We need to bring to God in prayer the condition of our nation and our world: upheaval might describe them.

The condition of our nation:  • Our second-term president is talking about “buying” part of a free nation and says the people will leave when he buys Gaza.   • Here’s a national paper headline:  Your employer might be spying on you. • And in our nation’s capital and on both coasts, tech workers are being laid off, the best going first.    

• And while Canadians think that being named a U.S. state is droll, their shores are filling with great white sharks whose brains are mysteriously swollen. • Art icicles in serious journals say simply that we “are in a Constitutional crisis,” period, since the executive branch treats the legislative branch as a board of consultors. • And while the administration is claiming to love the Constitution, the Supreme Court can do nothing should the Executive decide to ignore its solemn decisions.

• The world we live in is now splintered into mutually unfriendly nations and groups or movements. • The Ukrainian atomic power plant at Chernobyl was hit by a drone.  •  China is producing cheap clothing and flooding the world market duty-free. • The Islamic State is regrouping in Somalia but it has global ambitions. •  Pope Francis is in the hospital.   

We find a lot to be seriously worried about. One thing disciples of Jesus Christ can be happy about is that religion is now pretty constantly in the news, being treated sympathetically (or perhaps compassionately).  We  disciples need to remember that our prayers are powerful and get busy.