I’m still musing about what to pray for this Sunday in our intercession…

I stumbled across this video of Eritrean migrants singing on board a rescue boat as they sought to escape from Eritrea to Europe.

Do you hear the hope? And somehow, despite everything, the joy? In English, the lyrics are:

“We survived the desert and Libya
We crossed the sea because of you, Lord
We praise you, Lord, by singing and playing the mesenko
[a traditional instrument played in Ethiopia]
Because of your grace and mercy, Lord.”

You may well remember the media storm a few months ago about the mass-migration of refugees escaping oppressive regimes. Of all the nations involved in this mass emigration towards Europe, Eritrea, the Eastern African country, has one of the largest groups of emigrants, leaving everything for a better life elsewhere.

Photo credit: Winston Boyer

Here is a people in exile, in many ways similar to the Israelites in Jeremiah’s day. What does it mean to sing such a song of thanksgiving and hope in the face of dislocation, oppression, suffering, and death?

Perhaps, this week, we could echo in our intercessions their song of hope…that we worship a God who liberates, rescues, saves.