One of the deep joys of my years in Colorado was the time I spent as a member of the Partnership Committee of the Partnership of Zimbabwe and Denver Presbyteries. The Presbytery of Denver had ended up involved in ministry in Zimbabwe through the work of a couple in one of its churches, and decided in consequence to establish and build a presbytery-to-presbytery relationship with the Presbytery of Zimbabwe, which is part of the Uniting Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa (UPCSA). I was never able to travel to Zimbabwe (though I would have been offered the chance if we hadn’t been leaving), which I regret, but I did have opportunities to meet a few of our partners on their visits to Colorado, and there are a couple whom I consider dearly-loved friends.
Which is why my heart breaks, and has been breaking, for the country of Zimbabwe. I could give you a long list of links about what Robert Mugabe has done to his nation over the last eight years—he was a good leader before that, as long as people kept voting for him, but once the voters began to tire of him, he turned on them; whether he rules well or ill, all that matters to him is keeping power—but I think Peter Godwin summed up the story well enough in the Los Angeles Times, at least for starters. Godwin, who dubbed Mugabe “Zimbabwe’s Ahab,” knows whereof he speaks, as a native Zimbabwean; he’s written several books, including the memoirs Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa and When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa, and still laments what was lost.
The presidential election is this Saturday, and there are those who have hope that maybe this time, the opposition and the international community will prevail, and the election will bring about the end of the Mugabe government. Please pray that it is so, and with a minimum of bloodshed. Please pray for the peace of Zimbabwe.
A prayer for Zimbabwe
Father God, You are the author of all things. We praise you for Your power. We praise you for the matchless love expressed in the sacrifice of your Son, once for all. We praise you for your mercies, shown each day.
Forgive us, Lord, for the narrowness of our vision. Often our days are spent focussed entirely on the concerns and tasks of our own lives. Our prayers to you reflect this narrowness, most often filled only with our own needs, and the needs of those we know. We forget,or even willfully ignore, the sufferings of our brothers and sisters in other lands. Often those sufferings, if we were to truly understand them, would make many of our own concerns seem petty and small.
Father God,we thank you for the saints of Zimbabwe, so faithfully following you, day by day. We thank you for the leaders of your church in that nation, and for their care of your flock. We thank you for the saints in our own nation, who do seek to understand, and who bring the needs of the church in Zimbabwe to you daily.
Now, Lord, Zimbabwe is nearing this crucial time of elections, and there is much concern, and fear. Unrest seems so likely, no matter who wins at the polls. We ask you to bring peace to Zimbabwe. Please reach out your sovereign hand, and calm emotions, bring your grace, and your love, to all parties there. Protect your church in Zimbabwe, and all people there. Glorify your name daily in the lives of your saints in Zimbabwe, that all men might come to you.
Thank you, Lord, and thy will be done.
In Jesus name,
Amen
Thank you.