A Circle of Protection Vigil: Prayer, Songs, and Letters

On Saturday, Oct. 13, a group of Bread members in Albuquerque, New Mexico held a vigil to bring attention to the circle of protection and issues surrounding hunger. Bread for the World board member and New Mexico team leader Carlos Navarro led the event, and wrote about the experience for the Bread New Mexico Blog. His account is reprinted below.

There were 30 to 35 people gathered at Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Albuquerque for our circle of protection prayer vigil on the second Saturday of October.  Just as we did with a similar vigil last year, we had intended to start outside on the front porch of the church with candles and the song "Come and Fill," but the wind gusts were too strong and they would have extinguished our candles.  So we decided to start inside in the chapel where we could better center ourselves.

Surely enough, the calm, quiet wind of the Spirit was present inside in our prayers and reflections and songs from Taizé. We reflected on hunger, poverty, justice, and inequality, just as we did last year. And the circle of protection campaign remained the focus of our prayers and reflections.

In our reflections, we put some emphasis on the mini-campaigns in Bread for the World's 2012 Offering of Letters. And we invited representatives or volunteers from partner organizations to join us in the reflections: New Mexico Oxfam Action Corps, Roadrunner Food Bank, Medical Mission Board, Interfaith Power and Light (representing the National Council of Churches), and Sojourners.