Pray with Hong Kong, December 15, 2024

Lectionary Selection: Luke 3:7-18

Prayers for Hong Kong

Amidst the social injustice, discrimination, and inhumane treatment that millions of migrants, refugees and other displaced people suffer, we stand in solidarity with them, supporting their cause for justice, human rights, and decent work.

Amidst our differences in religious and faith affiliation, political beliefs, and principles, we celebrate our diversity and find unity in serving and upholding the rights and well-being of the poor, the deprived, and the oppressed.

O God of many names, You keep us united in understanding that You, O God, are the God of compassion, justice, and peace. You are the God who stands and protects the poor and the powerless, the God who brings down the mighty and sends away the rich empty. We are from various religious backgrounds, economic statuses, and even political beliefs, yet we are united in our common aspiration to serve and defend the poor, the discriminated, and the lowly. Be with us, O God, so that we may be enlightened to live out our faith that promotes and strengthens cooperation and solidarity, upholding the rights and well-being of millions of victims of forced migration.

Amen.

Prayer adapted from the Interfaith Service held at the Interfaith Conference on Service and Advocacy, 26 February 2024, Jakarta, Indonesia

Mission Moment from Hong Kong

The Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) is based in Hong Kong but works with and for migrants throughout the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions and is deeply connected to people’s movements in their home countries like the Philippines. As a regional migrant center established by the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP), Mission for Migrant Workers (MFMW), and St. John’s Cathedral, Hong Kong, in 1984, it continuously reaches out to faith-based communities, service groups and other organizations in Asia Pacific and the Middle East to provide support to migrants and other displaced people, and build partnership and cooperation with grassroots migrant organizations to address the root causes of forced migration.

For over forty years, APMM has helped establish various global alliances and networks of migrants, refugees, and other displaced people and faith communities. One of these networks is the Asia Pacific Interfaith Network for the Rights of Migrants (AP INFORM). The AP INFORM, established in 2010, is a network of various faith communities of Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, and Hindu believers that supports the struggle of migrants, refugees, and other displaced people for justice, human rights, and decent work and against all forms of abuse, exploitation, trafficking, and modern slavery. The Global Ministries of the Christian Christ (Disciples of Christ) and Uniting Church of Christ in the US is one of the many international faith-based institutions partnering with the APMM and AP INFORM’s engagement with faith and migrant communities.

Just recently, APMM and AP INFORM, along with Churches Witnessing with Migrants (CWWM), Kabar Bumi, Progressive Islamic Forum (PIF), Beranda Migran, and Persekutuan Gereja-gereja Indonesia (PGI), successfully held the Interfaith Conference on Service and Advocacy to increase collaboration between faith communities, migrant serving institutions, and grassroots migrant organizations. Our common goal was the urgency of strengthening and building infrastructures of service to meet the needs of migrants in crisis while also establishing an architecture of welcoming and solidarity to advocate for inclusivity, rights-based migration, and giving voice to grassroots.

Written by: Rev. Joram H. Calimutan, Faith Partnership, and Solidarity, INFORM (Interfaith Network for the Rights of Migrants), Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants, Hong Kong

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