“Faith is a footbridge that you don't know will hold you up over the chasm until you're forced to walk out onto it.”

― Nicholas Wolterstorff, Lament for a Son

Enforcing War Crimes Accountability

International organization reports show that warring parties today are increasingly targeting civilians, vital infrastructure components, and humanitarian corridors. In response to these violations, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants in several high-profile cases, including for Russian President Vladimir Putin, former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and for Israeli leaders Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant. 

While the ICC’s 125 member states (including Canada but notably not the United States) are legally obliged to detain and transfer indicted individuals if they enter their territory, the US has imposed sanctions on ICC judges connected to the Israel-related warrants, showing how politically charged these ICC cases have become. Together, these developments highlight both the urgency of international justice and the complex political realities that continue to shape its enforcement.

Amidst the world’s political turmoil, we ask you God, to move the hearts of leaders toward peace, and to empower international institutions to establish limits and uphold accountability for war crimes. Let your kingdom come.

Global Social Crisis

Social cohesion refers to the web of mutual support, shared responsibility, and goodwill that allows people to feel connected to one another and invested in a common future. When social cohesion is strong, individuals trust that their wellbeing is linked to the wellbeing of others and that society will respond fairly in times of need. 

A major UN report, the World Social Report 2025, warns that the world is facing a deepening global social crisis. The report highlights a growing erosion of social cohesion, which is especially dangerous for low-income populations living one step away from crisis (i.e. job loss, illness, natural disaster), where there is nowhere to turn for support. Furthermore, the report shows that institutions meant to offer service and aid are increasingly perceived as unfair or unresponsive, which weakens trust and deepens resentment across society. 

The UN therefore calls for a significant policy shift away from short-term fixes and toward approaches grounded in equity and economic security for all. Strengthening social protection systems, investing in public services, and restoring trust in institutions that serve the common good are presented in the report as necessary and foundational to re-establish social stability in an increasingly uncertain world.

In a fractured world where the breakdown of social cohesion threatens lives and livelihoods, lead your church forward, Jesus. May we create communities of trust, and may we be diligent in caring for one another. May our love for both enemy and neighbour alike knit the world together, so your kingdom may come. Bind us together, Lord.

Turn Us Gentle in an Age of Rage Bait

In his recent Substack post “Turn Me Gentle,” published in his newsletter Why Not Be a Saint, Phil Reinders reflects on Oxford’s 2025 phrase of the year: rage bait (“content deliberately designed to provoke outrage”). His insight lands close to home for those committed to justice. The danger today is not a lack of anger, but how easily anger becomes our default posture. Justice requires truth-telling, but it also requires wisdom about how we speak and act.

Reinders notes that gentleness has nearly disappeared from contemporary discussions of virtue and character formation and seems absent from many moral and educational frameworks. Yet Scripture repeatedly and almost relentlessly calls believers to gentleness - toward all people, in all circumstances. This overemphasis should give us pause. 

Gentleness is not weakness or appeasement; it is strength under discipline. In an outrage-saturated culture, gentleness may be one of the most faithful and subversive practices of justice we can embody.

God, make our gentleness evident to all. Help us to live our God-created identity the way you live toward us, generously and graciously, even when we’re at our worst. You are kind.  Help us be kind. 

Becoming (part of) the Answer to our Own Prayers

Join World Renew in calling for global action to halt starvation crisis in Gaza

World Renew, as a global organization with over 60 years of experience in food security and humanitarian response across more than 30 countries, and as a member of ACT Alliance, joins with more than 100 partner organizations to sound the alarm about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. We call for immediate and decisive action to prevent mass starvation and further suffering. Read their full statements here (US, Canada), and take action by using their link to contact government officials yourself with a message to stop famine and save lives.