Standing with the Least of These – Matthew 25:31-45

by Global Ministries | published on Oct 10, 2014

A friend was moved to work in a Roma settlement in Poland. She made friends, was well accepted, so she went home to store her stuff and be with her family. When she returned, the settlement had been bulldozed and her friends scattered on the roads. This prayer is for her:

Our God, we rejoice that we can become whole in your Spirit. In our countries, communities, and personal relationships, you gather the fragmented shards of what is broken and reform them: do a new thing–create a new whole…

Today we especially lift up to your healing care the world’s refugees and homeless, migrants, traveling and displaced people–the families on the move, and the solitary separated ones– each carrying a bundle from the past towards a yet uncertain future. So many have been cast out, our God.

You gather us in and fashion us into one Body–whole and beautiful in your sight. Around your table, you call each name: you summon us and you commission us to walk alongside the least of these, and to break bread with the least of these, in the name of the resurrected Christ. And now you send us forth into the world to share your message of hope, reconciliation, possibility, and wholeness. Amen

Liz and Doug Searles, members of Schleswig United Church of Christ, Schleswig, Iowa, serve the Evangelical Reformed Church in Poland. They are jointly appointed by the Presbyterian Church (USA) and are mission workers for church growth and outreach.