A Child Laughs: Prayers of Justice and Hope

A child's laugh should be the butterfly wing, the ripple-maker, for all the world. There are many children crying--we hear them echoing from news media. It is time to pray the change of the world in children's laughter.

More than one hundred themes and issues crucial to hope and justice were crowd-sourced to create this collaborative anthology of fifty-two reflections from seventy-seven writers in eleven different countries. These writers offer background, prayers, liturgy, questions for action and reflection and now invite readers, both individual and small groups, to join the community.

The book contains an extensive series of reflections gathered through a community process. Each topic has a background statement, a personal prayer, a faith community resource (which is often liturgy with scriptural reading suggestions), plus questions for reflection/action.

Topics include:

• faithful anger
• claiming wholeness in a broken violent world
• living faith in a public political sphere
• full inclusion of those with intellectual and developmental disabilities
• mental illness
• compassionate care for chronically ill
• addressing addiction
• redefining disability
• parenting parents
• a listening presence at the end of life
• beyond binary
• gender inclusivity
• dismantling racism
• cultural diversity
• gun violence and gun control
• standing up for an inclusive, justice seeking God
• reaching out to veterans and their families
• human rights behind bars
• the militarization of police
• the death penalty
• human trafficking
• children in need
• abuse of those in our care
• abundant life with nature
• healing from childhood sexual abuse
• teaching consent
• life's limitations with female reproductive health issues
• violence against aboriginal women and girls
• facing the horrible truth of residential schools
• silenced histories of those marginalized
• returning rights to Indigenous people
• prayers for Israel and Palestine
• Mercy and truth, justice and peace for Zimbabwe and Africa
• children and migration
• migrant agricultural workers
• issues of labor justice
• providing sanctuary
• street ministry
• ecosystems in our food chain
• 'just' water
• living relationally
• the social, economic and environmental impact of tourism
• waste
• caring for our world
• species protection
• healthy life balance
• equal access to technology and internet
• accepting a spectrum of behaviours
• encouraging the evolution of education
• protecting a child's sense of self
• seeking self worth in a culture of shame

Fearfully and Wonderfully Prayed

• 22 further prayers on a number of the above topics