I led morning prayers at the Church Center for the United Nations on Thursday morning. I shared a story about a member of the Communion of Saints – Samuel Johnson. I was reading the Bible, not Boswell. I met Samuel in Orangeburg, SC some fifteen years ago. It was good to remember him.
During the service, those present were invited to pray. The prayers touched on a variety of concerns – the Horn of Africa, the deadlock on the debt ceiling in the United States, family with illness, friends who had died, Norway, Sudan and South Sudan, Malawi, human rights and religious freedom, Israel and Palestine, and more.
One prayer focused on the people of North Korea where hunger and starvation stalk the people. The prayer brought me up short. It was a reminder of how easy it is to forget peoples and situations of need.
Now I wonder . . . what other reminders do I need?