Upper Egypt)
2. Properties and shops of Christians – Burnt (Arish, North Egypt)
3. 17 Christian homes attacked and looted (Minya, Upper Egypt)
4. Christian homes – Attach (Asuit, Upper Egypt)
5. Offices of the Evangelical Foundation – burned (Minya, Upper Egypt)
6. Stores, pharmacies, hotels owned by Christians – attacked and looted (Luxor, Upper Egypt)
7. Library of the Bible Society – burned (Cairo)
8. Bible Society – burned (Fayoum, Upper Egypt)
9. Bible Society- burned (Asuit, North Egypt).

Burned buildings owned by Christians

1. 58 houses.
2. 85 shops.
3. 16 pharmacies.
4. 3 hotels (Upper Egypt)
5. 75 buses and cars.

Other

7 Victims (killed); 17 kidnapped; and hundreds injured.

Watch “Egypt : The Next President” on YouTube

Peanut Gallery: This 12 yr old knows what he’s talking about and gives a cogent argument for government change in Egypt. We need kids like him in the USA.
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Urgent request to pray for Christians in Egypt

Supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi chant slogans against the military near Cairo University in Giza, Egypt, Monday, July 8, 2013. Photograpehr: Manu Brabo/AP Photo — Supporters of Egypt’s ousted President Mohammed Morsi chant slogans against the military near Cairo University in Giza, Egypt, Monday, July 8, 2013. Photograpehr: Manu Brabo/AP Photo

Peanut Gallery: The news out of Egypt is not good. Millions of Egyptians took to the streets demanding that Islamist President Morsi step down. He didn’t… and the Egyptian Army stepped in. Egyptian Christians have generally (although not officially) aligned themselves with the anti-Morsi forces.

But Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood are not finished yet. They have called for a counter-revolution and have taken to the streets. The result has been further chaos with shootings, military arrests and crackdown, accusations, and counter-accusations. A Coptic priest was killed by Islamists in Northern Sinai. Only God knows how it will end.

No matter who wins this current struggle for power, Egypt is a failed state and Coptic Christians live in great peril.

Egyptians civil servants are waiting in line for hours in front of these subsidized bakeries. Fights break out often, says a reporter from NPR covering the story this morning. Prices at unregulated bakers run around 8 cents per loaf… eight times the cost of the price at the government-supported stands.

Egypt cannot feed its own people, cannot supply adequate fuel, cannot borrow money (virtually bankrupt), cannot employ its teeming masses, and Egyptian tourism has shrunk to nothing. The vast majority of people live in abject poverty. There is no quick fix and no one seems to have a long range economic plan.

Coptic Christians have been brutalized under the Morsi regime – either by design or neglect. Pope Tawadros II has criticized the regime’s treatment of Christians without much success, i.e. until the current overthrow of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood. Now Christians are aligned with the anti-Morsi forces and they will be easy targets for Islamist revenge. As mentioned a Coptic priest ( Mina Aboud Sharweem) has already been killed in a sectarian murder.

But Egypt’s problems go way beyond socio-economic and sectarian analysis.

Gang-rape of Egyptian woman in Tahrir Square

Egypt have serious, wide-spread misogyny problems. It’s not about veils or coverings – it’s about wide-spread gang rape in public spaces, the widespread practice of female genital mutilation at puberty, the kidnapping of young Christian girls by Islamists with forced marriages to older men, the practice of marriage to pre-pubescent girls as young as 8 or 9. There is something fundamentally wrong with a society that treats women (created in the image of God) like that.

Below, please find an earlier post from Open Doors UK requesting urgent prayer. That was a week ago and the situation has changed dramatically for the worse. Christians in Egypt desperately need our prayer. One Coptic brother in Christ write:

Psalm 33 has been one of the very encouraging words and promises for us as a church and we read it publicly many times, especially verses 9-11, ‘For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast. The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations’.

“We ask you to join us in praying that His name would be known and glorified in Egypt (Isaiah 19:21).”

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OUT OF EGYPT – Open Doors UK / 2 July 2013

With millions on the streets in Cairo, celebrating the army’s 48 hour ultimatum, Christians have been gathering night after night to pray for peace.

Army ultimatum

An Egyptian Christian brother in Cairo told us, “Last night (July 1), millions rejoiced and shouted in streets and squares until early morning today, celebrating the clear pronouncement directed to President Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood ruling party, that the army has again decided to take the side of the people rather than the rulers.”

President Morsi, however, has said the 48 hour army ultimatum ‘may cause confusion’ and vows to stick to his own plans to resolve the political crisis.

10 days of prayer for Egypt

Meanwhile, in a large church in the centre of Cairo, Christians have just concluded 10 days of prayer for Egypt. One church member told us:

“Around 800-1000 gathered every night from 7.00-9.00pm to cry out on behalf of our nation. We prayed mainly for the protection and peace of Egypt. We also prayed for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit and for a revival and great harvest in Egypt. Psalm 33 has been one of the very encouraging words and promises for us as a church and we read it publicly many times, especially verses 9-11, ‘For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast. The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations’.

“We ask you to join us in praying that His name would be known and glorified in Egypt (Isaiah 19:21).”

Source: Open Doors; BBC

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