A prayer for my continent

Dear Father in Heaven,

The Europe that I am a part of is suffering and despairing.
Economies are collapsing and people are rapidly losing hope.
Children are put to bed on empty stomachs,
And their older siblings cannot find occupation.

The stricken are blaming others for their demise,
Denouncing their leaders for their incompetence, corruption and errors of judgment.
Lord, in part their allegations are true,
But their own sins, their own pride and their own selfish priorities
Also testify against them.

Lord, we as a continent have turned our backs on you,
Not wanting to submit to Your benign rule.
Instead we have chosen to be masters of our own fates,
And architects of our own private and public worlds.

Lord, as always you have granted us our unspoken requests:
"Our will be done".
And so our wills have been done in the French pattern of 1789.
Open and covert rebellion are now running their full course,
And the deficiencies of our own grand projects are coming
Into full view.

Lord, we don't deserve your attention, forgiveness or intervention.
But we appeal to You because You are our only hope now:
We come before Your Throne of Grace on behalf of those
Who cannot or will not come themselves,
As their unbelief or defiance either obstructs or misleads them.

Dear God, let this be the time when the tide turns,
When you act in spite of our denials and insurrections.
Let not our blind follies and preposterous stance against Your Kingdom
Bring us to utter, irreparable ruin.

Unleash on us not the full payment of our debts,
But the full force of your unmerited grace.
May Your Holy Spirit flood individuals and nations
With the light that brings conviction of error,
And which also produces in us a repentance that is real and not feigned.

Lord, look upon us in mercy - for our rebellion is old,
As we have arrogantly rejected Your hand stretched out to help -
Not just for years, but also for centuries.

Merciful Father, as you once began to dispatch envoys of the gospel
To faraway coners of heathendom and dark ignorance;
Send anew the young and the old - send us, send all!
Embolden, anoint and equip us to go to our neighbourhoods and workplaces;
To the ailing, to the deprived and the destitute -
To the foreigner among us.

Through Your grace and watchful leadership, may we bring not old, irrelevant proclamations,
But the words and the power that will convince them that the body of Christ,
That Christ Himself,
Has come down to seek and to save - a second time.

Lord, in Your zeal and passion for Your creation - let it be done.

In Jesus name. Amen.