Pray for Mexico on Sunday, November 18, 2012
Lectionary Selection: Mark 12: 38 – 44
Prayers for Mexico:
Dear God of compassion and justice,
May we have the wisdom of your son and be aware of scribes who call our sisters and brothers “illegal” and deny them the right to migrate in order to provide for their families. Give us the strength to end the tearing apart of households in our communities when parents and spouses are removed from our country. And enable us to have the courage to resist policies that create widows and orphans by forcing people to cross a deadly desert as they seek the hope of a better life.
May we turn our attention away from the scribes, and instead focus on the inspiration of people who are struggling to create your reign of love and justice here on earth. Help us to enter into solidarity with them as they provide food, shelter, health care and education to those in need; and as they seek to create alternative economic and political models that value the contributions of everyone and enable everyone to have a full and dignified life.
We pray in the name of your migrant son,
Amen.
Mission Stewardship Moment from Mexico:
I’m very blessed to be accompanying the Hogar de Esperanza y Paz (Home of Hope and Peace – HEPAC) in the border city of Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. HEPAC is a movement of children, women and men that are working to create peace with justice. They provide a nutritious lunch for 130 children from the most impoverished families in the community; offer adult education classes for 250 people that are completing their elementary and high school education; operate a women’s cooperative that creates medallions to commemorate the migrants who have died in the desert; offer workshops on the Culture of Peace that teach conflict resolution and non-violent methods of seeking justice; and organize Kids’ Camps during school vacations.
On the Day of the Dead (November 2), HEPAC organized a vigil to commemorate the killing of José Antonio Elena Rodriguez by the U.S. Border Patrol on October 10, 2012. He was 16 years old and was shot twice in the head and four times in the chest by a Border Patrol agent that placed his gun between the steel beams of the border wall and fired into Nogales, Sonora. Jose Antonio was killed in front of a doctor’s office that was struck 11 times by the bullets and is approximately 50 feet away from the 20-foot high border wall. The Border Patrol claims the agent fired in self-defense after rocks were thrown at him. “We want to make people aware of the institutional violence and the militarization of the border,” said Jeannette Pazos, HEPAC director.
(Prayer and Mission Moment by Scott Nicholson)
Mission Partners in Mexico:
Alianza de Iglesias Cristianas Evangelicas (Discipulos de Cristo) en Mexico (AICE)
Centro de Coordinacion de Proyectos Ecumenicos (CECOPE)
Confraternidad de Iglesias Cristianas Evangelicas (Discipulos de Cristo) (CICE)
Iglesias Cristianas Congregacionales de Mexico
Instituto de Estudios e Investigacion Intercultural, A.C. (INESIN)
Mesa Conjunta
Video Resources about Mexico:
http://globalministries.org/resources/multimedia-resources/videos/video-mission-moments/mexico-learning-from-our.html
HEPAC video – http://vimeo.com/43507807
More information on Mexico:
http://globalministries.org/lac/countries/mexico/
Global Ministries Missionary in Mexico:
Scott Nicholson is a member of University Congregational Church in Missoula, Montana and serves as a long term volunteer with the Hogar de Esperanza y Paz (Home of Hope and Peace) in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico.