Prayer requests from Cuba
Editor’s Note: The Fraternity of Baptist Churches in Cuba recently made the difficult decision to postpone its 33rd annual general assembly in the face of a humanitarian crisis caused by fuel shortages and foreign government intervention. Here, board member Waldemar Murguido reflects on prayer and solidarity with the Cuban people.
The Juan Francisco Naranjo Baptist Church in Oliva, Matanzas, Cuba, provides transportation to and from school for local children. (Courtesy of Waldemar Murguido)
I write this letter to give thanks for the time we have shared together every day, in constant communication and accompaniment with both churches. Praying together for the requests we’re sharing strengthens us.
These are difficult times. In the face of current events, God seems absent. We are here, waiting for any kind of news from the government about steps they will take to address the crisis, but we already know they won’t be anything good. I know my country needs to change, but the Cuban people who suffer the difficulties see that things are getting worse every day. This is worrying, because our spirits are being made poor, and that brings out the worst in human beings. Hate cannot be the way.
So the invitation is not to walk the path of misery nor the path of sacrifices that, for many years, many have made, only to find themselves in the middle of circumstances like these. It is not possible to fix things with arrogance or distress; we can’t move forward that way. My country is a country like any other. It has to change, but not how the rich want, based in misery. When I speak of the rich, I mean both those who live in Cuba and those who live outside of Cuba.
In every moment we remember God the way God revealed themself, like in the first century when Nero persecuted Christians and took them to the Roman Coliseum as a show of imperial power. Our church follows in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, who did not doubt, even unto death. We are more than victors.
Prayer is also an opportunity to intercede for others: for those who suffer, for every person that doesn’t have anything to eat. For this reason, the invitation is to pray in every moment that there be reconciliation between governments that hate each other to the point of causing death. And we have to continue on the path of salvation, which does not wait. We walk our part every day.
For this reason I join with Jesus in his prayer of Gethsemane: “He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and prayed, ‘Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me, yet not my will but yours be done’ ” (Luke 22:41).
Lord, remove this cup from us. We do not know your will, if it is suffering or victory, but please change the story and make from our lives a better way to live.
The invitation is that you pray for our church, for the people of Cuba, and for all those that are suffering, that we can be sure we’ll meet again.
Psalm 23!
