Spirituality & Practice

August 15, 2021, Afghanistan. The Taliban, having defeated the Afghan security forces in other areas of the country, entered the capital of Kabul, thus solidifying their total takeover of the country. United States military, diplomatic and business personnel, as well as other foreign nationals were evacuated, as thousands of Afghans tried to secure an escape as well. But most people of the country, exhausted from twenty years of war, had no options but to face what is presumed will be a strict and deadly regime.

A Taliban spokesperson told a BBC reporter that they will reimpose their version of Sharia (religious) law, which includes such things as stoning for adultery and amputation of limbs for stealing. The fate of women is uncertain. The spokesperson assured the BBC that women would be respected, allowed to work, and be able leave their homes without a male escort; girls would be able to go to school. But this was not true when the Taliban ruled the country from 1996 – 2001. Women who for two decades have had those rights, now worry their freedom will be taken away. Those who have attained professional and political power fear they will be killed. The women and girls of Afghanistan face an uncertain future and will need courage, strength, international support, and empathy for their suffering. The latter is expressed in the following prayer psalm.

And so we pray this news . . .

We recently heard from Nell Wulff in St. Louis, Missouri, and Moe Nieman in Cincinnati, Ohio, who together wrote a blessing for face masks. They agreed to share it and invited us to do so. You may want to keep a copy next to your masks, as a reminder of the good that they do.

The Blessing of the Masks
by Moe Nieman and Nell Wulff

May our Good and Loving Creator bless these masks . . .

In times that strain our resources, our energy, and our resilience, we need refreshment of spirit more than ever. The following prayer by Christine Valters Paintner — an American poet and writer living in Galway, Ireland, who founded the Abbey of the Arts — helps refill our wells by recalling all for which we can be grateful during this pandemic and by blessing all who find themselves in need. Our thanks to Christine for her permission to share this work-in-progress with you.

Praise Song for the Pandemic

Praise be the nurses and doctors, every medical staff bent over flesh to offer care, for lives saved and lives lost, for showing up either way,

Praise for the farmers ...

March 3, 2020: The chief of the World Health Organization (WHO) warns that "we are in uncharted territory" with more than 90,000 cases (and counting ...) of Covid19 worldwide. As of this writing, 73 countries and territories have documented cases.

January 29, 2020. The Associated Press reports that there are more than 5,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 132 deaths in China. Other countries have begun evacuating their citizens from Wuhan, the center of the outbreak since it first appeared in December. The symptoms include cough, fever, and pneumonia. As of this writing, cases have been reported in the United States, Australia, Cambodia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, the United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam. The outbreak has affected international sporting events and travel, including travel within China for the Chinese New Year.

And so we pray this news . . .

Ecologists at the University of Australia in Sydney estimate that nearly 480 million mammals, birds, and reptiles have been killed by the bush fires sweeping the state of New South Wales, according to The Huffington Post. Pictures appearing in the news and on social media are heartwrenching and terrifying — and that's nothing compared to the actual experience of the people and animals facing the smoke and fires for weeks on end.

Prayer does not come easily . . .

Photo courtesy of pixundfertig at Pixabay.com

The Amazon's tropical rainforests — often described as "the Earth's lungs" because they generally draw in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen — have seen a record number of more than 74,000 fires in 2019. "We're all looking at what we can do about it," says Lynne Twist, who describes herself as "a proactivist, driven by a vision." She co-founded The Pachamama Alliance and founded The Soul of Money Institute, dedicated to alleviating poverty and hunger and to advocating for indigenous rights and the rights of nature.

In a video remix of her responses to the Brazilian fires, she describes Amazonia as "a treasure ...

Photo Credit: Barbary Ape by Alexas_Fotos, courtesy of Pixabay

In The Week, August 30, 2019, we learn that according to the United Nations up to one million species face extinction. The Trump Administration has created new rules for enforcing the Endangered Species Act: These changes will "gut the landmark law which protects1,663 imperiled animal and plant species." Seven major environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, have sued the administration over these rules.

And so we pray this news . . .

Crop fires have become a weapon of war in Iraq and Syria. An article on Morning Ag Clips reports that farmers were looking forward to the best harvest since war began across the region, but now once golden fields of wheat and barley have been destroyed by fires presumed to have been deliberately set by fighters of the Islamic State and perhaps others. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said more than 74,000 acres (30,000 hectares) of farmland in Hassakeh, Raqqa and all the way to Aleppo province to the west, have been burned.

And so we pray this news . . .

"One million species face extinction, U.N. report says. And humans will suffer as a result," observed The Washington Post on May 6, 2019. We surely have not yet run out of sit-up-and-take-notice warnings about human impact on the climate and therefore on all of life.

When I was in sixth grade, some teachers at Cayuga Heights Elementary School took it upon themselves to help us understand "one million." They printed one million x's on computer paper and posted the sheets along the ceiling of the long hallway that extended from the gym to the library. It took five minutes to walk that hallway, and gazing up at those tiny gray marks was a mind-boggling experience.

We are not talking about one million living creatures. We are talking about one million species . . .

News from the Phillipines reports the destruction and deaths caused by two powerful earthquakes on April 22 – 23, 2019. Monday's magnitude 6.1 quake struck Pampanga province, north of Manila, as well as the capital itself; at least five people were killed when a supermarket collapsed. Another 11 people died elsewhere and others are still missing. Tuesday's 6.4 magnitude quake centered on the Eastern Samar province.

News from Mozambique on April 25 reports Tropical Cyclone Kenneth is making a catastrophic, unprecedented strike in northern Mozambique just weeks after Tropical Cyclone Idai's catastrophic storm surge and rainfall flooding swamped parts of central Mozambique.

And so we pray this news . . .