Pray with the Philippines, September 15, 2024

Lectionary Selection: Mark 8:27-38

Prayers for the Philippines

By Deaconess Norma P. Dollaga, Recipient of the 2024 World Methodist Peace Award

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for the day will be called children of God.” Matthew 5:9

Kapayapaan
Peace
Paz
Kalinaw
Salam Shalom
Salaamata
Friede
Paix
Santi
Pace
Kedamaian

God, who is known by many names,
Draw us to Your heart.
To the deepest sighs of grieving souls,
so that we may stand and mourn with them for the loss of their kin,
taken by hunger and disease;
taken by bullets and bombs, accused as enemies of the state.

Bring us to your heart,
to the songs of people’s melodies.
They sing lullabies and hymns that long for freedom.
Their voices reach out to the highest heaven, like a prayer.
Lead us to their music.
So that we can sing with them, and pray with them,
until the song of FREEDOM unites us all.

Bring us to your heart.
To the dance of the people’s rhythm to struggle for life
that leads their movement towards justice and vision of peace
So that when we breathe in the wind of Shalom
we will know that victory is in us.
Lead us to Your kind heart.
To the poems of people’s tears that tell of their humanity.

Bring us to their stories of courage and hope,
Woven together so we may collectively find Your peace that surpasses
understanding and action.
We long for peace.
A Peace that sets us free
from oppression and exploitation.
A peace that is JUST and enduring.
A peace that restores and celebrates our God-given humanity.

Amen

Mission Moment from the Philippines

International Day of Peace is later this week. In the church, we celebrate the cause of peace and the work of peacemakers around the world on September 21. For those who follow Jesus’ path of peace, that work is often difficult and risky. It can be costly to “take up [the] cross and follow” Jesus.

September 21 is also the Anniversary of Martial Law in the Philippines. On that date in 1972, President Ferdinand Marcos instituted a law giving him authority to use the military to silence opposition voices, including through disappearances and extrajudicial killings. Peace activists in the church who stood up to the state’s abuses against the poor and marginalized were imprisoned, tortured, and murdered. A popular uprising eventually gained international sympathy and ousted Marcos on February 25, 1986.

The National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) was instrumental in uniting the Christian community to support human rights and social justice during the period of martial law. It continues to be a prophetic voice for peace today, as human rights abuses and even extrajudicial killings by the state have persisted under successive Philippine administrations, including the current one led by the son of dictator Ferdinand Marcos, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. The NCCP is still targeted today through “red-tagging” for its peace advocacy.

This past April, the NCCP approved a resolution making Sunday, September 1, National and International Day of Prayer for Just Peace in the Philippines to show support for restarting peace talks between the government and opposition forces. The peace process that began on September 1, 1992, was stopped by former President Rodrigo Duterte, and its success is seen as critical to ending the state’s justification of continued violence and abuse.

The NCCP encouraged its members and partner churches around the world to adopt the Day of Prayer by lighting a candle in worship and praying for peace in the Philippines. Churches have the opportunity throughout September to remember peacemakers like the NCCP and numerous church workers in the Philippines who have courageously taken up the cross to follow the way of Jesus by working for peace despite the costs.

Mission Partners in the Philippines

More about the Philippines

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