#BringBackOurGirls! Photo: LWF/C. Kästner
By Rev. Dr Elaine Neuenfeldt
We are in prayers and thoughts with the young women and their families, crying out: #BringBackOurGirls!
A voice was heard in Ramah, a lament with bitter weeping-- Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children because they are no more. This is what the Lord says: “Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded,” declares the Lord. “They will return from the land of the enemy. So there is hope for your descendants,” declares the Lord. “Your children will return to their own land. Jeremiah 31.15-17
It is with this hope that we join the Anglican Women’s Network in their request that parish, diocese and province include prayers for the girls and their families at worship this Sunday, 11 May, which also is celebrated as Mothers' Day in many of our communities.
We share hands in a prayer written by Elizabeth Smith from the Diocese of Perth, Anglican Church of Australia.
Prayer for the kidnapped Nigerian girls May 2014
O God, we cry out to you
for the lives and the freedom
of the 276 kidnapped girls in Nigeria.
In their time of danger and fear,
pour out your strong Spirit for them.
Make a way home for them in safety.
Make a way back for them
to the education that will lift them up.
Hold them in the knowledge
that they are not captive slaves,
they are not purchased brides,
but they are your beloved daughters,
and precious in your sight.
Change the hearts and minds of their kidnappers
and of all who choose violence against women and girls.
Cast down the mighty from their seat,
and lift up the humble and meek,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Rev. Dr Elaine Neuenfeldt is LWF Secretary for Women in Church and Society (WICAS)
