Prayer
Racism and Youth
A Call to Prayer
As we gather here today,
let the Holy Spirit guide us to a common goal, a racially just world.
May our hearts, with gratitude,
work tirelessly in belief that God’s grace will sustain us in this fight.
♪ Suggested Hymn/Song
Give me Jesus
www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_3c1tLhUgM&list=RDv_3c1tLhUgM&start_radio=1
Opening Prayer
Heavenly Father, creator of all the existing things,
we bow our heads before you to seek guidance from you.
We gather here from various nations to fight for a racially just world.
As we prepare our hearts to hear your word,
enlighten, guide and unify us so to reach our common goal. Amen.
Scripture Reading Galatians 3:23 – 28
23 Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be reckoned as righteous by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. 27 As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.
Reflection
In faith and in Christ, we are all one. The law that we hear of is not the enemy, instead, it is a gift from God that is intended to guide God’s people toward an abundant life: a life in which everyone thrives. Just as in Christ, there is no Jew and no Gentile, so too, there is no black nor white, there is no Asian, nor people of colour. We were wonderfully made in the image of our Creator. It is time we all come together in unity as one body of Christ and this way, according to the law, everyone shall thrive.
In this passage, Paul reminds the believers that God has given the inheritance to Abraham by promise, and thus by grace, and not by Abraham’s ability to follow the law. Racism is a sin and there is no denying that sin’s power has corrupted us all. We have all become so greedy, so unjust toward one another. While the law can point toward goodness, justice, and peace, it cannot create peaceable, loving and just people. It is not in the business of transformation.
Our Father who lives in Heaven has commanded us to love one another so that the world will believe. When we do not show such love, then the world will find it difficult to believe our Christian witness. The sin of racism when it is visible among us can lead the world to believe that we do not love each other. However, young people can play a key role in the fight against the sin of racism and other forms of discrimination. They too are victims of racism and discrimination resulting in anxiety, depression and psychological distress. Together, these all serve in some way as contributors to division among us as believers. Might we hear again the call to walk together towards a racially just world. This struggle is not for those who were born before us. It is theirs and ours.
Intercession Prayers
God of Heaven, we bow our heads before your throne to thank you for the gift of life of your people. We thank you for bringing us to see and acknowledge that without you we would not be where we are. We put the youth from around the globe in your hands. Grant them unity and the spirit of togetherness so that they can fight the evils of this earth. Empower them and fill their minds with knowledge and wisdom to tirelessly fight for a world with no form of discrimination and not to perpetrate any injustice to whoever it is.
Lord, in mercy, hear our prayer.
God of Heaven, we believe in your transformative and restorative powers and so we ask you to give strength to the global youth to fight inequalities and any forms of injustices. Guide and lead them in all their endeavours so that through their commitment and efforts they will make this world a better place for the rising generation.
Lord, in mercy, hear our prayer.
God of Heaven, we pray for wisdom to be upon young people so that they will be able to discern right from wrong. May you provide them with your divine wisdom so that they will seize each opportunity to foster equitable and just systems which will contribute to the dismantling of the legacies of racism and discrimination in all forms. May they serve this generation so that future generations will be inspired by their faithful examples.
Lord, in mercy, hear our prayer.
The Lord’s Prayer
♪ Suggested Hymn/Song
Turn Your eyes upon Jesus
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJDELcuYX3g
Benediction
Give us eyes that see,
ears that hear and mouths that speak about our unity in Christ. Amen
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Week of Prayer for Overcoming Racism, Xenophobia, Casteism, and all other forms of Discrimination
March 19 – 25, 2026
Unity, Equality and Equity in Christ
Call to Prayer
Praise God from whom all mercies flow as we call on His name.
Let His gentleness be evident to all. Amen
♪ Suggested Hymn/Song
Love divine, all loves excelling
www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-6PMvgJHG0&list=RDJ-6PMvgJHG0&start_radio=1
Opening Prayer
The Omniscient and Ever-present God,
Most Holy Father, Creator of the Universe,
we remember O Lord Your kindness and constant love
which You have shown from long age.
Please grant that all Your words will take speed in our lives
and prayers be answered according to Your mercy that never ceases. Amen
Scripture Reading Luke 10: 25 – 36
25 An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” 27 He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbour as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”
29 But wanting to vindicate himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and took off, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan while traveling came upon him, and when he saw him he was moved with compassion. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, treating them with oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him, and when I come back I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Reflection
Today, the mentality of “us versus them” is prevalent, where individuals strongly identify with their own group based on factors like sex, gender, or place of origin. This tendency to view those outside of one’s own group as inferior is a longstanding issue, reflecting a worldly mindset that prioritizes differences over unity. This is the world’s way of living. In Israel’s camp, standards created order and ensuring everyone knew their place and role. These symbols fostered unity and cooperation among the people. Similarly, as Christians, we are called to align ourselves with the standard of God’s Word and Christ’s teachings. Just as the Israelites encamped under their tribal standard, we’re called to gather under the banner of God’s love and grace. This standard, Numbers 2:3 instructs, “On the east side, toward the sunrise, the divisions of the camp of Judah are to encamp under their standard.”
The call to follow Christ is universal, transcending social boundaries. As children of God, we’re commissioned to love everyone and stand against injustice and brutality, especially toward the vulnerable. As followers of Christ, we’re united with fellow believers and with all people through shared values and God’s love for the world.
In Christ, we find unity and equality. Worldly distinctions like race, social status, colour, and gender are irrelevant. We’re one in Christ, united by faith and love. Let’s strive to live out this unity, embracing our differences and celebrating our shared identity in Christ. May we reflect God’s love and acceptance to a divided world.
Let’s live by God’s standard of love.
Prayers of Intercession
Hear our cry, O God; listen to our prayer!
In despair and far from home we call to you.
All nations will remember the Lord.
From every part of the world, they will turn to him; all races will worship him.
You are the One True God:
Grant that we will be kind, compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave us!
Behold the God of all flesh;
In our prayers and worship to you, may it please you to draw all people to yourself.
The world is full of brutality, wickedness and hatred;
Dear Lord, unite us with your love.
In a world where people have gravely endured pressures of racism and gender-based violence,
Lord, we know that you defend the cause of the weak and poor.
The Lord’s Prayer
Benediction
May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God and the sweet fellowship of the Holy Spirit
be with us now and forever more. Amen
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Week of Prayer for Overcoming Racism, Xenophobia, Casteism, and all other forms of Discrimination
March 19 – 25, 2026
Breaking the Chains of Caste
Prelude: Silent meditation while the Parai (drum) is beaten
Call to Worship
As a healed, reconciled, and accepted community of God,
we are called to work among discriminated and stigmatized people
to experience the unconditional, unimaginable, and incomparable love and grace of God. Let us, therefore, commit ourselves to bridge the gaps and reconcile people groups
and individuals with one another and with God and nature.
We gather in the name of the Creator, who created humanity from one clay.
We come to honour the divine image in every person.
We reject the walls built by human pride and the ladders of social rank.
We seek the level ground at the foot of the Cross.
Let us worship God, who brings down the mighty and lifts the lowly.
May our worship today transform us to be agents of peace-making, building relationships, reconciliation, and healing of pain and pathos.
Opening Prayer
Our parent God,
you created all people in your likeness,
yet we have allowed the poison of caste and hierarchy to divide your family.
We ask for your Spirit to move among us today.
Soften our hearts, open our minds,
and help us to see your face in those we have been taught to exclude.
May this time of worship be a step toward a world where no one is “untouchable”
and everyone is beloved. Amen.
♪ Suggested Hymn/Song
Yesu Raja Munne Selgiar (Tamil – King Jesus goes before us)
Yesu Raaja Munne Selhiraar
Osannah Geetham Paaduvom
Veham Sendriduvom..
Osannah! Jeyame ! Osannah Jeyame!
Osannah Jeyam Namakke
Endrum Osannah Jeyam Namakke
Yordhaanin Vellam Vandhalum
Yerikho Kottai Edhir Ninraalum ]-2
Bayamumillai Kalakkamillai - 2
Meetpar Nammudanae..
Osannah! Jeyame ! Osannah Jeyame!
Osannah Jeyam Namakke -2
King Jesus goes before us;
Let us sing Hosanna and move quickly.
Hosanna! Victory! Hosanna!
Victory is ours; forever victory is ours.
Even if Jordan’s floodwaters come,
Or Jericho’s walls stand against us,
There is no fear or confusion;
The Redeemer is with us.
Hosanna! Victory!
Prayer of Confession
Merciful God,
we confess that we often participate in systems of discrimination without even realizing it. We admit that we have benefited from social standing that others are denied.
We have been silent when casteist remarks were made,
and we have lived comfortably while others were pushed to the margins.
We have unconsciously judged people by their names, their origins, and their occupations. Forgive us for our blindness.
Cleanse our hearts of the subtle pride that makes us feel superior to our neighbours’.
Teach us to practice a radical equality that reflects your kingdom.
Assurance of Pardon
The Lord is gracious and full of compassion. Know that in Christ, the old has passed away and the new has come. You are forgiven, restored, and called to be agents of reconciliation.
Scripture Reading John 4: 7 – 10, 25 – 26.
7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”
The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Reflection The Well of Radical Inclusion
The encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman serves as a profound indictment of the exclusionary mechanics inherent in caste and ethnic stratification. In a society governed by rigid codes of purity and ‘pollution,’ Jesus intentionally transgresses established boundaries by requesting water from a woman whose identity was deemed socially inferior. Discrimination is a cruelty that calcifies human identity into a permanent hierarchy, denying the inherent dignity of the individual based on birth.
Christ, however, dismantles these artificial structures through the theology of “Living Water,” which flows irrespective of social rank. By identifying himself as the Messiah to a marginalized woman, Jesus demonstrates that the Kingdom of God operates on a logic of grace rather than meritocracy or lineage. To overcome the systemic evil of casteism, we must emulate this Christological model: actively seeking out the “other,” challenging the norms of segregation, and affirming that in the economy of God, there is no hierarchy of worth, only a community of equals bound by divine love.
Intercessory Prayers
We pray for the oppressed – for those who bear the weight of caste-based violence and systemic exclusion. May they find strength in their struggle for justice, and may their voices be heard in the halls of power.
(silence)
We pray for the Church – for our religious and faith communities, that we may purge the lingering influence of caste from our pews and leadership. Grant us the courage to be a truly inclusive body.
(silence)
We pray for global justice, for an end to all forms of birth-based discrimination across the globe. May the barriers of race, class, and caste be dismantled by the power of truth.
(silence)
Closing Prayer (inspired by the Lord’s Prayer)
Our God in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread, shared equally among all.
Forgive us our debts of pride, as we forgive those who have looked down upon us.
Lead us not into the temptation of hierarchy but deliver us from the evil of discrimination.
For yours is the reign where the last shall be first, and the glory is yours forever. Amen.
Benediction
May the Creator, who rejects all hierarchy and crowns the marginalized with dignity,
empower your resistance.
May the Redeemer, the Dalit Christ who shattered the shackles of exclusion,
lead you in the holy work of dismantling caste.
And may the Life-giving Spirit, the Breath of Justice who strengthens the hands of the exploited,
fill you with the courage to fight against all forms of discrimination.
Go forth to turn the world upside down, for the God of Exodus marches with you, now and forevermore. Amen.
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Week of Prayer for Overcoming Racism, Xenophobia, Casteism, and all other forms of Discrimination
March 19 – 25, 2026
Seeing Lazarus at the Gate
♪ Suggested Musical Prelude
Ubi Caritas et Amor (Taizé)
https://youtu.be/Vvfr_2euIFo?si=hsllFiX95uQccQRd
Call to Prayer
We gather in the presence of the God who sees all,
who stands with those the world overlooks,
who calls us all to see truly and act justly.
Come, Holy Spirit, and meet us here.
Open our eyes, our hearts, our minds, our hands.
We come as your people, from many places and stories.
We come seeking truth and transformation.
We come ready to see ourselves and our world differently,
and to walk together toward repair.
Moment of Silence
Invocation
God of Lazarus and the unnamed rich man,
God of the gate and the table,
God who calls us all by name,
Meet us in this hour.
We come from different sides of the gate,
with different stories and different wounds,
but we come because you call us all to justice,
because your love makes room for truth-telling and repair.
Help us to see clearly.
Grant us honesty to name what is,
courage to work for what should be,
and hope that change is possible.
In the name of Christ, who breaks down dividing walls and opens the gates that all may enter. Amen.
♪ Suggested Hymn/Song
For Everyone Born, a Place at the Table
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqpdZq6TAfo
Scripture Reading Luke 16: 19 – 31
19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was being tormented, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. 24 He called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things and Lazarus in like manner evil things, but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. 26 Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’ 27 He said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— 28 for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’ 29 Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’ 30 He said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ 31 He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ ”
The Word of God,
Thanks be to God.
Reflection
The rich man did not strike Lazarus. He did not curse him, did not drag him away. He simply did nothing. Day after day, he passed the same gate. Day after day, he saw the same man, Lazarus, wounded, hungry, longing for crumbs. Day after day, he entered his house and feasted. He saw. He knew. He did nothing.
This is not first a story of spectacular cruelty. It is a story about gates, about separation made normal, about comfort protected, about suffering tolerated just outside the field of concern. It is a story about trained indifference, about the discipline of not-seeing.
We know these gates. Some of us have been locked outside them. Some live safely behind them. Some guard them. Some try to cross them. Some pass them every day and call them “reality.” We inhabit a world still arranged by such gates, between those who feast and those who hunger, those who are secure and those who are disposable.
To those of us who inherit privilege, who benefit from systems we did not build but still inhabit, the parable asks: How long have you been walking past? What have you learned not to see? At whose expense do you live in comfort? To those who know what it is to be Lazarus, to be left outside while others pass, the parable speaks a word of dignity: God sees you. God knows your name. Your suffering is not invisible to God, even when it is invisible to the world. And to those who stand in between, who see both the man at the gate and the house behind it, the question is urgent: What will you do with what you see? Will you call the gate inevitable? Will you say, “It is not my responsibility”? Or will you stop, witness, speak, and refuse to keep walking?
Because history is not silent here. Colonialism built gates. Slavery built gates. Empire built gates that are still standing. Wealth was extracted from some and concentrated for others. Land was stolen. Bodies were exploited. Communities were broken so other communities could prosper. These are not closed chapters. The gates remain, in economies, borders, cities, churches, and bodies. Some move freely. Others are trapped. Some are welcomed. Others are turned away. The Mediterranean Sea can become a gate. The U.S.-Mexico border can become a gate. The boundary between wealthy and poor neighborhoods can become a gate. So can every system that decides whose life is precious and whose life is expendable.
And like the rich man, many of us have learned the liturgy of passing by. We see the person on the street, then look away. We know the history, then say, “That was long ago.” We benefit, then call it merit. Or we feel the weight and say, “I am only one person. The gate is too old, too strong.”
But Jesus tells this parable to wake us. He wakes us not to shame us into paralysis, but to call us back into grace, grace that tells the truth, grace that restores, grace that makes new relations possible. A life of comfort beside suffering is a life that has missed the point. A life that keeps passing the gate has missed the point. And the most chilling detail is this: Even in torment, the rich man still does not understand. He still imagines Lazarus as servant: “Send Lazarus…” Even then, he cannot receive Lazarus as a person, dignified, held before God. That is what unjust systems do. They deform perception, normalize inequality, and train the imagination to believe the gate must stay.
Then Abraham says: Remember. Remember that in your lifetime you received good things, while Lazarus received evil things. Remember the relation between your comfort and another’s pain. That is our work, to remember, to see, to tell the truth about the gates, and then to ask what repair requires. Grace is not the opposite of justice. Grace is the power that frees us to face justice without denial and to practice repair without fear. Not charity. Not pity. But repair. Justice. Reparation.
At the end of the parable, the brothers already have what they need. They do not need more information. They need to listen and act. So do we. Jesus opens another ending, to see Lazarus, to speak his name, to cross the distance, to take down the gate.
May we receive the courage to do so. May we keep faith with the work of repair. And may we discover that when the gates come down, we all become more human, more whole, more free. And even this courage is grace, given, renewed, and shared, so that we may begin again, together.
Intercessory Prayers
God of justice, you see all people. You know every name. You stand with those the world overlooks.
Open our eyes, God of justice, and strengthen us for the work of repair.
We lift up all those who have been kept outside the gates: descendants of enslaved peoples still fighting for reparations, Indigenous communities reclaiming stolen land, migrants and refugees turned away at borders, workers whose labor enriches others while they remain poor.
May justice roll down like waters, God of justice.
We lift up all those working to dismantle the gates: activists organizing for reparations, communities demanding truth-telling, scholars documenting hidden histories, lawyers fighting for justice, churches examining their complicity and choosing repair.
Strengthen and sustain them, God of justice.
We remember those who have died because of the gates: those who drowned seeking safety, those who died in detention, those whose lives were cut short by systems of exploitation and violence.
Grant them rest, and grant us the courage to change what can still be changed, God of Justice.
For those of us who have benefited from unjust systems: give us honesty to see our privilege, humility to listen to those we have harmed, and courage to give back what justice requires.
Transform us from gatekeepers to gate-removers, God of justice.
For those of us who have been harmed by unjust systems: sustain your strength in the struggle, honour your truth-telling, and bring the healing and restoration you deserve.
May your justice prevail. AMEN
♪ Suggested Hymn/Song
Persevere in your Witness (Gerardo Oberman, WCRC)
https://youtu.be/Fmtn_4XbOR0?si=0Sbs97MFVmdG0LyE
The Lord’s Prayer
Blessing
Go now, all of you, as people who have seen.
Go knowing the gates that divide us.
Go committed to truth, to justice, to repair.
May God give us all courage to remember what has been forgotten.
May Christ give us all strength to dismantle the gates.
May the Spirit give us all vision for a world where all feast together.
And may we discover that in the work of repair,
when the gates come down,
we are all made whole.
Amen.
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Week of Prayer for Overcoming Racism, Xenophobia, Casteism, and all other forms of Discrimination
March 19 – 25, 2026
The One Body Living with Impairment/Diasbility
Call to Prayer
We gather before the Holy Trinity, the One Divine Body,
We gather as members of the One Body of Christ,
We gather as members of the One Body that lives with impairment,
We repent of our actions and words that have impaired the Body of Christ,
Come Holy Spirit, convict us of our misdeeds,
Come Holy Spirit, transform our hearts and minds that have impaired the One Body,
Come Holy Spirit, open our eyes to see each other.
Opening Prayer
O God, you have created us and fashioned us uniquely,
endowing each of us with individuality of body, mind and spirit to worship you.
We all have abilities; we each seek fulfillment and wholeness.
We also have disabilities; we celebrate that you miraculously created each of us.
Seeking shelter from the vulnerabilities that we all share,
we claim our promised place in your Household of Faith.
Through your invitation, affirmation and love, you transform us.
Thanks be to you O God and to your Beloved Son Jesus Christ,
through whom we pray. Amen.
♪ Help Us Accept Each Other
www.youtube.com/watch?v=N71oXSJe80U
Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:12-26
12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
14 Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many members yet one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and those members of the body that we think less honourable we clothe with greater honour, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect, 24 whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honour to the inferior member, 25 that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together with it.
Reflection
To describe a group of people as relating to one another as the various organs of the human body working together was not original to Paul but he used it in an original way. For him, the body was not a city or a state but the whole Church. He emphasises that Christ is the head of the body on whom the whole Church thereby depended on and that no member is dispensable or worthless because each has a vital role. The evident diversity among the members of the body makes clear that the aim is not uniformity but dynamic unity.
Another significant, but more recent, change in body language has been in the way people with disabilities are described. At one time people with impaired mobility were called ‘cripples’ and those with cerebral palsy were called ‘spastics’. Whether or not these terms were intended to be derogatory or patronising, that is how they felt to those so described. So other terms were used instead, though still with the risk that today’s euphemism might become tomorrow’s term of offense. What does that mean? Is it that at the start of the Race of Life persons with disabilities are the ones with extra weight? Or as it is in golf, where having a handicap is a positive thing! Though it may not be true that ‘handicap’ means ‘cap in hand’, there remains a taint that those so described are classed as always being in need of charitable support. The term has even been exported so that in France people with impairments are referred to as ‘les handicapés!’ More recently there has been a change from ‘disabled’ to ‘impaired’.
But the most important shift is from the impersonal, indefinite terminology of ‘the disabled’, ‘the blind’, ‘the deaf’, etc., to ‘persons with…’ Although this may appear more cumbersome, it makes the vital affirmation that we are first and foremost people and not to be defined impersonally by a medical condition or impairment which we happen to have. This comes from the long debate between medical and social models of disability. Is my disability caused by something defective in me or by the ways in which my environment disables me? Where is the problem: is it me or in society?
Paul’s analogy of the members of the body clearly affirms each one to be of intrinsic and inalienable value whatever they can or cannot do. There are no worthless members of the Body of Christ; ’’ ‘each one has received a grace-gift according to the measure of the giving of Christ’ (paraphrase of Eph. 2: 7), and so has a ministry which finds its appropriate place in building up the whole body. Tragically, there are many who have never realised that and so never used their gift in their ministry.
Two areas of theological reflection which use body language are ecumenism and disability. How are they related? Both address situations where some people may be despised or rejected because of their significant differences from the majority. The invitation and inclusion of persons with disabilities means more than simply making it possible for them to be present. Instead it affirms that persons with disabilities are necessary and essential members of the Body of Christ. Inclusion is a two-way street: the church should include persons with disabilities, and persons with disabilities too should also be “include-able.” This inclusion affirms the one Spirit who indwells all Christians and draws us together as one Body.
Prayers of Intercession & Thanksgiving
Let us pray for all God’s people.
For people who are blind and cannot see,
and for those who can see but are blind to people around them,
God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
For people who move slowly because of accident, illness or disability,
and for those who move too fast to be aware of the world in which they live,
God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
For people who are deaf and cannot hear,
and for those who can hear but who ignore the cries of others,
God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
For people who learn slowly, for people who learn in different ways,
and for people who learn quickly and easily but often choose ignorance,
God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
For people who have chronic illnesses for which there is no known cure or relief,
and for people who live in unholy fear of developing a chronic illness,
God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
For people who feel isolated by their disabilities,
and for people who contribute to that sense of isolation,
God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
For people who think they are worthless and beyond your love,
and for people who think they don’t need your love,
God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
For families, friends and caregivers who serve people with disabilities,
and for those who feel awkward in their presence,
God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
For all the people in your creation, that we may learn to respect each other,
and learn how to live together in your peace,
God, in your mercy, hear our prayer. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
Sending
We go forth to celebrate and serve one another, rejoicing in our diversity.
Together, we serve the world,
until we become a Community which reflects God’s Oneness and Peace.
We go forth in the name of God, the Father, God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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Week of Prayer for Overcoming Racism, Xenophobia, Casteism, and all other forms of Discrimination
March 19 – 25, 2026
Divine Commitment to Children
Call to Prayer
God of all,
God of Children,
your love for the little ones was exemplified in your invitation:
let the young ones come.
God of Children,
you who cautioned against hindering the children from realising their full potential,
we thank you for all the children you have created in your image in all their diversities.
Hear our laments as we mourn for the children who have been denied their childhood
by the unjust systems of this world. Amen
♪ Awesome God
www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5dcczS2GsE
Scripture Reading: Matthew 18: 2 – 6 & 19:13 – 15
2 He called a child, whom he put among them, 3 and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.
6 “If any of you cause one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea.
13 Then children were being brought to him in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them, 14 but Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not stop them, for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.” 15 And he laid his hands on them and went on his way.
The Word of the Lord,
Thanks be to God.
Reflection
Parents generally are driven by the desire that their children will be better than them; that their children will have better experiences than their own; that life is worth living if they can help their children excel more than they did. In Jesus’ time, where poor parents were struggling to put their children on higher pedestals, bringing children to Jesus was worth their efforts. Maybe an encounter with Jesus could change the destiny of their children many would have thought. Therefore, parents from all walks of life were bringing their children to Jesus for a blessing. Quite possible, such a blessing could be the spark that changed their fortunes. However, whenever power is assumed and assigned, power filters also to those around the source of power. In this case, such manifestation was seen in the actions of the disciples by virtue of their close association to Jesus. They became gatekeepers, deciding who would get nearer to Jesus and in that capacity children were deemed not worthy of being near Jesus. Consequently, the disciples tried to stop parents from bringing their children to Jesus. Seeing this, Jesus then gives a message of rebuke and instructs the ‘gatekeepers’ that children must come to him to receive a blessing.
As we pray, let us reflect on how many times we have acted like the disciples and not brought children to Jesus in word and in deed. Are we the parents who leave children at home when it is time for church? Do we give our children time to ask even the difficult questions regarding their faith? How much are we contributing to the work of the church as it relates to children? How much encouragement do we offer?
Do we encourage our children to keep exploring their faith and relationship with Jesus? It is our duty to share Jesus’ blessing with the children as he commands. Proverbs 22:6 sums it up beautifully through reminding us: “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it”.
Prayers of Intercessions:
Awesome God, we thank you for all the children that you have blessed us with in this world, we pray for all the children who are not seen as children because they are born into racialized communities.
Hear our prayers, Oh Lord.
God of love, as conflict, disease and hunger force children to move to new places, we pray and ask for you to open our hearts to welcoming them and providing them with shelter.
Hear our prayers, Oh Lord.
Compassionate God, we pray for all the children whose images have been made money-making machines for some who have humiliated the image of God in these children.
Hear our prayers, Oh Lord.
Awesome God, we pray today, give us the purity of heart to accept the childhood of all children irrespective of their ethnicity or the work of their parents and share Christ’s love with them.
Hear our prayers, Oh Lord.
Compassionate God, grant us a listening ear to our children as they help provide solutions to the world’s challenges such as climate change, racism and xenophobia.
Hear our prayers, Oh Lord.
The Lord’s Prayer (each in our own language)
Blessing
May the blessings of the Triune God lead us to deepened faith
so that as God’s children we will bless others even as we too are blessed. Amen.
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Week of Prayer for Overcoming Racism and Xenophobia
March 19 – 25, 2026
Deep Solidarity for Transformation
Call to Worship:
Praise be to the Holy Triune God!
In whom we all have our likeness!
For whom our diversity presented a perfect Creation!
To whom we are all called to turn in times of joy and sorrow, plenty and scarcity!
Praise be to the Holy Trinity.
Amen.
Hymn - Oh Freedom! - The Golden Gospel Singers (Lyrics in Description) (youtube.com)
Lyrics:
Oh, freedom, Oh, freedom,
Oh freedom over me.
And before I'd be a slave
I'd be buried in my grave
And go home to my Lord and be free.
No more weepin,(don't you know), no more weepin,
no more weepin over me.
And before I'd be a slave
I'd be buried in my grave
And go home to my Lord and be free.
Oh freedom, Oh, freedom,
Oh, freedom, Oh freedom over me.
And before I'd be a slave
I'd be buried in my grave
And go home to my Lord and be free.
And before I'd be a slave
I'd be buried in my grave
And go home to my Lord and be free.
PRAYER
Holy Triune God, we gather this day to listen intently to your call for us to recognize and acknowledge your Image and Likeness in our neighbours, sisters and brothers. We thank you for creating us not in our own image or likeness but in your image and likeness. We commit this gathering to you because you are God, the author and finisher of our lives and all creation. Enable us to see the reality of racism, xenophobia, casteism and all other forms of discrimination that deny or undermine your image and likeness in some of your people. Give us strength not to only see the reality of these sins but to stand up to them, to call them out whenever they manifest in our lives. Give us righteous anger to be pained and traumatized every time your people are racially discriminated against, exposed to xenophobia, caste discrimination or discrimination based on socially made stereotypes. We invite you to decisively intervene in our societies, nations and world and make us your agents of transformation. This we pray in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Scripture 1 Kings 12: 16 - 19
16 When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king:
“What share do we have in David,
what part in Jesse’s son?
To your tents, Israel!
Look after your own house, David!”
So the Israelites went home. 17 But as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam still ruled over them. 18 King Rehoboam sent out Adoniram,[b] who was in charge of forced labor, but all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam, however, managed to get into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem. 19 So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.
The Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God.
REFLECTION
The text we have read today tells of a sad but necessary chapter in the life of the 12 tribes of Israel. The Bible says after David became King, he succeeded in having all the tribes to be loyal to him, and upon his death he handed over the throne to his son, King Solomon. However, when Solomon died, the other tribes other than Judah, David’s own tribe came to the point of asking “What share do we have in David?” This is an important question and maybe, one that is due another round of being raised. David and Solomon, we learn were great Kings. We learn from others that the strength of any society is seen by how well their poorest live. What do we learn from the Bible that can help us to understand the question raised by the tribes other than Judah? In order to fund a monarchy and all its excesses, David and Solomon introduced – taxation to raise the wealth to fund their palaces, forced labour to get work done, conscripted men to serve as their soldiers, provoked wars with neighbours where they sent soldiers and collected the spoils of war. These innovations and measures were especially imposed on the tribes except Judah. The system created by David and Solomon was such that ordinary Israelites were responsible for making sure the King’s palace ate their fill even if they were not assured of their own fill from their own produce. With a fixed royal house, the system created a permanent division among the tribes, the tribes to be ruled and the tribe to rule, but even in the ruling tribe, there was the house that rules and the houses that were ruled but with some privileges when compared to the other tribes. With God invoked as the author of this system, there was no respite for the Israelites.
The first step taken by the oppressed and exploited Israelites was a conciliatory and maybe even reasonable one, they made a conditional promise to the son of Solomon, “Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labour and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.” Having inherited the narratives of bondage and servitude in Egypt from their ancestors, they were willing to continue to serve but the burden had to be moderated. The young king felt his authority was being undermined and instead responded by threatening to double what his father did. To which, they responded with the question, “What share do we have in David?” A system that was unaccountable under the guise that it was accountable to God pushed the oppressed to the precipice. In Egypt, we learn that it took 400 years before the Hebrews asked, “What share do we have in this system?” This question is not a question about dismantling the system of David but rather a question for constructing an alternative system to that of David.
For more than 400 years, this world has enslaved, colonized, raped, plundered, assassinated, sought to exterminate Indigenous Peoples, Africans and People of African Descent, divided communities into Castes, while excluding others even from the existing Castes, divided families and made strangers of them to each other, exterminated our memories of self, introduced ways of knowing and knowledge to commit epistemicide and spiritualicide leaving many in liminal spaces neither belonging with their ancestors nor with their enslavers or colonizers. God’s creation, our lands are groaning from centuries of rape and plunder legitimized by dominion theologies that falsely proclaimed divine involvement in the genocide of communities and creation. Very often, the exploited extend hands of friendship to this world, and this world rejects this hand. For how long shall the exploited, across the many faultlines of division – racial, gender, ethnicity, caste, impairment, class, ideological, and political - wait until they can raise the question, “What is our share in this unjust and manipulated global system?” This is not a question for racialized, caste-discriminated, persons with impairment, the young or the elderly, victims and survivors of gender injustice, in truth this is a question for all who believe in the God of justice, the creator of all that is seen and unseen, the God who continues to call us to serve one another, yet many are descendants, victims, and survivors of unjust, gendered, racist, xenophobic, caste-prejudiced political, economic, religious, and cultural systems. Let us not be blinded by the trinkets that are thrown our way because Jeroboam saw beyond the trinkets and realized he was a glorified slave put in charge of other slaves. The richest did not transfer wealth only from Africans, Asians and Indigenous Peoples, they transferred even more from those that also look like them. “What is our share in these unjust and manipulated global systems? Who are our allies, who is with us? With whom are we in solidarity for justice, dignity, and abundant life?”
Prayers of Lamentation, Thanksgiving and Intercession
L: Oh Lord God, we lament and cry out to the High Heavens. We lift up our cries to you and remember all our ancestors who died at the hands of a racist system that denied their humanity and dignity, exposed them to inhuman working conditions without remuneration, they were called to die! We lament all the men and women who were labelled liabilities to complete their trafficking into the Americas and were thrown overboard into the vast Ocean. We lament all the unborn babies who were not allowed to see the light of day because their mothers nurturing them were thrown overboard the enslavers’ ships into the vast Ocean.
R: We lament and mourn for their lives. Gracious God grant them eternal peace!
L: We lift up all the people of God who have lost their lives trying to reach what they have been told is their heaven on earth, where they will have better lives but which places, they never got to see. We lament these avoidable deaths. We lament the hopes, aspirations and dreams that have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea, the Pacific Ocean, the Rio Grande River, the English Channel and those that have been scorched in the Sahara Desert and all those that have disappeared in the forests and jungles around the world.
R: We lament and mourn for their lives. May you grant us a heart to feel this pain and to stand up against the systems that manufacture this pain wherever we encounter them.
L: We thank you our Lord and God because even when we were meant to be exterminated, your grace located us. We thank you for the protective sheath that laid upon our ancestors who survived all manner of atrocities and still found the resilience to persevere and to co-create with you. We are gathered today because of the survivors, who you hid and fed. We lift our voices in praise and awe of your greatness and glory.
R: Receive our thanksgiving, not because it is adequate but because you have always been gracious.
L: Holy Trinity, we thank you for you have taught us the meaning of love, for you loved us by creating us in your image and likeness. We thank you for the beauty that is visible in this world due to the diversity that you implanted in your creation. We thank you for providing us with all the necessities of life that as we feed off your Creation, your Creation also feeds off us, we thank you for this divine design. We thank you for the various ways in which you are reminding us that we are not above Creation, we are part of your Creation. We thank you for all our relatives, your Creation.
R: Praise be to God, for creating us to be in relationship with all our relatives, the totality of God’s Creation.
L: Holy Trinity, the author and finisher of life in all its forms, we prostrate ourselves before you seeking your guidance. Guide us to steward your Creation to your Glory. Give us the wisdom to know when we are using and when we are abusing your Creation. Guide us to be responsible adults as we give direction to young people in a world that thrives on inequalities opposed to your Good News. Accompany parents and guardians and all those that work with children and young people. Help us develop compassion and righteous anger to stand in solidarity and to act in solidarity with all those who are being discriminated around the world.
R: Bless us with righteous anger, energize us to cause good trouble and empower us to ask the oppressive systems of this world, “what share do we have in you?”
L: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
R: As it was in the beginning, and not as it is now, we shall stand to reclaim what it was, Creation in harmony, and in Unity and governed by the Justice of God.
Amen.
Lord’s Prayer…
Sending out and blessing
L: Go and be an agent of God’s righteous anger every time injustice rears its sinful face. Racism is a sin, choose to be anti-racist, speak out, act out the love of Christ for the sake of the humanity, dignity and life of your neighbour.
R: God help us, give us courage and accompany us always.
May the Peace of Christ follow you wherever you go.
