Prayers for the Democratic Republic of Congo

Below is our suggestion for how you can use this liturgy and prayers.  Please feel free to take just what you want from this.  Use just a prayer.  Or use one of the prayers in your Church's regular service.  Whatever makes you comfortable.  

Identify the Democratic Republic of Congo in the atlas or on the globe. Put out products from the DRC – maybe a cellphone, since the DRC has 80% of the world’s reserves of Coltan, which is essential for cellphone manufacture. Or gold, or copper. You may also want to download one of the pictures of women from the DRC from the study site.

Lighting the candle

God bringing light and banishing fear,

We light this candle as a sign of our willingness to be your light in the world.

We remember before you the peoples of the Democratic Republic of Congo, their abundant land, their painful and war torn history. We bring before you the people whose story we have witnessed.

Give voice to those whose grief and pain is unspeakable; give compassion and strength to those who would hear in order to heal. Empower those who dare to speak the truth to power. Inspire those who challenge prejudice and envision new ways of relating. Nurture health and hope and peace in a land torn by violence and war.

We ask it the name of Jesus, our brother and our friend.

Amen

Psalm 143

¹Hear my prayer, O Lord; give ear to my supplications in your faithfulness; answer me in your righteousness. ²Do not enter into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you.

³For the enemy has pursued me, crushing my life to the ground, making me sit in darkness like those long dead. ⁴Therefore my spirit faints within me; my heart within me is appalled.

⁵I remember the days of old, I think about all your deeds, I meditate on the works of your hands. ⁶I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah

⁷Answer me quickly, O Lord; my spirit fails. Do not hide your face from me, or I shall be like those who go down to the Pit. ⁸Let me hear of your steadfast love in the morning, for in you I put my trust. Teach me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.

⁹Save me, O Lord, from my enemies; I have fled to you for refuge.

¹⁰Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Let your good spirit lead me on a level path.

¹¹For your name’s sake, O Lord, preserve my life. In your righteousness bring me out of trouble.

¹²In your steadfast love cut off my enemies, and destroy all my adversaries, for I am your servant.

Reading: Luke 4:1-13 

The Temptation of Jesus

4Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, ²where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. ³The devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.’ ⁴Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “One does not live by bread alone.” ’

5 Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. ⁶And the devil said to him, ‘To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. ⁷If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.’ ⁸Jesus answered him, ‘It is written,
“Worship the Lord your God,
   and serve only him.” ’

9 Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10for it is written,“He will command his angels concerning you,   to protect you”, 11and“On their hands they will bear you up,   so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.” ’ 12Jesus answered him, ‘It is said, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” ’ 13When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

A prayer for the women of the Democratic Republic of Congo

God whose love is like a mother’s warmth,
God whose love is like a mother’s strength,
watch over the women of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
May they know your presence as they face the challenges of their lives —
war, rape, lack of education, patriarchy, and more.
Grant them courage,
strengthen their faith,
renew their hope,
this day and every day. We pray in Jesus’ name.
Amen.

 Written by the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program - PC(USA)

A prayer for the Democratic Republic of Congo

If the merciful God had not been on our side
We could have been crushed,
When most of the World powers came together to decide about the future of our country.
Oh Merciful Lord,
We thank you for making us kind people,
We thank you Lord for giving us a country rich in natural resources.
We beg you to convert people of bad heart and bad mind on the behalf of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
We beg you to teach us all how to live friendly with other people.
We beg you to help the Congolese people recover their humanity and taking over their responsibility on the Land you gave them.
We beg you to help us be a mirror and a source of blessings for our neighbors.
Let us become a pattern of peace and cooperation for the human being.
Let us be respectful of human rights and creation.
Help us benefit from the seeds within our Eden Garden and learn to share it carefully with other needy people.
Our heavenly Father, make us peacemakers.
Amen.

 Written by the Rev. Pierre Mpia Mopendo, International Peacemaker
Presbyterian Church of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo

Another prayer for the women of the Democratic Republic of Congo

Spirit of compassion, who hears the cries of all those who suffer from war, famine, and violence,

Be with the women of the Congo whose bodies, lives, and families are torn apart by sexual violence.

Spirit of love, who sees the brutality and mutilation that have become daily realities for the Congolese women,

Bring healing to their bodies, their minds, and their spirits.

Spirit of justice, who calls us to see, hear, and respond to the injustice and suffering caused by sexual violence,

Embolden us to speak out against those who use rape as a weapon of war.

Spirit of oneness, who seeks to reconcile all that is broken in this world,

Unify us as we work to bring an end to violence against women and girls around the globe.

Amen.

 Written by Katey Zeh, Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing

Blessing

May God the creator, who danced creation into being, dance with us.

May God the redeemer, who lived for justice, live in us.

May God the sustainer, who offers hope, offer hope through us.

Amen