Pray with Lesotho Sunday, November 3, 2019

Lectionary Selection:  Luke 19:1-10

Prayers for Lesotho:  

O God, we pray for rain here in Lesotho. I don’t know if you do or don’t work like that—causing rains to come, responding to our petitions for it. I’ve heard some people I love and respect who say you do, and some who say you don’t. But that doesn’t matter in this prayer. What matters is the rains are long past due, as they have been for the past several years, and it’s causing a heartbreaking dryness that is felt here in this beautiful land. And so we, with all your people and creation here, need to say this to you.

The same thing, O God, is true of prayers for justice, prayers for peace, prayers for prosperity. Khotso, Pula, Nala. (Peace, Rain, Prosperity; Lesotho’s Motto.) We need to say it, God. Saying it doesn’t absolve us of our role in any of it. Zacchaeus had to admit his injustice and the injustice of the system he benefited from, as well as his plan to make things right. But first, he had to climb the tree to see Jesus and get a sense of the salvation coming that way. So for us, O God, we simply say these things in this prayer as our way of climbing that tree: to get a glimpse of your salvation. What comes next—from you, from others, from us—I don’t know.

But I hope it’s rain.

Amen.

Mission Stewardship Moment from Lesotho:

This past year, LECSA’s Education Office became aware of the fact that while many schools don’t have any/adequate desks, a handful actually have the opposite problem: that is, they have extra desks. So the Education Office saw an opportunity to refurbish and reallocate the extra furniture to schools that really needed it at a much cheaper cost than the cost of new furniture. While there are definitely not enough extra desks in the country to redistribute to all LECSA schools that need them (and thus, it is not a comprehensive plan for addressing the larger issue), this has resulted in more students having desks. This means more students have a better educational experience. And that, too, is itself a kind of prayer for Khotso, Pula, Nala in Lesotho.

Prayer and Mission Moment by Mark Knowles

Mission Partners in Lesotho:

More information on Lesotho:  https://www.globalministries.org/lesotho

Global Ministries Mission Co-worker in Lesotho:
Mark Knowles serves with the Lesotho Evangelical Church. His appointment is made possible by your gifts to Disciples Mission Fund, Our Church’s Wider Mission, and your special gifts