In collaboration with Pastor David Vasquez (Luther College) and Sister Mary McCauley (St. Bridget's Catholic Church Administrator, Retired), I would like to invite all congregations of the Northeastern Iowa Synod to add a prayer for the upcoming immigration summit to their weekend prayers of intercession.
On June 17th, President Obama is scheduled to meet with a bipartisan group of key lawmakers to start a policy conversation around Comprehensive Immigration Reform. This meeting presents lawmakers with the opportunity to set a tone of fairness and humanity for immigration reform.
In the days before this meeting, from June 14th-17th, interfaith immigration advocates are asking communities to come together and say a prayer for President Obama and these lawmakers. We encourage you to include the prayer below in the prayers of the Church this
Saturday/Sunday, June 13/14. This prayer follows the pattern of the Prayers of Intercession from Sundays and Seasons for this weekend, and was prepared in collaboration with Sister Mary McCauley who served St. Bridget's Catholic Church in Postville, Iowa. A similar prayer will be included in worship by a variety of faith communities in our state and the nation.
Please hold President Obama and these lawmakers in your prayers so that they may be guided towards the best and most humane form of Comprehensive Immigration Reform.
PRAYER
Your kingdom reaches the ends of the world. As President Obama calls a bipartisan summit on immigration this Wednesday, we pray that you gift each person entering this conversation with the wisdom, understanding, and courage necessary to bring about a change in our current immigration policy. We are all your people. Help us to live as brothers and sisters, open to the gifts and sensitive to the heartache of our twenty-first century immigrants. God of mercy, hear our prayer.
Thank you for your continuing support of the people of Postville -- past, present, and future.
Pastor Steve Brackett
St. Paul Lutheran Church
will be praying.
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