TENBURY TEAM NEWS.News:
Pray for our use of Advent and Christmas materials, including this year’s booklet of reflections, “Follow the Star - Calm and Bright”.
Sunday is World AIDS Day; pray for all in our world, and in the UK, who are living with AIDS, and for those who offer support and advice, and work to educate and to counter prejudice. Pray that the declared aim of the Terence Higgins Trust, for new cases of HIV to end by 2030, maybe achieved
Cyber Monday is (like Black Friday) another cynical marketing exercise, offering on-line bargains. Pray for those likely to commit to more than they can afford, and for those who may fall victims to scammers and fake deals.
Monday is also the UN International Day for the Abolition of Slavery. Alongside traditional forms of forced labour like bonded labour and debt bonds are more contemporary forms of forced labour, as when migrant workers are trafficked for economic exploitation, working for example in domestic servitude, construction, the food and garment industries, on farms or in forced prostitution. Pray for the release of those misused in this way.
As a patron of children, Nicholas of Myra, remembered on Friday, features in many Christmas traditions, influenced by his reputation for generosity and his care for children. He is also patron of charitable guilds, sailors, unmarried girls, merchants, and pawnbrokers. Give thanks for the spirit of kindness, and pray for it to be present in every situation of human hurt.
During December many people use Christmas light displays as a means of raising funds for charity - individual homes, streets and whole villages. Pray for all who raise funds in this way, also for those collecting as they sing carols in shopping streets and precincts.
Saturday is kept as International Civil Aviation Day, and celebrates the role of international travel in building peaceful relationships: give thanks for this, but pray also for the ways in which ease of travel can overload some communities with tourists in ways that begin to overwhelm local custom and culture.
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