WCC Ecumenical Prayer Cycle: Cyprus, Greece and Turkey

As I wrote about in a recent post, part of my vicarage at Saint Peter's Church this year is providing a supplemental paragraph about countries in the weekly Ecumenical Prayer Cycle created by the World Council of Churches. We pray for each country listed in the prayer cycle during the Intercessory Prayers at Saint Peter's on Sundays and the paragraph is included in our bulletin insert to provide context for those intercessions.

This week's countries (1/13 - 1/19) are Cyprus, Greece and Turkey. While the paragraph below provides some basic information, check out their WCC page for additional prayer resources.

We give thanks for relative stability between Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities on the island nation of Cyprus and pray that the recent discovery of offshore oil and natural gas reserves in the region will lead to further peace.  We pray for success in recently announced disarmament talks between Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party and the Turkish government.  These talks are an important step towards ending the over twenty-five year old conflict that has claimed more than 40,000 lives in south-east Turkey.  We pray for those facing unemployment in Greece and Cyprus, where unemployment rates respectively reached 26% and 14% in recent months.

God's peace,
Dustin

Dustin is currently a vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice building in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.