Pray with Morocco, March 27, 2022
Lectionary Selection: Luke 15: 1-3, 11b-32
Prayers for Morocco
Heavenly Father, Creator of us all,
As we are praying for and elevating our family of the Protestant Church in Morocco (Église Évangélique au Maroc – EEAM in French), we would like to express our gratitude to You first.
Thank you for thinking of them way before we knew of their existence.
Thank you for providing for the EEAM through us and all of those who have answered their call for help.
Thank you for all the people in the US and Canada you’ve touched and motivated into making this partnership with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and United Church of Christ possible.
We are thankful that in your great plan for humanity, you did not forget or forsake the EEAM.
Thank you for allowing us to have a true relationship with them and not a simple transaction. A relationship that allows us to focus on what unites us, rather than allowing the distance between us to divide us.
Although we are blessed to be able to serve them, we are conscious that the needs in the ministry in Morocco surpass our means. We are also confident that in your infinite providence, you forget them. We implore your gracious love to converge means, whether financial, human, in knowledge, or in goods, toward them.
We are praying not only for the church members of the EEAM, but also for the migrants who are in precarious and unsafe situations. We are thinking of the most vulnerable ones, women, unaccompanied minors, and wounded migrants, please shine your light, your peace and providence on and in them.
We are praying for the leaders (pastors, coordinators, team leaders, social workers, ministry leaders) who are so full of passion and love for the cause of the needy, but they are also tired. We are asking for your strength, peace, and providence for them. Because they are not serving for their personal gain, we are praying for a divine reward for each one of them.
We do not know what tomorrow holds, but we are hopeful that you who hold it, are faithful and good. So we ask all this in faith that you have heard and are already answering our prayers,
In Jesus’ name
Amen
Mission Stewardship Moment from Morocco
I’ll be honest with you. While reading the lectionary selection, I was really conflicted because I was trying to apply this parable to what I have seen in Morocco and how it relates to us all.
Opposing thoughts were in a constant fight in my spirit because the world we live in now is not as simple as the one in this parable looks. Sadly, not all of us have this opportunity to leave our rich father’s house to find ourselves and come back home to a happily ever after kind of life.
I’m thinking of all our siblings in the Sub-Saharan Africa that we have met in our 4 years of service in Morocco, who are going through all sorts of atrocities in their home country (war, scarcity, famine, violence, poverty, violent witchcraft, to name a few) and are fleeing hoping to find a better life and a new home elsewhere. Not because they were living in abundance, but because of the lack of it.
I’m thinking of single women, mothers, pregnant mothers, unaccompanied minors, wounded people, escaping terrors, and running towards a promised land they have only heard of.
I’m also thinking of foreign students who come to Morocco hoping to further their studies to only find themselves in a precarious situation and are forced to find somewhat shameful ways to survive.
I’m thinking of foreigners who have accomplished their goal (studies or work contract) in Morocco but can’t go back to their homeland since there’s no infrastructure to welcome them with a better life.
So, who is the prodigal son in our reality today?
- The migrating people? If that’s the case, it would imply that they have something waiting for them at home. And that is mostly not the case. Most of them are running as far as they can from their home, to find a better life and ultimately help those they’ve left behind.
- The people living in coveted countries? That might mean that we may have lost our ways and have decided to follow our selfish ways and we must go back or create a “home” where everyone is safe, taken care of, and loved…
So many other questions must be asked! Who is the brother? Who is the father? Where is the home?
Sadly, as I am writing this mission stewardship moment, I do not have the answers to these questions. What I know is that something needs to be done to close the gap of inequality and injustice in this world so that everyone could feel good at home.
I have been proud to be a member of the EEAM team that is doing a tremendous work of justice, love and benevolence in Morocco. The church has a social service that is deploying a great number of resources (with the help of many partners like the Disciples and UCC through Global Ministries) to support migrating people in various ways:
- Food baskets,
- Clothes,
- Medication,
- Medical assistance,
- Professional training,
- Scholarships for foreign students,
- Funeral/ repatriation of the body costs,
- Travel back home costs,
- Unaccompanied minors’ program,
- Mom and babies’ program.
I have been blessed to be part of the national board as a non-voting communication officer and to be able to be a part of this great work of justice was an honor.
To circle back to the parable, I believe that the work done by the EEAM is contributing to the migrants finding a new place they will call home. And that is the power of rewriting one’s story and owning one’s life. I also believe it is our duty, us who are more fortunate, to make sure that all of us can be it too.
Many authors and activists said it in many ways, but I’ll quote Maya Angelou’s version:
“The truth is no one of us can be free until everybody is free.”
Global Ministries is part of this great mission of freedom, justice, and equality, and it is thanks to your generous support and prayers that mission co-workers like my husband and I can be your hands and feet.
Prayer and Mission Moment by Emmanuela Loccident
Mission Partners in Morocco
Global Ministries Mission Co-worker in Morocco
Emmanuela Loccident serves with the Evangelical Church of Morocco. Her appointment is made possible by your gifts to Disciples Mission Fund, Our Church’s Wider Mission, and your special gifts.