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World News This Week in Prayer, Thursday, May 15, 2025
A week ago today, Christians around the world, Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox Christians alike, held their collective breath waiting for white smoke, the signal that a new pope had been chosen in Rome, Italy. Just a short while after the smoke signaled that the conclave had unified around one name, Robert Francis Prevost, the cardinal […]
Countries: Columbia, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Haiti, Israel, Italy, Palestine, Peru, Russian Federation, South Sudan, Sudan, Ukraine, United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., May 8, 2025
After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. – Revelation 7:9 Holy One, as we come before you today, with people […]
Countries: Australia, Canada, China, India, Israel, Pakistan, Palestine, Palestine (Gaza), Philippines, Sudan, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, May 1, 2025
I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating… – Isaiah 65:17-18 Behold the newness of the season – the flowers bursting […]
Countries: Bangladesh, China, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Germany, India, Israel, Kenya, Mexico, North Korea, Pakistan, Palestine (Gaza), Peru, Russia, South Africa, Tanzania, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, April 24, 2025
The world lost a great leader this week – Pope Francis – head of the Catholic Church since 2013 until his death at the age of 88 on April 21st, just one day after giving his Easter address. Although World in Prayer provides ecumenical prayers, this week, in honour of the man who brought liberation […]
Countries: Australia, Canada, England, India, Ireland, Israel, Palestine (Gaza), Russia, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News in Prayer – Thursday, April 17, 2025
As the Christian world celebrates the holiest three days of the year, we lift in prayer the people of the very lands that Jesus trod before he rose to deliver us from sin. Unfortunately, the first stage of the ceasefire between the Israelis and the Palestinians expired last month and the combating parties and outside […]
Countries: Israel, Palestine (Gaza), United States of America (USA), West Bank, Yemen
World News in Prayer – Thursday, April 10, 2025
“You will never feel proud of your work if you find no joy within it; your best work is always joyful work.” Stevie Wonder Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.” Luke […]
Countries: Myanmar (Burma), Sudan, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, April 3, 2025
Beloved, are you there amongst the rubble and remains of thousands who lost their lives from the earthquake in Myanmar…..are you there to cradle their broken bodies with your tenderness? Most Merciful One, send us a sign that you are there within the devastation and crippling heartbreak of every person touched by war in Syria, […]
Countries: Ethiopia, Iraq, Israel, Myanmar (Burma), Palestine (Gaza), Russia, South Sudan, Spain, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, March 27, 2025
The author of this week’s prayer writes, “Last week, our church hosted clergy from India, Holland, Belgium, Austria, the Czech Republic for an international meeting. I welcomed them with a sign listing their names and unsorted flags and invited observers to connect the national flag to each name. When some nations appear to want to […]
Countries: El Salvador, Germany, Great Britain, Greenland, Honduras, Israel, Palestine (Gaza), South Africa, United States of America (USA), Venezuela
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, March 20, 2025
As we enter the Vernal Equinox today, March 20, when day and night are roughly equal all around the globe, we long for your balance, O God. Too often we find ourselves lost in what seems like the endless darkness of the news and we are unable to see the light. This day, guide us […]
Countries: Japan, Palestine, Russia, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates (UAE), United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, March 13, 2025
In this journey through Lent, We know what it’s like to wait, to long, and to feel heavy. We know what it’s like to feel anxiety over the situations happening in our world. Over looming tariffs and counter-tariffs in the U.S., Canada, and China, Over the bad batch of Fentanyl that is claiming the lives […]
Countries: Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Israel, Luxembourg, Nigeria, North Korea, Palestine, South Korea (Republic of Korea), Syria, U.S., United Kingdom (UK)
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, March 6, 2025
A World Prayer for Unity, Peace, and Healing We come together in this sacred moment, our hearts intertwined across continents and cultures, acknowledging the diverse tapestry of beliefs that enrich our world. Today, we lift our prayers for healing, understanding, and harmony, recognizing the sacredness in all paths toward truth and love. We hold in […]
Countries: Israel, Palestine (Gaza), Serbia, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, February 27, 2025
O Mighty Warrior, our hearts are breaking, there is fire in our veins, and we wrestle with demons when we close our eyes at night. Our children are facing atrocities that could break the strongest of humans. We are killing them in mind, body, spirit. Please hear us beg for mercy…for every child on this […]
Countries: Ecuador, France, Haiti, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), Palestine, Philippines, Sudan, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer, Thursday, February 20, 2025
Introduction to the prayer: (If prayer is used in a worship service, the people, the congregation, read aloud the bold print.) Just over a month ago, the day after Donald Trump’s inauguration, The Right Reverend Mariann Budde, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington D.C., USA delivered a sermon at the Washington Cathedral as a prelude […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Israel, Palestine (Gaza), Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025
A note to our readers: If you tried to subscribe to our email edition in the past few weeks and were unsuccessful, please try again. We think we’ve gotten the problems with the “Subscribe” form solved. If you’re still having problems with the form not responding when you click on Submit, please email us and […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Egypt, Haiti, Italy, Jordan, Mexico, Palestine (Gaza), Sudan, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, February 6, 2025
Loving God, grant us a reprieve from world chaos, often inspired by rash political behavior, that increases suffering in the world’s poorest regions and of the most downcast people. Cambodia, because of the cutting of USAID funds, has halted land mine removal in the country. Between four and six million explosive remnants of ward (ERWs) […]
Countries: Cambodia, El Salvador, Israel, New Zealand, United States of America (USA), West Bank
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, January 30, 2025
Loving God, it is sometimes difficult to find the words to pray when our hearts and souls feel weary about all that is happening in our world. We look for comfort and hope, but sometimes the situations that surround us need a miracle. As we come to you in prayer this week, let us remember […]
Countries: Canada, China, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Hong Kong, Israel, Nigeria, Palestine, Rwanda, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Sweden, Syria, Tanzania, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News in Prayer – Thursday, 23rd January 2025
Writer’s Note: Every year, the northern hemisphere recognizes a Week of Prayer for Christian Unity between 18 January and 25 January. This focus on Christian unity recognizes Jesus’ prayer in John chapter 17 that the church “may all be one … so that the world may believe.” For 2025, Christians around the world were encouraged […]
Countries: Bangladesh, China, Finland, France, Palestine, Palestine (Gaza), Spain, Tanzania, Turkey, Ukraine, United States of America (USA), West Bank
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, January 16, 2025
Writer’s note: Unexpectedly, I am to write this week, with my mind in a whirl of clamoring news and imminent events. If the eminent theologian, Rowan Williams, uses the prayer method of ‘I turn up, and shut up’, it will more than suffice for my need and hopefully yours. Let us journey together under the […]
Countries: Afghanistan, China, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Israel, Mexico, Mozambique, North Korea, Palestine, Russia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, January 9, 2025
“Our backs tell stories no books have the spine to carry.” – Rupi Kaur Divine Mother, our world is filled with great sorrow. The tragedy of violence against women across continents is alarming, and yet, it continues to increase in volume. Heal us, protect us, and inspire us to demand change. Thank you for the […]
Countries: Ethiopia, Iceland, Iraq, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Romania, Russia, Sudan, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, January 2, 2025
Always We Begin Again “The first rule is simply this; live this life and do whatever is done, in a spirit of Thanksgiving. Abandon attempts to achieve security, they are futile, give up the search for wealth, it is demeaning, quit the search for salvation, it is selfish, and come to comfortable rest in the […]
Countries: Azerbaijan, Ethiopia, France, Kazakhstan, Mozambique, South Korea (Republic of Korea), Trinidad and Tobago, United States of America (USA)
World in Prayer – Christmas 2024
Mother and Child – Bethlehem by Palestinian artist Rawab Anani Instagram: rawan_anani_artgallery Sure On This Shining Night https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOTny4qTgxQ Sure on this shining night Of star made shadows round, Kindness must watch for me This side the ground. The late year lies down the north. All is healed, all is health. High summer holds the […]
World News in Prayer – Thursday, December 19, 2024
Approaching the end of Advent, we light the candle of love, and we pray for situations around the world which desperately need our love. We send our love to the children who were shot at the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.A and for the 15 year old shooter who took her own […]
World News This Week in Prayer, Thursday, December 12, 2024
Dear God, Our world is broken in ways that pain us: Our hearts break with those who are grieving, especially those in Haiti after the massacre that left over 180 people dead. We pray that this situation will not escalate with retaliation, but will be ended by justice and reconciliation that prevails. Our minds whirl […]
Countries: Australia, China, Haiti, Israel, Japan, Scotland, Sudan, Sweden, Syria
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, December 5, 2024
Attentive Nervous Thoughtful Incarnation Concerned Immanuel Preparing Awaiting Testify Expecting The season of Advent, literally “the coming,” holds special significance for many anticipating justice. The United Nations reports that 117.3 million people are currently displaced from their homes due to war, environmental disasters, and political instability. People from Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, […]
Countries: Afghanistan, China, Democratic Republic of the Congo, El Salvador, Georgia, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Iran, Myanmar (Burma), Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Korea (Republic of Korea), South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, Venezuela, Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., Nov. 28, 2024
Will you come to our world, God? And will you come with hope? For we see too many situations we can only lament, too few that lift our spirits; too much despair, too little resilience and respect; too many longings and laments and limited visions, too few steps forward. O come, O come, Emmanuel. And […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Bulgaria, Colombia, Democratic, Ecuador, Greece, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine (Gaza)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024
Dear God, For the people who make a difference, for the love and care that has been shown to each of us by individuals, by communities, by the entities that hold us and call us good, we show our gratitude to you as they are inspired by you alone, God. For the challenges we face, […]
Countries: Canada, Georgia, Hong Kong, India, Palestine (Gaza), Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
The World News This Week in Prayer, Thursday, November 14th, 2024
God of all Creation, This week marks the start of the twelve day United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties or COP29 (29th year). Baku, Azerbaijan is the host country for the 2024 talks. It is a fossil fuel producing country on the Caspian Sea, the largest inland sea in the world. It sits […]
Countries: Amazon Basin, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Columbia, Peru, Spain, United States of America (USA), Vatican
World News in Prayer – Thursday, 7th November 2024
Great Mystery, In the first waking moments of the day, it feels like the world is soft, untrammeled, freshly made and yet soon it seems to twist and turn surprising us, horrifying us, challenging us, asking us “who are we listening to?” From Isaiah 6:8 these words: Then I heard the voice of the Lord […]
World News This Week in Prayer, October 31, 2024
Loving God, We know that our world is often uncertain. Many nations have recently faced elections, such as British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and New Brunswick in Canada, and Japan, where the Liberal Democratic Party, which has held power almost continually since 1955, lost its single-party majority at Sunday’s election. We also know that in some places, elections […]
Countries: Canada, Columbia, Israel, Japan, Netherlands, Palestine, Puerto Rico, Spain
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 24 October 2024
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will. — Romans 12:2 O Lord, renew our minds and with that clarity set us toward your perfect will. […]
Countries: Algonquin, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Columbia, Cree, Cuba, Dakota, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Ecuador, Haida, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Ojibwa, Palestine, Paraguay, Peru, Russia, Venezuela
World News in Prayer – Thursday, October 17, 2024
In today’s prayer we celebrate the words of Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s blessing found in The Book of Joy. We are thankful for the Archbishop’s willingness to convey God’s love for all of us and his extraordinary ability to find joy amidst violence and destruction. May his words nurture the goodness that is stirring within us. […]
Countries: China, Colombia, India, Lebanon, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, October 10, 2024
“All who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgment against themselves.” (1 Corinthians 11:29) “Even when our cups run dry, God’s grace overflows. Even when our plates are empty, God’s generosity overflows. And even when our hearts are barren, God’s love overflows. Friends, you have been called and claimed by the […]
Countries: Israel, Mexico, Russia, Syria, United States of America (USA)
World News this Week in Prayer, Thursday, October 3, 2024
We center ourselves in prayer with you O Lord. The feast day of Francis of Assisi (1182-1226) is October 4. We pray on how he modelled humility, concern for poor people; practicing a vow of poverty, peace and nonviolence, and care for creation for generations to come. Born into a wealthy Italian merchant family, Francis […]
Countries: Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Burundi, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Egypt, Haiti, Iran, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Mozambique, Myanmar (Burma), Palestine, Somalia, Syria, Ukraine, Yemen
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, September 26, 2024
“Prayer is nothing else than a sense of God’s presence.” ~ Brother Laurence (lay brother, Paris, France 1614-1691) “Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God.” ~ Mother Theresa of Calcutta (1910-1997) “We have to pray with our eyes on God and not on the difficulties.” ~ Oswald Chambers (1874-1917) “I (Jesus) tell you, […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Africa, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Eritrea, Europe, Japan, Lebanon, Lesotho, Mexico, Mozambique, Nigeria, Palestine (Gaza), Peru, Somalia, South America, South Sudan, Sudan, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA), Venezuela, Yemen, Zimbabwe
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024
“How do you choose which news to include in the prayers?” That’s a common question those of us who take turns writing the weekly prayers get asked. Sometimes, it’s more pointed: “Why did you mention this, but not that?” But there’s neither magic nor malice involved – we are all too human. We gather news, from a […]
Countries: Amazon Basin, Austria, Czech Republic, Haiti, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Palestine (Gaza), Peru, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Somalia, Spain, Sudan, Syria, United States of America (USA), Venezuela, Yemen
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, September 12, 2024
God in heaven, we pause to remember the many communities currently subject to war and political suppression. We pray for an end to violence and the establishment of freedom of political expression in all countries. Father Bertin Namboho, bursar of Nouna Diocese, western Burkina Faso, describes extremist groups in control of approximately 40% of the […]
Countries: Burkina Faso, Guatemala, India, Israel, Middle East, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Palestine (Gaza), Spain, Syria, United States of America (USA), Venezuela
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, September 5, 2024
God of all seasons, of all people, of each other… may we be lifted into a new season and a new way of being in your world. A world without school shootings, as another has just taken place in Georgia, United States. A world without war and conflict, as this past week a 16-year old […]
Countries: Eritrea, Israel, Palestine, Russia, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 29, 2024
The Season of Creation – celebrated annually by many Christian denominations from September 1 (the Day of Prayer for Creation) through October 4 (the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi) – invites us to see the divine presence in all of creation. It invites us to listen deeply to the cries of the earth and […]
Countries: Bangladesh, China, Tonga, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, August 22, 2024
Editor’s note: 23 August is recognized by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) as the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. This date was chosen as an acknowledgement of the revolution in Saint Domingue, today the Republic of Haiti, that began in late August 1791 as a […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Belarus, Bosnia, Canada, China, Europe, Haiti, Israel, Palestine, South Korea (Republic of Korea), Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, August 15, 2024
Holy One, you are both transcendent, stretching far beyond our understanding and intimate, closer than the air we breathe. I find comfort in that! Especially when tragedy and illness strikes close to home, it is comforting to know that I am surrounded by your love and care AND at the same time that same love […]
Countries: Brazil, England, India, Israel, Japan, Sudan, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer, Thursday, August 8, 2024
O Lord, We grow in our awareness of you as we enter this time of prayer. You never leave any one of us. We are grateful for your enduring love. Help us to remember that all are your beloved children. God, there are times when we are not our best selves. Help us to become […]
Countries: Bangladesh, Japan, Palestine, South Sudan, Ukraine, United States of America (USA), Vatican
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 1st August 2024
O God of all peoples. Hear these prayers as bits and pieces of the news this week are shared. You know all sorrows and joys. It seems like a heavy and fearful time right now. Shine your light on these times bringing clarity and justice, peace and recovery. Renew our hearts and minds. Bring your […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Chad, Columbia, England, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Grenada, Haiti, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Mali, Mexico, Myanmar (Burma), Nigeria, Northern Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Russia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, United Kingdom (UK), Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., July 25, 2024
World in Prayer is seeking a few more volunteers to join our team! Each week, one writer compiles the news and crafts the accompanying prayers. The week’s editor checks the prayers for accuracy and coherence, then posts them on our website. Team members generally serve approximately once every 4-6 weeks. Requirements: an interest in international […]
Countries: Canada, China, Ethiopia, Hamas, India, Israel, New Zealand, Philippines, Russia, Sudan, Taiwan, Ukraine, United States of America (USA), Venezuela
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs. July 18, 2024
Recent days remind us of the strong grip of political violence in our world. The words from a speech on this topic of 1968’s United States Presidential candidate and assassination victim Robert Kennedy ring true. In Ecuador, five people have been imprisoned this month for their roles in last August’s assassination of presidential candidate Fernando […]
Countries: Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Ecuador, France, India, Rwanda, Uganda, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs. July 11, 2024
God of power and might, we pray you intervene in the hearts and minds of world leaders. We see the turmoil playing out at the highest levels of government of so many countries. The election in France has left the country in limbo, with three blocs short of aa majority and no new government in sight […]
Countries: Australia, Burkina Faso, China, Finland, France, Israel, Kenya, Palestine, Palestine (Gaza), Russia, Ukraine, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, July 4, 2024
Holy one of fire and transformation, O lord, upon us is the unfolding travesty begun more than fifty years ago with the U.S. intervention and destabilization in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The news today reports of the world’s largest humanitarian crises as fighting and defending the mineral extraction industry in the east by […]
Countries: Africa, Bangladesh, Central America, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Europe, Middle East, North America, Palestine, Palestine (Gaza), Russia, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, June 27, 2024
Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives. Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country. The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine […]
Countries: France, Great Britain, Iran, Rwanda, United States of America (USA), Venezuela
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, June 20, 2024
God of rest, God of renewal, we come to you seeking to be renewed by your presence in our lives. So many of us work so very hard, and it can feel like we cannot afford to take time to rest. Too many are struggling to make ends meet, to survive, to go on for […]
Countries: Australia, Brazil, Chad, India, Kenya, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, June 13, 2024
For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.” -Esther 4:14 God of our lives, We come to you with hearts […]
Countries: Bangladesh, Canada, Oman, Palestine (Gaza), The Maldives, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, June 6, 2024
You, most beloved God, are the leader of all that ever was and all that will ever be. You are a witness to the beauty that comes from a thoughtful leader and the violence and unrest that is born from an unhealthy leader. We seek your wisdom, your patience, your tenderness. Using excerpts from John […]
Countries: Cameroon, France, Latvia, Mexico, Serbia, Slovakia, Vatican City
World News in Prayer – Thursday, 30th May 2024
This week, the world community recognized the May 30 International Day of United Nations (UN) Peacekeepers. For 76 years, UN peacekeepers have worked to save and change lives in the world’s most fragile political and security situations. Since 1948, more than two million uniformed and civilian personnel have helped countries to transition from war to […]
Countries: Abyei/Abeyei, Cyprus, India, Israel, Kosovo, Lebanon, Pakistan, South Sudan, Sudan, The Central African Republic
World News in Prayer for Thursday, May 23, 2024
Listen, O Israel, the LORD is God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:4-5 LISTEN! The prophet Isaiah began this passage with the Hebrew word, “Shema”- LISTEN. So, why aren’t we listening, Divine One? […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Ethiopia, Haiti, Mali, Palestine (Gaza), Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Yemen
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, May 16, 2024
Pulsing Spirit, Come, Holy Spirit, Come. Creativity God, as so many of your Christian churches celebrate Pentecost Sunday, we are forever reminded in the news how much we need a Spirit renewal toward unity and away from division. Russia‘s further advancement into Ukraine. A divided society in Slovakia as played out in an assassination attempt on […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Indonesia, Israel, Palestine (Gaza), Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., May 9, 2024
God of our lives, How we long for our world and our hearts to grow: To grow in faith, understanding, and questions. To grow in our hope for a better world. To grow further and wider instead of apart. To grow our lives together. To grow in love for each other. May growth be our […]
Countries: Brazil, Indonesia, Israel, Kenya, Palestine, South Africa
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, May 2, 2024
God of all, my heart is full of wonder, as I consider the mysterious and magnificent ways your spirit and presence are at work in the world. In the beginning your spirit hovered over the churning chaos, and with a word you began to create order, to bring forth life, to create a hope where […]
Countries: Australia, Canada, China, Finland, Greece, Kenya
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, April 25, 2024
Holy God, What a time to be alive. Sometimes we want to cover our eyes and ears because death and destruction have become all too common. Other times, we see glimpses of hope and love. We are in a season of spiritual whiplash and don’t know which way to turn, except to you. Open your […]
Countries: Ecuador, Palestine, Russia, Sudan, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, April 18, 2024
“When you take on the confusion and the violence and you refine them, purify them into something new, you are doing what in the vocabulary of faith we call consecrating your chaos. To consecrate is to make holy, to put it into service for good. In consecrating chaos, you engage it, tame it, name it, […]
Countries: Australia, Brazil, Chile, France, India, Netherlands, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, April 11, 2024
‘To you who are ready for the truth, I say this: Love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the supple moves of prayer for that person.’ ~ Luke 6:27-28 The Message ‘We are not easily reduced to prayer’ – […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), India, Israel, Mexico, Palestine (Gaza), Russia, Rwanda, South Africa, South Sudan, Ukraine, United States of America (USA), Venezuela, Zimbabwe
World News In Prayer – Thursday, April 4, 2024
Consider how the wildflowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. Luke 12:27 “I am that I am.” Exodus 3:14 Everywhere I turn, you are there. Every flower Every blade of grass Every feather Every rock Every cloud […]
Countries: China, Finland, Palestine (Gaza), Taiwan, Zimbabwe
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., March 28, 2024
God of us all, Love lives again. Love triumphs over the hate, pain, and death. You were there at the very beginning of time and gave us the beauty of this world: gorgeous flowers and trees, oceans, and mountains, galaxies we will never comprehend. Yet, you still knew we needed your love. You gave us […]
Countries: Israel, Palestine, Russia, Sudan, Thailand, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, March 21, 2024
As millions of Christians celebrate the Passion of the Lord Jesus this week and embark upon Holy Week and the Triduum, we are reminded of a portion of the prayer, “The Noise of Politics” by Walter Brueggemann in his book Prayers for a Privileged People: We listen beyond jeering protesters and soaring jets and faintly […]
Countries: Haiti, Iran, Israel, Puerto Rico, Russia, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, March 14, 2024
May these words of St. Francis (in italics), written so long ago, prayed on so many hearts and lips, from places of longing and agony, from places of peace seeking more peace, guide our prayers: Lord, make us instruments of your peace: In all countries with armed conflict. Palestine and Israel, Ukraine and Russia, many […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Australia, Columbia, Haiti, India, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Myanmar (Burma), Pakistan, Palestine, Palestine (Gaza), Philippines, Russia, Ukraine
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, March 7, 2024
Psalm 85:11-12 Mercy and faithfulness have met; justice and peace have embraced. Faithfulness shall spring from the earth and justice look down from heaven. “Bless the Lord oh my soul… Oh my soul Worship his holy name Sing like never before Oh my soul I’ll worship your holy name.” Holy One to whom I raise […]
Countries: France, Haiti, India, Palestine (Gaza), United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, February 29, 2024
Loving God, Help us to learn to love again, To care as we did way back when. May we care as children do in simple ways. Give us some calm amidst the chaotic days. God, we are in a moment when we need time; We need your presence in order to overcome this climb. We […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., February 22, 2024
You who created them and called them good: Bless again these creatures who come to us as a blessing fashioned of fur or feather or fin, formed of flesh that breathes with your own breath, that you have made from sheer delight, that you have given in dazzling variety. Bless them who curl themselves around […]
Countries: Australia, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), East Africa, South Korea (Republic of Korea), United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer, Thursday, February 15, 2024
This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own. The United States […]
Countries: El Salvador, Gabon, India, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Turkey, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News this Week in Prayer – February 8, 2024
God of Love, As we turn from the light of Epiphany towards the shadowland of Lent, may we, your beloved, take comfort in the profound story of Love Come Down. Comfort in a Jesus who left the mountaintop of Transfiguration and came down into the low places of suffering and pain, power and violence, came […]
Countries: Australia, Brazil, Chile, Israel, Japan, Pakistan, Palestine (Gaza), Russia, Sudan, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., Feb. 1, 2024
Dear Lord, This prayer arises during a foggy day from a home on a quiet residential street. Somewhere else it is dark at night and people pray. and the smoke and bombs seem to crush any ability to even think and survival is everything. It feels like both forgiveness and mercy are needed in the […]
Countries: Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Russia, Syria, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week In Prayer, Thursday, January 25, 2024
Under every floor is soil, within all soil are roots—taking in nourishment in the unseen dark. Frozen though it may be, each seed holds possibility of transformation. God of transformation, we cry with the Psalmist “how long” when we look upon the suffering of your beloved people and the ways we pit ourselves against one […]
Countries: China, Ethiopia, Israel, Nigeria, Palestine, Russian Federation, Somalia, Ukraine, United States of America (USA), Venezuela
World News This Week in Prayer – January 18, 2024
God of Peace, Lover of Justice, We come before you with hearts filled with gratitude and thanksgiving for the countless women and men, past and present, who have worked tirelessly advocating for equality and promoting peace. May we be inspired by their bravery and wisdom. May we get to know one another, fostering trust and […]
Countries: Australia, Chile, Ghana, Israel, Mozambique, Sweden, United States of America (USA)
World News this Week in Prayer – January 11, 2024
Now the LORD came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” – 1 Samuel 3:10 Listening God, In the beginning, you created the whole world – the stars, planets, mountains, animals, the tiniest living creatures, snow and rain, sweet-smelling flowers, beautiful rocks, and yet you […]
Countries: China, Ecuador, Israel, Palestine, Taiwan, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, January 4, 2024
We hope that full shalom will come when the four billion of us who believe in a Transcendent Other are converted more deeply to the enlightenment that calls us all not to kill, not to lie, not to steal, not to lust, to respect parents, and to help the needy and weak. The teaching of […]
Countries: India, Israel, Palestine, Poland, Slovenia, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Christmas 2023
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.” –John 1:1-4 Dearest One, heart of our hearts, You came into the world bearing Light. You came into the […]
World News This Week in Prayer, Thursday, December 21, 2023
For those living in the northern hemisphere, December 21st or the Winter Solstice is the day with the least amount of daylight. In some churches this is recognized in worship with a “Longest Night” or “Blue Christmas” service. Ever Present God, On this night our siblings in the northern hemisphere experience the longest night of […]
Countries: Czechia (Czech Republic), Haiti, Israel, Palestine, Russia, Ukraine, Yemen
World News in prayer this week – Thursday, December 14, 2023
O Great Guide, who led shepherds and kings by the light of a star, when we feel most lost, we pray you light a way forward. We are bombarded with news of war and death, like bombs blasting open our hearts. We pray for all areas around the globe that are experiencing war, including: Israel […]
Countries: India, Israel, Palestine, Russia, Ukraine
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., Dec. 7, 2023
“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.” –Isaiah 40:1 Comforting God of us all, Oh, how we need your abiding peace. A peace that only you can give as we navigate this season in our homes, our relationships, our jobs, our neighborhoods, and our world. God, you say “comfort, comfort,” and yet we feel the […]
Countries: Ethiopia, Indonesia, Israel, Nigeria, Palestine, United States of America (USA)
World News in Prayer – Thursday, 30th November 2023
Editor: Shortly after the prayers were posted, the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas broke down. In light of this, as duty editor, I have amended and re-posted our prayers.In the midst of chaos, I will be peace. In the heart of anger, I will be love. In the presence of despair, I will be hope. […]
Countries: Canada, Egypt, France, India, Israel, Palestine, Palestine (Gaza), United States of America (USA)
World News in Prayer- Thursday, November 23, 2023
During a week when many ponder the end of the liturgical year and may follow the lectionary reading from Matthew 25: 31-46, “Judgement of the Nations,” we pray: For I was hungry and you gave me food. . . The world mourns the loss of United States humanitarian and political organizer Rev. Arthur Simon, founder […]
Countries: Chad, Egypt, England, Ethiopia, Palestine (Gaza), Russia, South Sudan, Sudan, United States of America (USA)
World News in Prayer- Thursday, November 16, 2023
Dear God, A prayer is not a news bulletin, a donation request, telegram, text message, or a voice message. One could suppose that each could contain elements of a prayer, but they seem quite secular and every day. How do we ask you to bring your peace that passes all understanding among us in these […]
Countries: Israel, Palestine, Russia, Syria, Ukraine, Yemen
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, November 9, 2023
God of our Longings, The German root of longing, langen, is ‘reach, extend.’ We reach and extend our hands and hearts to You. We reach and extend our hands and hearts to each other as we see so much that is broken and longing to be made whole again. We long for deep and lasting […]
Countries: Central America, Kenya, Mexico, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Palestine, South America, Ukraine, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, November 2, 2023
Merciful One, it is not for us to judge those who have died. Rather, we come to you with the assurance of your great compassion. We unite with these wounded brothers and sisters of ours and believe that you draw all to your forgiving heart. May the love we bear be encouragement for all souls […]
Countries: India, Israel, Palestine
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., Oct. 26, 2023
My maternal grandparents wanted to emigrate to Israel. Growing up as extremely poor Jews in Poland, in 1920 they were barely out of their teens when they caught the dream of a safe homeland for Jews, governed not by hereditary leaders, but by the people. With no ships willing to transport Jews to what the […]
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, October 19, 2023
Words Found in the Rubble after the Final War Yes, we lived in a time of darkness and did nothing. Yes, we looked up and we saw the sky on fire and we knew that we had made the flames with our own hands. Yes, we wasted every breath on rage. Children, if any of […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Ghana, Iraq, Israel, Mali, Mozambique, Tunisia, Uganda
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, October 12, 2023
Psalm 1 (NRSVUE) 1 Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked or take the path that sinners tread or sit in the seat of scoffers, 2 but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night. Holy One, as we look […]
Countries: Bangladesh, Canada, Israel, Palestine, Ukraine, United States of America (USA), Zimbabwe
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, October 5, 2023
Future generations will never forgive us if we miss the opportunity to protect our common home. We have inherited a garden; we must not leave a desert for our children. (This quote is lifted from a joint appeal signed at the Vatican October 4 , 2023 – the feast of St. Francis of Assisi and […]
Countries: Africa, Antarctica, Argentina, China, Greenland, Italy, United Arab Emirates (UAE)
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, September 28, 2023
Holy One, Divine Creator, whom some name God, we pray every week for so many things: for those suffering from effects of climate change and the earthquakes, the hurricanes, the super droughts, super fires, and the super floods; for children and women abused and sold and trafficked even in our modern era of development; for […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, England, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Libya, Mexico, Myanmar (Burma), New Zealand, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Palestine, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Africa, South Korea (Republic of Korea), South Sudan, Spain, Sudan, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom (UK), Venezuela, Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer, Thursday, September 21, 2023
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Psalm 103:1 Holy One, We long to be faithful stewards of your love – to know, love, and serve you and each other with humility, wisdom and love, but God, at times, our world is full of despair that […]
Countries: Australia, China, India, Israel, Libya, Palestine, Russian Federation, Ukraine
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, September 14, 2023
Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul? And why are you so disquieted within me? – Psalm 42:6 There is so much sorrow and so many things to grieve in our world. Help us, God, as we weep for all the suffering surrounding us. For the people of Morocco who experienced a […]
Countries: Australia, Brazil, Libya, Morocco, Nigeria, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., Sept. 7 2023
O God who holds each one of us, We lift our hearts in prayer for the students around the globe who have just started a new school year. Help students, educators, and grown ups who raise children navigate the busier season and the additional stress that may bring. This time of year brings additional tasks […]
Countries: Brazil, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Ukraine
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, August 31, 2023
Great Mystery, We offer these prayers. We are amazed to hear of a meteorite coming from interstellar space, found in the Pacific Ocean, and discovered to be formed of an unknown alloy of metals. Forger of rock and mountain, waterfall and volcano we are in awe of this world and beyond. And we extract its […]
Countries: Burundi, Chad, Chile, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Haiti, India, Somalia, Sudan, Timor-Leste, Yemen, Zambia
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, August 24, 2023
The prayer this week is based on Psalm 103:1-8 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless God’s holy name. Sometimes when I look at the world around me, or when I look within my home and heart, I am overwhelmed with grief, fear and anxiety. It can be hard, […]
Countries: Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sudan, Ukraine
World New This Week in Prayer – Thurs., August 17, 2023
Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Canada, China, Ecuador, Iran, Israel, Japan, Pakistan, Senegal, South Korea (Republic of Korea), Spain, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 10, 2023
*The framework for this week’s prayer is drawn from “The Four Elements and the Creation of Man,” written by Vladimir Moss, an Orthodox Christian theologian and historian. https://www.orthodoxchristianbooks.com/articles/453/-four-elements-creation-man/ FIRE. “‘God is a consuming fire,’ says the apostle (Hebrews 12.29). And of the created angels who are filled with the Spirit of God it is said […]
Countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Columbia, Ecuador, Guyana, Iceland, India, Iraq, Japan, North Korea, Peru, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, South Korea (Republic of Korea), Suriname, Switzerland, Venezuela
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 3, 2023
As the world marks the 78th anniversary of the bombing of Japan’s Hiroshima and Nagasaki August 6-8, we acknowledge the religious, political, diplomatic, economic, and cultural state of the nuclear weapon era in our world community and pray for the end of this scourge: This week features a religious dialogue between Japanese bishops and United States pilgrims (including Archbishop […]
Countries: Japan, North Korea, Russia, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, July 27, 2023
The phrase “it takes a village to raise a child” originates from an African proverb and conveys the message that it takes many people (“the village”) to provide a safe, healthy environment for children, where children are given the security they need to develop and flourish, and to be able to realize their hopes and […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Australia, Colombia, Egypt, England, Indonesia, Scotland, South Korea (Republic of Korea), Sudan, Ukraine, United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday July 20, 2023
Mother God, we come to you with thanksgivings. We are grateful to be loved by You. We are grateful for hands to hold, for kindness, and for grace. We are grateful for sunshine, rain, and rainbows. We are grateful for the farmers and laborers who give us our daily bread. We are grateful for forgiveness. […]
Countries: China, Czechia (Czech Republic), England, Greece, Italy, Kenya, New Zealand, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., July 13, 2023
We love you, Lord, and we’ve heard your voice… calling us to make you real and known in the world to all whom you place in our path, undergirded by prayer. How do we pray and for what? Do you hear us? Or are we asking for the wrong things? Are we too impatient or […]
Countries: Australia, China, Egypt, France, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, July 6, 2023
“It shall be established forever like the moon, the witness in the sky is faithful.” – Psalm 89:37 God of moon and sun, God of rhythm and constant presence – This week around the world, we gazed upon the fullness of the same moon. Just as we gaze upon the same You – when in […]
Countries: China, Costa Rica, France, India, Israel, Kenya, New Zealand, Palestine, Russia, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, June 29, 2023
As the world marks the 60th anniversary of Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth) by Pope John XXIII, the first papal encyclical intended for a universal, interfaith, and nonbelieving audience, we pause to pray for the intentions of this letter and world causes that still demand our attention: Every human being has the right to […]
Countries: China, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Nicaragua, Sudan, United States of America (USA)
World News in Prayer – Thursday, June 22 2023
Your creation is groaning, Living and Loving God. Your creation is groaning as your created ones continue to live in ways that damage the natural world and one another. Your creation is groaning, and so we turn to you with our cries of pain, certain we will be heard. We cry out today for the […]
Countries: Barbados, Canada, Canary Islands, China, France, Kenya, South Africa, Switzerland, Uganda, United States of America (USA)
World News in Prayer – Thursday, 15th June 2023
God of bright yellow and green, the sun smiles on the earth, friendly and hopeful. You invite us to breathe in a new day. We hear the birds greeting one another, the squirrel’s playful chatter and in the distance there’s the sound of bullfrogs and spring peepers vying for airtime. Welcome to this fresh new […]
Countries: Australia, Colombia, Pakistan
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, June 8, 2023
I love the LORD, because God has heard my voice and my supplications. Because God inclined God’s ear to me, therefore I will call on the Lord as long as I live. The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on […]
Countries: Canada, Haiti, India, Israel, Italy, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, June 1, 2023
Creating, Sustaining, Redeeming One – Through the dance of your interwoven union, we are continually directed towards the heart of the cosmos which is the beating pulse of Love. We look through global headlines, in our communities, our homes, and our very bodies and at times find it impossible to sense the unitive thread of […]
Countries: Brazil, Canada, France, Guam, Guyana, India, Israel, Malaysia, Nepal, Palestine, Philippines, Russia, South Sudan, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News this Week in Prayer, Thursday, May 25 2023
“The happy day has dawned for us on which Holy Church makes her first radiant appearance to the eyes of faith and sets the hearts of believers on fire. It is the day on which we celebrate the sending of the Holy Spirit by our Lord Jesus Christ, after he had risen from the dead […]
Countries: Afghanistan, China, India, Iran, Nicaragua, Nigeria
World News this Week in Prayer, Thursday, 18 May 2023
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. Psalm 139:13-14 God, you cherish our mothers and children. Mother’s Day is celebrated in over fifty countries, some as the US […]
Countries: Italy, Russia, Ukraine
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, May11, 2023
God of all, the One who hears our prayers, our tears could cover the earth for the abuse of children, the flagrant killing and loss of life we hear in the news daily. Someday will these words, this news be read? Will those people shake their heads and ask God for mercy on our […]
Countries: Brazil, Canada, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Russian Federation, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Spain
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., May 4, 2023
To the one who is not limited by time, we pray for life in a world where time is often of the essence. Move us to be mindful that there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: Bless the springtime bursting forth with rich soil for planting, cool rains […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Italy, Spain, Ukraine, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs, April 27, 2023
God of Life, These prayers, like seeds that we tuck into the soil of You. We trust You hold them all — our yearning, worry, agonies, hidden longings, and celebrations — in the fertile cocoon of Love. Each winter as we come out of long dark into the time of bud and bloom we marvel […]
Countries: Argentina, Colombia, Haiti, Honduras, Iran, Israel, Kenya, Mexico, Palestine, Russia, Sudan, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine, United States of America (USA), Venezuela
World News In Prayer– Thursday, April 20, 2023
Holy and Redeeming God, I want to bask in the glow of Easter Sunday a while longer. I want to believe that things are miraculously better in this world you created. I want, long for, and hope for your presence to rain down and water my weary soul. I look around and find there are […]
Countries: Australia, China, Columbia, India, Italy, Mexico, Sudan
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, April 13, 2023
During this season of Eastertide, as we celebrate resurrection and new life, let us take a moment in silence to center ourselves in your love. Let us pray: O Holy One, who is, and was, and ever will be; who loves, who saves, who makes all things new, as we celebrate the gifts of the […]
Countries: Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, April 6, 2023
Now the green blade rises from the buried grain, Wheat that in dark earth many days has lain: Love lives again, that with the dead has been: Love is come again like wheat arising green. When our hearts are wintry, grieving, or in pain, Your touch can call us back to life again, Fields of […]
Countries: China, Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United States of America (USA), Vanuatu, Vatican
World News this Week in Prayer – Thursday, 30 March 2023
Holy One, You who rode the simple donkey through the streets as the palm branches caught the sun. We hear the echoes of Hosanna, Hosanna through time as we remember, remember… Hosanna, Hosanna which means save us. And You do save us, in each moment. Your saving presence is with us always. Closer than we […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Ecuador, India, Mexico, New Zealand, Syria, Turkey, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs. March 23, 2023
World in Prayer- Thursday, 23 March 2023 “There’s a wideness in God’s mercy like the wideness of the sea”… so goes the old hymn. And we, your created ones, created to be co-creators with you, cling to this truth, Gracious One, often as a way of letting ourselves off the hook for our failure to […]
Countries: England, France, India, Syria, Uganda, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News this Week in Prayer, March 16, 2023
Mighty God, you are in the wind that moves across the waters, that whispers in the night, that will not be contained. You see more than we can ever see, and you do not look away. We know, That you whisper through the wreckage in Turkey, calling life out of death, directing those who work […]
Countries: Georgia, Iran, Turkey, Ukraine
World News this Week in Prayer, Thursday, March 9, 2023
As we slow down, breathing in the wonders that are all around us, we give you thanks, Mother of all creation. Amongst the rubble of so much loss we see the joy that bubbles forth. We pray that you will lead us to uncover the truth even when it’s painful for us to see. Guide […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Ethiopia, India, Nepal, United States of America (USA), Zambia
World News this Week in Prayer, Thursday, March 2, 2023
Silence my soul, these trees are prayers. I asked the tree, “Tell me about God” then it blossomed. — Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) In the snow-laced woods, the blossoms wait deep in the cold branch. We trust the waiting bloom is there. God we trust in your presence in […]
Countries: Bolivia, Côte d'Ivoire, Greece, Guinea, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine
World News This Week in Prayer- February 23, 2023
“The bond of our common humanity is stronger than the divisiveness of our fears and prejudices.” – Jimmy Carter Oh, Lord, you shepherd us. You follow us. You lead us through the fog of our times. We get caught up in fear and weighed down by seemingly eternal prejudices. As we enter this Lenten season […]
Countries: Canada, China, Germany, Israel, Moldova, Mowachaht/Muchalaht Nation, Palestine, Poland, Russia, South Sudan, Sweden, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, February 16, 2023
Spirit of the living God, help us to let love lead us forward. Many of our hearts are broken. The news in the world is grim. Violence is pervasive. Like ink, slowly seeping to the edge of a cloth, we watch as it spreads, eventually damaging the whole fabric. Soothe our suffering and enable us […]
Countries: Russia, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, February 9, 2023
“This is holy ground, we’re standing on holy ground For the Lord is present and where He is is holy.” And the commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so. (Joshua 5:15, Holy Bible, English […]
Countries: South Sudan, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 3 February 2023
As the world marked January 28th, 2023, the 20th anniversary of President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), an initiative in the United States that has saved 20 million lives by providing more that 100 billion dollars for AIDS prevention and treatment, we pray that people of good will will not take their feet off […]
Countries: England, Pakistan, United States of America (USA), Wales
World News this Week in Prayer, January 26, 2023
Creator God, we praise you and give thanks that your son, Jesus, became a person like us and shared our concerns, joys, anxieties, and happiness. (Matthew 5:1-3)When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying: […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, China, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Dominican Republic, Japan, New Zealand, North Korea, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Rwanda, Serbia, Ukraine, United Kingdom (UK)
World News This Week in Prayer, January 19, 2023
You, Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light. ~Psalm 18:28 (NIV) Great bearer of light, there is so much beauty that partners with darkness where the undercurrents of sadness and tragedy dwell. May we find beauty in darkness and honor the lessons offered to us. We thank you for the […]
Countries: France, Kenya, Madagascar, Russia, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer, Thursday January 12, 2023
On the dawn of a new year, we pray for the strength of convictions to the common good for leaders beginning new terms, especially President Lula da Silva of Brazil, whose government faced an overthrow attempt last weekend, and the new leadership in the House of Representatives of the United States. For courage for our […]
Countries: Brazil, Guatemala, Malawi, Mozambique, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, January 5, 2022
Creator of the Stars of Night, On the eve of Epiphany, on the eve of the first full moon of the year, on the eve of the funeral of Pope Benedict, hear my prayer for the tomorrows of our world. The USA needs to elect a speaker of the house so that congress can be […]
Countries: China, Iran, Mexico, Somalia, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, December 29, 2022
Good and gracious God, We your people, your sons and daughters gather these days on the close of a year. Joys and challenges of 2022 are to be acknowledged, while we look forward in faith to 2023. We are encouraged by Pope Francis’s January 1, 2023 World Day of Peace Message entitled: “No one can […]
Countries: Canada, Egypt, Russia, Ukraine, Vatican City
World News This Week in Prayer – Christmas 2022
A CHRISTMAS BLESSING by Christine Valters Paintner online Abbess at AbbeyoftheArts.com Reproduced with permission This blessing dances at the doorway of light and dark, knows both as sacred: fertile womb space, miracle of blooming. This blessing breathes through those moments of labor when you too birth the holy into this fragile, luminous, hurting world as Mary […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czechia (Czech Republic), Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Holy See, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, North Korea, North Macedonia, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, South Korea (Republic of Korea), South Sudan, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates (UAE), United Kingdom (UK), Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, December 15, 2022
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6 God of Advent, The words of Isaiah come to us spoken over 2,300 years ago. They arrive in Christmas cards […]
Countries: Scotland, Syria, Turkey, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, December 8, 2022
Ancient of Days, Somewhere in Kiev, Ukraine, a man plays his guitar with his old, faithful pup howling along, even though they sing in darkness. Somewhere in Krakow, Poland, a grandmother folds shirts, presses trousers, routines to calm her anxious heart, even as the unexpected guests in their small home yearn to return to their […]
Countries: Canada, France, Kenya, Peru, Poland, Somalia, Turkey, Ukraine
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, December 1, 2022
Those who wait for you know how the mark of a true blessing is that it will take you where you did not think to go. Once through this door there will be more: more doors more blessings more who watch and wait for you but here at this door of beginning the blessings cannot […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Australia, Egypt, Germany, Italy, Panama, Southeast Asia, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, November 24, 2022
“… for I am verily persuaded the Lord hath more truth yet to break forth out of His Holy Word.” John Robinson. Lord, the news is difficult, often strange, maybe false, maybe half truth, out of context and fuelled by conspiracy. What a relief to know that you have the truth contained within yourself; granted […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Australia, Canada, England, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Russia
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, November 17, 2022
God in heaven, we pray for the successful implementation of the carbon reduction discussions at the COP27 Conference in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. As the conference gained international attention from November 7-18, may we be mindful of the communities that continue to bear daily struggles as a result of environmental challenges forced by climate change: for […]
Countries: Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Cameroon, Chad, Colombia, East Africa, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Guyana, Kenya, Niger, Nigeria, Peru, Somalia, South Sudan, Suriname, Venezuela
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, November 10, 2022
Divine Presence, right now, those living in the United States are in the exhausted wake of post-election frenzy. Rejoicing at wins and deflated by losses, enable us to regroup to continue the relentless work of securing freedom and justice for all. Stem the growth of white supremacy and hate crimes and transform the hearts of […]
Countries: Africa, Iran, Russia, Switzerland, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, November 3, 2022
Sandhill cranes dancing at sunset at Staten Island Rd. Preserve, Northern California. Photo art by a member of the World in Prayer team. Dance, then, wherever you may be,I am the Lord of the Dance, said he,And I’ll lead you all, wherever you may be,And I’ll lead you all in the Dance, said he. –Sydney […]
Countries: Brazil, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Ethiopia, Guinea, India, Iraq, Kenya, Lebanon, Nigeria, Russia, South Korea (Republic of Korea), South Sudan, Uganda, Ukraine
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, October 27, 2022
God of peace, we gather as a community of seekers from every corner of the world during this annual United Nations Disarmament Week. Our world is threatened by nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons and small arms. For the Ukrainians threatened by the nuclear saber rattling of Russian leadership; For the conversion of the minds and […]
Countries: North Korea, Palestine, Russia, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, October 20, 2022
Dearest Creator of all that is and ever will be. Guardian of Light. Giver of Breath. Judge of all deeds, seen and unseen. Infuse us with your love, gratitude, and peace. Let us feel safe in a world thriving in chaos and fear. Help us to raise our children without prejudice. Teach us to teach […]
Countries: Australia, Europe, France, Iraq, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, Venezuela
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, October 13, 2022
We long to become disciples of silence and hear in that shimmery soundlessness the voice of the One who whispers in stillness, whose singing vibrates in stones, who out of the silence calls forth a radical commitment of which we do not yet know the shape. – Christine Valters Paintner We pray to the One […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Australia, Belarus, Ecuador, India, Russia, Switzerland, Thailand, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, October 6, 2022
Elohim, I AM, Jehovah, your names are numerous, our understanding of you, limited. When the horror of humanity confounds us, we place our hope in the mystery of your mercy. We cling to noble acts witnessed in the context of war; healing acts worked in the context of brokenness; justice that breaks through in an […]
Countries: Somalia, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, September 29, 2022
Holy One, We feel the chaos before creation in the very core of our being. The changing tides – first swelling with hope then sliding toward despair. Waves of grief crash over us, shaking the foundations of our lives. We are buoyed with anticipation excited by what the future holds. Our focus is drawn inward to […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, September 22, 2022
Writer’s note: I have no idea where this version of the Lord’s Prayer came from, so I apologise for not giving credit where credit is due. I know I’ve amended it over the years, but it is something that draws me back time and again. So I am using it as a framework for this […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Australia, China, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Eritrea, France, India, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Puerto Rico, Russia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tigray, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer, Thursday, September 15, 2022
Divine One, as we look out upon your world and ours, it is so easy to see things which discourage and dismay us… The deaths last week on the James Smith Cree First Nation in Saskatchewan, Canada, with ten murdered, eighteen critically wounded and both perpetrators losing their lives. The on-going devastating results of climate […]
Countries: Canada, China, England, European Union, James Cree Nation, Pakistan, Russia, Sweden, Ukraine
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, September 8, 2022
Holy One, there is a song haunting me lately. An evocative melody. A single soprano invokes, “Oh let all who thirst, let them come… to the water.” The first time I heard it, I wept. And lately I hear it often. Unsummoned, it echoes within my soul; a lament in layers of drought. Source of […]
Countries: Ethiopia, Italy, Kenya, Pakistan, Portugal, Somalia, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, September 1, 2022
As God’s beloved children, let us pray that Divine Light shine on the nations, the earth, and all those in need. For your beloved in war torn areas around the globe, and for areas like Ukraine and Palestine, where foreign occupiers are forcefully controlling villages and territories, we pray for peaceful paths toward justice; For […]
Countries: Colombia, Pakistan, Palestine, Ukraine, United States of America (USA), Venezuela
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 25, 2022
Creator God, Guided by the words of your servant German pastor Karl Barth, “Take your Bible and take your newspaper, and read both. But interpret newspapers from your Bible,” we beseech you for the protection of members of our world community: For a universal water supply that is free of PFAS, forever chemicals. Guide the […]
Countries: Myanmar (Burma), Nicaragua, Russia, Sweden, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 18, 2022
Holy One, In these times, with the world news heavily upon us, we reflect upon words from 2 Timothy: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” (New Living Translation) Ten years ago, speaking in New York (U.S.), Indian-born British-American novelist Salman Rushdie said that […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Canada, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Greece, India, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Myanmar (Burma), Pakistan, Poland, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Sweden, Syria, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer, Thursday, August 11, 2022
Writers note: As I faced writing these prayers, all that kept resonating through my mind was the hymn, “O God, Why Are You Silent” written by Marty Haugen and found in the Evangelical Lutheran Worship. The words of the first two verses resound in my breaking heart (it can be sung to any 7676D hymn […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Antarctica, China, Cuba, Europe, France, Greece, India, Israel, Kenya, Pakistan, Palestine, South Korea (Republic of Korea), Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Ukraine
World News this Week in Prayer – Thursday, 4 August 2022
Writer’s note: I am one of half dozen members of our small World in Prayer Team who needed a break. But then I read last week’s posting and realised I could not be party to this important ministry faltering – albeit temporarily. I find myself with nothing, yet also too much, to pray for – […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Canada, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Kenya, Laos, Scotland, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., July 28, 2022
World in Prayer is on vacation this week. Sort of. The truth is that our extraordinary prayer writers and editors are all volunteers, and by sheer chance, it turns out that several are facing family/job/life changes simultaneously. Which left us without anyone able to write the prayers for this week. But that also makes this […]
World News in Prayer – Thursday, 21st July 2022
As I draw close to you in prayer, Holy One, I struggle to put words to the cries of my heart and soul. As I read the news of the world, it is a challenge to remain positive and hopeful. So much pain, so much hurt, so much grief, so much destruction. I long for […]
Countries: Australia, Botswana, East Africa, Ecuador, Greece, Italy, Russia, Spain, Ukraine, United Kingdom (UK)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, July 14, 2022
I will thank you forever, because of what you have done. In the presence of the faithful I will proclaim your name, for it is good. Psalm 52:9 (NRSV) Heavenly God, Even amidst the storms that cover our lives, we are so grateful for you. So grateful that you hold us together when we cannot […]
Countries: China, Japan, Sri Lanka, Ukraine
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, July 7, 2022
Gracious and loving God, there is not a moment that we do not belong to you. You claim us as your beloved from beginning to end. Reassured and emboldened by this good news, we uplift our petitions and prayers to you this day, knowing nothing separates us from you and your love for us. God […]
Countries: Antigua, Australia, Barbuda, Denmark, El Salvador, India, Nicaragua, Peru, Turkey, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, June 30, 2022
Body Prayer Stand with your feet rooted into the earth. Bring your hands together in a prayer position at your heart. Bow bending at your waist. A bow of reverence, of gratitude, of praise, of seeing. From the bow take your arms wide open, hands open like to receive another in a hug. […]
Countries: Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Japan, Mexico, Tanzania, Turkey, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, June 23, 2022
Dearly beloved Children of God, Do you sometimes wake not to prayer, but to dread, fearing what new horror will show up in the news? Afraid even to go to church, after this week’s news of three killed in a mass shooting at an Episcopal church in Alabama, U.S., and two priests shot dead at […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Angola, Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Ethiopia, Gabon, Guatemala, India, Kenya, Malawi, Mexico, Mozambique, Nigeria, Poland, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sudan, Uganda, Ukraine, Zambia
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, June 16, 2022
O Holy One, We think we are listening to you. We are really practicing listening to you. We have a long way to go — to do your will. To love ourselves. To love our neighbor. To Love You. We get distracted — so much is going on around us and worldwide. We have so […]
Countries: Albania, Algeria, Belgium, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Iran, Iraq, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Somalia, Spain, Syria, Tunisia, Ukraine, United Kingdom (UK), Zimbabwe
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, June 9, 2022
Eternal God. . . Love’s trinity, self perfect, self sustaining; Love which commands, enables and obeys. . . We praise and thank you that you love and care for all people. In your love enable us to hear what you say and obey your command to love one another. In love of one another we […]
Countries: Australia, China, Europe, Germany, Great Britain, India, Madagascar, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, June 2, 2022
God, there are hardly any words for these times. You promise that when we are in these unfathomable places Your very Spirit intercedes with groans too deep for words. We need that now, as we groan through our exhausted bodies and tattered hearts. May our groans be prayer, be release for all we feel without […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Australia, Benin, Brazil, Canada, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Ethiopia, Honduras, Iraq, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, South Sudan, Ukraine, United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, May 26, 2022
God, We need you now. We needed you yesterday. We need you today. We need you tomorrow. We need you now. We need you to do something. To stop the brutal unfathomable violence that is surfacing in every part of our world. We need you to change the hearts of lawmakers. We need you to […]
Countries: Canada, China, Italy, North Korea, Portugal, Spain, Taiwan, Ukraine, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer, Thursday, May 19, 2022
Loving and ever-present God, we come before you this week bringing all that we are seeking your presence, your love, your wisdom, and your grace. We do not have to look far to see the brokenness and pain in the world, from health struggles to concerns about our finances, many of us bring fears and […]
Countries: Bahrain, Botswana, China, Eswatini (Swaziland), India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, South Africa, Syria, Tanzania, United States of America (USA), Uruguay, Zambia, Zimbabwe
World News this Week in Prayer — Thursday, May 12, 2022
How long that road is. But, for all the time the journey has taken, how we have needed every second of it in order to learn what the road passes by. – Dag Hammarskjold* We pray. The newspaper lies in a plastic bag in the driveway. The news shows up on our phone or TV […]
Countries: Africa, Burundi, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Israel, Madagascar, Malawi, Mexico, Niger, Palestine, South Sudan, Ukraine
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, May 5, 2022
Lord, where do we begin? We want to talk about the dashing of hopes, the failure of inspiration, the death of expectation. Afghanistan has fallen out of our consciousness as Ukraine falls into our attention, and now there is what’s happening in Iraq, as army and separatists clash and thousands flee. Monoculture (rubber trees) has […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Bulgaria, China, El Salvador, India, Iraq, Mozambique, Nigeria, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News this Week in Prayer — Thursday, April 28, 2022
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. ” —Prayer of Saint Francis Resurrecting Christ, you turned the world upside down and […]
Countries: Bulgaria, China, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Mexico, Poland, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Ukraine
World News this Week in Prayer – Thursday, April 21, 2022
Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” John 20:28, 29 Eternal God, three in one and one in three; We give thanks for the countless faithful believers who, down […]
Countries: Afghanistan, China, Ireland, Israel, Philippines, Rwanda, South Africa, Sweden, Ukraine
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, April 14, 2022
Written on Maundy Thursday Three days. Three days to remember and relive Jesus’ last days on earth. Three days to his resurrection. Three days to be reminded that our lives – the best of times, and the worst of times – are borne in God’s love. Forever. Three days to let our prayers for the […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, April 7, 2022
The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens – wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught. ~ Isaiah 50:4 Lord of all learning and growth, we pray that you would teach us […]
Countries: China, Columbia, Ethiopia, France, Germany, South Korea (Republic of Korea), Ukraine, United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, March 31, 2022
Creator God, I am so privileged that I don’t know I am! Living here in the first world it is striking to hear someone explain the difference between “relative poverty” and “absolute poverty.” We pray that we are forgiven our attempts to pray for the whole world while neglecting to centre ourselves on You. As the seasons […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Finland, Israel, Moldova, Pakistan, Palestine, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, March 24, 2022
God you are light. Your light reflects within us and shines forth as we connect with one another in your Love moving through us, shining forth. All around the world we hear children in all languages sing of this light… This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Africa, Antarctica, Arctic, Asia, Australia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Egypt, Europe, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Nigeria, North America, North Korea, Russia, Somalia, South America, South Korea (Republic of Korea), Sudan, Ukraine, United States of America (USA), Zimbabwe
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, March 17, 2022
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73:26 Heavenly God, We fail constantly. Our very bodies fail as they are so fragile. How often have we wondered what to do, and choose the wrong action, words, or tone we take in everything […]
Countries: Australia, China, Corsica, Poland, Russia, Ukraine
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, March 10, 2022
My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.” And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming.” Ps 27:8 (New Living Translation) In stillness let us hear your voice, God. Easy to say, but hard to do. The endless whirl and explosion of thoughts in our heads force their way to grab our […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Eritrea, Iraq, Myanmar (Burma), Poland, Romania, Russia, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela, Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, March 3, 2022
Almighty and Everlasting God, you hate nothing that you have made and forgive the sins of all those who will turn away from them. Create and make in us new and apologetic hearts, that, mournful of our sins and acknowledging our misery, we may receive from you, the God of all mercy, perfect forgiveness and […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, February 24, 2022
As this week, fraught with so many cares and concerns, has unfolded, I have found myself singing this Advent hymn over and over again. And even though it is not the Advent season, this world is certainly in a period of waiting and watching and wondering. And so we sing together: Come now, O Prince […]
Countries: Australia, Canada, England, Haiti, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, February 17, 2022
Oh God, you lean into us. We lean into you. A flow of relationship that has no end. We are grateful. We are invited to pray without ceasing. This is not a burden but a freeing gift, an invitation to stay present to our constant dance with you. As we pray in each moment our […]
Countries: Austria, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Kuwait, New Zealand, Russia, Spain, Ukraine, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, February 10, 2022
God, in whom we live and move and have our being, there is nothing that can separate us from you and your steadfast love. Out of this love, you created a world of unsurpassed beauty and you called it good. You continue to recreate and repair this world with that same attentive love. Holy One, open […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Canada, India, Libya, Madagascar, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tunisia, Ukraine
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, February 3, 2022
Ua Mau ke Ea o ka ‘Aina ikaPono (Hawaiian) The Life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.* Great Mystery, You have many names. On this earth there are sacred spaces, defiled and pristine, known and unknown; common places and rare wild places, side streets, landfills, broken down neighborhoods and little streams forgotten as they are […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Africa, Ecuador, Kiribati, Tonga
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, January 27, 2022
You didn’t think about yesterday, and tomorrow may not happen, it was only today that you had to cope with and you got through it as best you could. Iby Knill, survivor of the Holocaust. One Day is the theme for this year’s Holocaust Memorial (27th January 2022). On this Holocaust Memorial, Creator God, we […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Cameroon, Guatemala, Myanmar (Burma), New Zealand, Norway, Syria, Tahiti French Polynesia, Thailand, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, January 20, 2022
Divine Parent, no matter who we are or what we have done, you welcome us home with open arms. We may not believe it, but you deem us worthy of your love and grace. Therefore, we uplift to you our fragmented and imperfect prayers. Beckon us from within so that we may find that place […]
Countries: Brazil, Haiti, India, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Nepal, Russia, South Africa, Tonga, Ukraine, United States of America (USA), Venezuela
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, January 13, 2022
As the scheduled writer for this week, I, like so many others, am finding life in its beauty and complexity challenging, dispiriting, frustrating, with more questions than answers and often don’t want to hear what I think God is trying to say to me as the way forward: more of the same old, same old…? […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Africa, Central America, China, Denmark, India, Kazakhstan, Latin America, Morocco, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Norway, Palestine, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South America, Spain, Sudan, Sweden, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA), Venezuela, Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, January 6, 2022
As we continue to ground ourselves in the new year, we celebrate(d) Epiphany on January 6. We remember the legacy of the Magi, who disobeyed the unethical and immoral orders of King Herod and pray that they may show us a way forward with more justice. We celebrate the day Jesus’ physical manifestation was made […]
Countries: Brazil, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Paraguay, Philippines, South Africa, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, December 30, 2021
Holy One, you are author of Creation. You have made both light and darkness holy. We know you in the shining spaces and in the uncertain places of night. We ask that your Holy Spirit descend upon all the forgotten or disregarded corners of this vast world. Infuse them with your abiding peace and everlasting […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Brazil, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Myanmar (Burma), South Africa, Sudan, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Christmas 2021
When the child was born – that child, you know – God blessed the world with light, with joy, with gladness. It wasn’t the first time God had proclaimed the goodness of creation. That happened right from the beginning. And over and over again, through many peoples and cultures and religious traditions. Nor will it […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, December 16, 2021
The anticipation is growing, O God. As Christmas draws near, the longing for redemption, for salvation, for the coming of Christ swells within us. Yet, even as the hope, peace, joy, and love grow in anticipation of the birth of Christ, we are reminded of the rugged realities of life. In the midst of our […]
Countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Philippines, South Africa, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, December 9, 2021
God of love, During this season of Advent, as we wait with anticipation for the coming light of the Christ-child, your Love made flesh in the world, we remember that you are a living God, creating with us anew each and every day. For many of us, this is a season of rededicating ourselves to […]
Countries: Chile, Germany, India, Indonesia, South Korea (Republic of Korea), South Sudan
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, December 2, 2021
O Come, O Come Emmanuel God with us, We are so grateful that you are with us. In every moment of our being. The moments when we feel You beating in echo with our hearts and the moments when we feel completely alone. We do not have to ask, You are already and always with […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Barbados, Belarus, China, El Salvador, England, Haiti, Honduras, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Poland, Rwanda, Sudan, Syria, United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, November 25, 2021
The Lord has yet more light and truth to break forth from his word Lord, it’s been a pleasant day, in a month of pleasant days and yet I sit here shaking my head in disbelief. This pleasant day results from a much warmer than normal month. Was there really any progress made at […]
Countries: Australia, Belarus, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Great Britain, Haiti, India, Mexico, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Poland, Sudan
World News this Week in Prayer – Thursday, November 18, 2021
Our Mother, Father in heaven. Thank you for your Presence within and through us and all that lives. Thank you for teaching us how to pray. Reveal to us who you are. We see you in the wonder of discovery like the bee expert who found 800,000 bees in an ancient British forest. We see […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Austria, Belarus, Canada, China, Cuba, Ecuador, Germany, Great Britain, Honduras, India, Myanmar (Burma), Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Sudan, Uganda, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, November 11, 2021
Heavenly God, You are the God of our hearts. The God whose love fills our hearts even when they feel empty. You are the God who seeks us out when we have no one and are in the loneliest of places. We are so grateful, God. Grateful when you hold us when we cannot hold […]
Countries: Belarus, Canada, Ethiopia, European Union, Mexico, Nicaragua, Poland, Scotland, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, November 4, 2021
May these prayers and meditations be received by You, O Lord. Take them and bind them to your will. This is the time of Diwali or Deepawali, a Hindu festival of lights celebrated by Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, and some Buddhists in the northern hemisphere in the fall. We meditate on the spiritual nature of the victory of […]
Countries: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, China, Colombia, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Niger, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News in Prayer – Thursday, October 28, 2021
O God, you are the one in whom we live and love and have our being. As you dwell within us, there is nothing that can separate us from your love and grace. Although at times the pain, trauma, and hurt of this world can overwhelm us. Life feels just too much. Come alongside us […]
Countries: Canada, Ghana, Haiti, Iraq, Sudan, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, October 21, 2021
How shall I pray, today, Lord? So many topics, situations, peoples, needs, joys, and problems all clamoring for attention and my thoughts are whirling and screaming. Calm us, Lord, as you calmed the storm on Galilee for your disciples. “The world and all that is in it belong to the Lord; the earth and all who live […]
Countries: Afghanistan, China, Eritrea, Eswatini (Swaziland), Ethiopia, Hong Kong, India, Kenya, Madagascar, Mexico, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Philippines, Russian Federation, Somalia, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News in Prayer This Week – Thursday, 14 October 2021
“Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our mother? What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth. This we know: the earth does not belong to humankind, humans belong to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Humanity […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Africa, Australia, Canada, Ethiopia, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Lebanon, North Korea, South Korea (Republic of Korea), Southeast Asia, Tunisia, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, October 7, 2021
Holy One, Help us in our struggle of claiming to know when we do not know, of disrespecting others wellbeing and thinking we do not share the same world, drive down the same streets, share the harvest, hospital beds and soldier against disasters and pandemics. Help each of us to follow Christ’s path of compassion. […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, Columbia, Cuba, Eritrea, Ghana, Haiti, Myanmar (Burma), Netherlands, North Korea, Panama, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United States of America (USA), Venezuela
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 30 September 2021
God of limitless love, Thank you for creating us with expansive capacity for love. The heart is a vast landscape. What wonder this is that we can feel so many different emotions, seemingly conflicting, at the same time, that we can love so deeply. Sometimes in the face of all the suffering we see, we confuse love […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Canada, Columbia, Germany, Greece, Haiti, India, Israel, Mexico, Palestine, Panama, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, September 23, 2021
Source of love and life, there are so many in need of your tender loving care. We uplift to you in prayer all who need your healing embrace in the fragile and hurting world this day. Christ, you said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.” This peace is one deeply […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Australia, Canary Islands, Myanmar (Burma), United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., Sept. 16, 2021
“Lord, take me where You want me to go Let me meet who You want me to meet Tell me what You want me to say and Keep me out of your way.” ~ Fr Mychal Judge, Franciscan friar and RC priest, chaplain to New York […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Brazil, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), El Salvador, Guinea, Mali, Russia, Uganda, Zimbabwe
World News this week in Prayer – Thursday, September 9, 2021
Holy One, We have so many prayers on our hearts, sometimes it is hard to know where to begin. We sit a moment in silence to seek out your Spirit as we enter into this time of prayer. As we approach the 20th anniversary of 9/11 on Saturday, we remember all those who lost their […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Haiti, Mexico, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, September 2, 2021
Heavenly God, Peace, peace, peace. How we long for this – this peace that only you can give: The Godly peace in which our hearts long to live. As we wake up to another day another hour, We wish that you will give us some kind of power. A power to help, a power to […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Brazil, Haiti, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, Aug. 26, 2021
The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it; for he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the rivers. (Psalm 24:1) Holy One, you have created a magnificent universe. We raise up prayers of thanksgiving for your manifold blessings. Especially we […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Australia, Borneo, China, Haiti, Italy, Madagascar, Scotland, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 19, 2021
Be gracious to me, O God, for people trample on me; all day long foes oppress me; my enemies trample on me all day long, for many fight against me. O Most High, when I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I am […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Africa, Australia, China, Ethiopia, France, Haiti, India, Israel, Mexico, United States of America (USA)
World News in Prayer – Thursday, August 12th 2021
Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name. Lord, Creator of the world, the time has gone when we can glibly say we are sorry for the way we treat the beautiful world you have given us. Following the Climate change report, ‘Code Red for Humanity’ of 9th August 2021, and the Water […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Namibia, Tigray
World News This Week in Prayer–Thursday, August 5, 2021
Sustaining God, we offer an alphabetical litany to You. Please shine Your light on: Aged adults who feel isolated in a pandemic… Birthing persons… Cancelations… Delta and other variants of COVID-19 which are highly transmissible and more virulent than the original… Ethiopia, where a civil war rages… Food pantries… Grocery store employees and all other […]
Countries: Andorra, Bermuda, Brunei, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Dominica, Ethiopia, Haiti, Iran, Lesotho, Mauritania, Nauru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Somalia, South Sudan, Tuvalu
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, July 29, 2021
O Christ, you once said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35) Today we yearn for your abundant life. We hunger for the bread of heaven to sustain us on our journey to find you. Reveal yourself […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Africa, Asia, Australia, China, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Japan, North Korea, South America, South Korea (Republic of Korea), Tanzania, United States of America (USA)
World News this Week in Prayer – Thursday July 22nd, 2021
Lord, listen to your children praying, Lord, send your Spirit in this place; Lord, listen to your children praying, send us love, send us pow’r, send us grace. Text and music- Ken Medema God of all creation, God who calls us each and all by name, hear our prayers of anguish, of contrition, of […]
Countries: Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Germany, Haiti, Iran, Nigeria, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa, Zimbabwe
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, July 16, 2021
“For we are God’s handiwork [trans. poiema, poem], created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do.” – New International Version “We are God’s works of art, created in Christ Jesus to live the good life as from the beginning he meant us to live.” – […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., July 8, 2021
In name of the Holy Spirit of grace, In name of the Father of the City of Peace, In name of Jesus who takes death off us, Oh, in name of the Three who shield us in every need, If well you have found us tonight, Seven times better may you leave us without harm, […]
Countries: China, Greece, Haiti, Iran, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – 1 July 2021
My mind is overloaded and whirling. My mind is blank. My rational mind is leaping from one world event, so often catastrophes and suffering, to the next of fear and injustice. A sense of overwhelming helplessness and anger threatens to engulf me. My soul whispers, “Be still, and know that I am God…. and there […]
Countries: Canada, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), England, France, Hungary, India, Namibia, North Korea, Rwanda, Tunisia, Uganda, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA), Zambia
World News This Week in Prayer, Thurs., June 24, 2021
Guide us waking, O Lord, and guard us sleeping; that awake we may watch with Christ, and asleep we may rest in peace. –Concluding Prayer for Compline, from The Book of Common Prayer “When evening had come, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd behind, […]
Countries: Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China, Ethiopia, Ghana, Hong Kong, India, Kashmir, Lebanon, Myanmar (Burma), Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Russia, South Africa, Syria
World News in Prayer, Thursday June 17th, 2021
O Maker of Heaven and Earth, you extravagantly pour out your love upon us to drench and anoint all of creation. It is out of this love that you gave us a home and created an earth of unsurpassed beauty– and called it good. You continue to recreate and repair this world with that same […]
Countries: Columbia, Israel, North Korea, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, June 10, 2021
Creator of the star-fields, During this new moon week, when the sky is the deepest depth of dark, the canopy of stars are especially visible in their brilliance. Pin-pricks of light on the velvet drape of night. We can see an unnameable number of stars, and there are many more we cannot see with the […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Argentina, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, India, Israel, Mongolia, Palestine, Paraguay, Russia, South Korea (Republic of Korea), Suriname, United States of America (USA), Uruguay
World News this Week in Prayer – June 3, 2021
With all the pain, violence, and sorrow that we see and experience, how is it possible to not grow hard? Some days it seems nearly impossible to see compassion and hope at work in the world. In times like these, we can send compassion and hope out into the world. Loving God, we come to […]
Countries: Austria, Canada, India, Iran, Israel, Mali, Palestine, Sri Lanka, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, May 27, 2021
Listen, Lord, as I pray! You are faithful and honest and will answer my prayer. (Ps. 143:1*) We pray for the unaccompanied children still arriving at the Mexico – USA border. We thought the situation was easing as fewer children arrived. Now we realize that children are afraid of the conditions in the holding centers […]
Countries: Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Greece, India, Ireland, Israel, Lithuania, Mexico, Palestine (Gaza), Samoa, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, May 20, 2021
A note to our email subscribers: If you are getting this prayer for a second time, it means the problem preventing our email service from “grabbing” the current prayer from our website is, in fact, finally fixed! (We’ve been fighting a massive malware invasion, which caused last week’s edition to email twice, and had been […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Hungary, India, Israel, Japan, Morocco, Palestine (Gaza), Philippines, Poland, Ukraine
World News This Week in Prayer. Thursday, 13th May 2021
Dear Lord, Outside my door it is spring. Winter snows cling to the mountains under a clear blue sky and there is a buzzing among the flowers of the over wintered kale. Here in the US we have celebrated Mother’s Day with the flower markets lighthearted and busy. Our celebrations seem short-lived amidst a pandemic […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Cambodia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Israel, Mexico, Nepal, Palestine (Gaza), Russia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, The Maldives
World News this Week in Prayer – Thursday, May 6, 2021
Lord, we thought the human world had turned a corner in the pandemic, so we watch and listen with despair at the news from India and pray and hope the same will not happen in Papua New Guinea. Lord, mighty and marvelous, what is happening? We name especially Yemen, Haiti, Syria, South Sudan and Tigray, […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Columbia, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Ethiopia, Great Britain, Haiti, India, Israel, Mexico, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, South Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, April 29, 2021
Oh God, Our Father Earth and Mother Earth, Help us to center our hearts, our thoughts, our yearnings, to let go of past wrongs and uncertain futures, to let the air out and take a simple breath in – here in the present of your eternal time. We acknowledge the lands of our ancestors. We […]
Countries: Armenia, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Ethiopia, France, Germany, India, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Myanmar (Burma), Netherlands, Norway, Russian Federation, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World New this Week in Prayer – Thursday, 22 April 2021
“But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” Amos 5:24 Dear God, Justice. Justice. Justice. This is what we cry out all the day long, Lord, as we pray for a more equitable world for the people whom you love so deeply and infinitely. God we pray that we might […]
Countries: Chad, India, Indonesia, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, April 15, 2020
O God, you come to us wherever and however we might be. No matter how much we may not believe it, we are worthy of your love and grace. Therefore, we uplift to you all of our raggedy and incomplete prayers to you—the ones that fall from our lips, the ones that remain hidden within […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, India, Iran, Japan, Niger, Nigeria, South Korea (Republic of Korea), Syria, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, April 8, 2021
God of new life, In these Easter days the wonder of the Risen Christ is close. Walking in the budding woods, resurrection is everywhere, the heart-song of the wild daffodil’s golden center, the magnolia’s blushed cup, the downy new leaf and the rippling brook. It is clear that life-death-life is the pattern at the center […]
Countries: Brazil, Central America, Chad, El Salvador, England, Greenland, India, Indonesia, Mali, Rwanda, South Sudan, Taiwan, Timor-Leste, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Easter 2021
At the last minute I substituted for the scheduled writer, and found myself thinking how little different our current world situation is from that of the first Easter. The same uncertainties, political. military, social and civil unrest, and divisions were being played out, while families and communities struggled to live and raise future generations while […]
Countries: Brazil, India, Tanzania, United Kingdom (UK)
World News this Week in Prayer, Thursday, March 25, 2021
Dear God, You know that we sometimes long to hide. We long to hide from the things which make our world and communities profoundly suffer. We long to hide from the people who hurt us and those we care about. We wish we could hide from the mounting demands from our jobs, school, and the […]
Countries: Australia, Brazil, China, India, Myanmar (Burma), Somalia
World News This Week in Prayer, Thursday, March 18, 2021
Gracious and loving God, During this season of Lent, as we journey with your Son to the cross and through the cross, we admit that we are fearful. We are scared — scared to let go, scared to join in, scared to open up. We are scared to open our hearts, our time, our homes […]
Countries: Libya, Mali, Myanmar (Burma), Tunisia, United States of America (USA), Vatican City
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, March 11, 2021
From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way. The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food […]
Countries: Brazil, Ghana, India, Myanmar (Burma), Nigeria, Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, March 4, 2021
As most of you know, World in Prayer is written by a team whose members take turns writing the prayers. And I, who am writing this week – I ran out of words a long time ago. Trapped in what seemed like near-isolation by the pandemic; anguished by its resulting ever-growing number of deaths and […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Canada, China, Cuba, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Mexico, Myanmar (Burma), Nicaragua, Niger, Peru, Thailand, United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News this Week in Prayer, Thursday, February 26, 2021
God, in whom we live and move and have our being, there is nothing that separates us from you, your grace, and your love. And yet, sometimes it is so hard to trust that you are at work around and within us, especially this Lenten season when it feels as if we have never left […]
Countries: Armenia, Central African Republic, Myanmar (Burma), United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – February 18, 2021
I have decided to stick with love… Hate is too great a burden to bear. Martin Luther King Oh Lord, your house is built with understanding and compassion – it is our quiet center. If only we could grasp its power. In small agitations and overwhelming calamities, during times of lament and great injustices help […]
Countries: Mexico, Myanmar (Burma), Philippines, United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News in Prayer – Friday, 12th February 2021
There has been an unexpected glitch preventing the prayers being edited and posted as usual yesterday for which we apologise. Here they are now. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . […]
Countries: Bolivia, Brazil, China, El Salvador, Ghana, Great Britain, India, Madagascar, Tanzania
World News in Prayer – Thursday, 4th February 2021
“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, January 28, 2021
God of all times and places, as we look out into your world we see so many different things: sun snow rain chaos silence hope fear peace violence justice faith oppression … The list goes on, and on, and on. As I gaze out my window today, I am reminded that what I see what […]
Countries: Australia, Ghana, India, Peru, Syria, United Kingdom (UK)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 21 January 2021
This opening Litany of Praise is from the Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity 2021 taken from the ecumenical service published by CTBI prepared by the The Monastic Community of Grandchamp. Switzerland. Congregation: You who call us to be praise in the midst of the earth: glory to you! Reader 1: We sing your praise in the midst […]
Countries: Australia, Chile, China, Egypt, Great Britain, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Nepal, New Zealand, Qatar, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tunisia, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, January 14th, 2021
Dear God, Today we long to be held. We long to be held, not by the hateful actions we see on our televisions. Not by a virus that continually kills thousands upon thousands. Not by our divisions and the things which cause us to break apart. We long to be held by your unbreakable, unshakeable, […]
Countries: Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Netherlands, Syria, Uganda, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 7 January 2021
Editor’s note: World In Prayer needs a few more writers and editors! Our team consists of 12-15 volunteers, from several different countries and continents. Each week, one person writes the prayers in response to international news. A second person then edits and posts the prayers online. Because we rotate who writes and edits, you would end up serving […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Argentina, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Egypt, El Salvador, France, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Lithuania, Mali, Mexico, Morocco, Myanmar (Burma), Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Palestine, Republic of the Congo (Congo Republic or Congo-Brazzaville), Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Syria, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates (UAE), United States of America (USA), Venezuela, Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, December 31, 2020
As I come to write this I am frazzled, angry and baffled at the illogical, selfish behavior of some close to me who with their medical expertise and knowledge should know better and take precautions in the face of the surging pandemic. They are not alone – sadly. Lockdowns, illness, suffering, death, separation, and lack […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Belarus, Egypt, Japan, Kurdistan, Libya, Norway, Russia, Syria, Turkey, United Kingdom (UK), Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Christmas 2020
Christmas 2020 This does not feel like Christmas. Sorry, God, but we have to say it bluntly. It doesn’t feel like Christmas. Most of our treasured Christmas traditions – off limits due to the pandemic. Worship services severely curtailed, or moved to online only. Businesses closed or in danger of closing permanently. Too many ill, […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, December 17, 2020
Come now, O Prince of Peace, make us one body. Come, O Lord Jesus, reconcile your people. – Geonyong Lee (Tune: OSOSO) With heavy hearts, we come to you during this time of waiting, this time of Advent as we prepare for the coming of the One who is God’s incarnated Love. Only this year, […]
Countries: England, Ethiopia, Germany, Hungary, New Zealand, Nigeria, Singapore, South Korea (Republic of Korea)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., Dec. 10, 2020
Dear God, We know this above all things – your steadfast love endures beyond all things here on this earth and beyond this earth. We know this, and yet we still struggle. We know that we are your people, and we also know that you most certainly are our God. Although we know we can […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Ethiopia, India, Iraq, Nigeria, Sudan, United States of America (USA), Venezuela
World News this Week in Prayer, Thursday, December 3, 2020
In this second week of Advent, we light the candle of peace. What does it mean for us to seek God’s peace? Is peace a lack of conflict, or is it more? The word so often used for peace in the Bible can also be translated as wholeness. May we seek God’s wholeness this week. […]
Countries: India, New Zealand, Pakistan
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 26 November 2020
Creator God, This year has been different. We know you don’t need us to tell you that – but it helps to get it off our minds and you have broad shoulders to carry our burden. Easter was different, Eid and Diwali, too. And now Thanksgiving and next it will be Christmas. We know people’s […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Ethiopia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Sudan, Venezuela
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020
In 1925, Pope Pius XI established the Feast of Christ the King, also known as Christ the King Sunday, as a corrective to a major worldwide shift toward nationalism. This feast day is included in the Revised Common Lectionary and is celebrated by most mainline Protestant denominational groups. O Christ, what can it mean for […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Brazil, Ethiopia, France, India, Iraq, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Sudan
World News this Week in Prayer, Thursday, November 12, 2020
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive […]
Countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Ethiopia, Hong Kong, Mozambique, Russia
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, November 5, 2020
Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD my God, you are very great! You are clothed with splendor and majesty, covering yourself with light as with a garment, stretching out the heavens like a tent. He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters; he makes the clouds his chariot; he rides on […]
Countries: Austria, Ethiopia, Nigeria, United States of America (USA), Venezuela
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., October 29, 2020
We meet you in prayer this day, asking for hope and guidance during these times of great uncertainty. We lift our hearts in prayer for all those protesting police brutality: In Philadelphia, PA, U.S., where Walter Wallace, Jr., a black man experiencing a mental health crisis, was shot and killed by police. In Nigeria amid […]
Countries: France, Nigeria, Russia, Syria
World News this Week in Prayer, Thursday, October 22, 2020
“I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 Dear God, Our world is changing in ways that we never imagined. We are in need of your unwavering love. We live in a world which holds so […]
Countries: Africa, Asia, China, Europe, European Union, France, Iran, Italy, Middle East, Nigeria, North America, Russia, Spain, United Kingdom (UK)
World News in Prayer- Thursday, October 15, 2020
1 Thessalonians 5: 1 – 3 Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When they say, ‘There is peace and security’, then […]
Countries: Australia, India, Israel, Lebanon, Russia, Tanzania
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., October 8, 2020
Editor’s note: World Teachers’ Day has been celebrated internationally on 5 October each year since 1994, commemorating the anniversary of the adoption of the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation Concerning the Status of Teachers, which establishes standards for teacher rights and responsibilities, as well as teacher preparation and support. This year’s theme, “Teachers: Leading in Crisis, Reimaging […]
Countries: France, Italy, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar (Burma), Nigeria, Russia, United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., Oct. 1, 2020
O God, why are you silent? I cannot hear your voice; the proud and strong and violent all claim you and rejoice; you promised you would hold me with tenderness and care. Draw near, O Love, enfold me, and ease the pain I bear. Marty Haugen/ Tune: Herzlich mich verlangen […]
Countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Brazil, England, India, Israel, Rwanda, Scotland, Spain, United States of America (USA), Venezuela
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, September 24, 2020
God of Our Ancestors, Since before we were born, you have knit your people into a great reimagining of purpose and life. You call us by your mercy and claim us with your truth. Even in these days of protest and pandemic, show us what it means that you are the Creator, Christ, and Comforter. […]
Countries: Brazil, India, Mexico, New Zealand, United States of America (USA)
World New This Week in Prayer – Thursday, Sept. 17, 2020
“No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you […]
Countries: Israel, Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, September 10, 2020
May you be well, And all whom you love, And those you work with, And all who eat of the crops you handle. That has been my prayer/mantra at least one afternoon a week for the past month, as I joined with other volunteers to prepare 100,000 Covid-19 prevention kits to be given to agricultural […]
Countries: Belarus, Brazil, China, France, Greece, Isle of Man, Israel, Niger, Nigeria, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Sudan, Sweden, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News in Prayer – Thursday, 3 September 2020
We pray Lord, We pray some of us on our knees, some hands folded, palms to heart, forehead to ground, some raising a sign in protest, some gritting their teeth and eyes tight shut and others lighting a candle. We pray for your mercy in these tumultuous times, in these times where every shooting raises […]
Countries: Uganda
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, August 27, 2020
Holy One, As we center ourselves for prayer, remind us that you are as close to us as our very breath, even in these times when you may feel so far away to so many of us; in these times when many of us find it so hard to breathe. You are there with us. […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Brazil, Lebanon, Spain, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 20 August 2020
“Let me hear of your steadfast love in the morning, for in you I put my trust. Teach me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.” Psalm 143:8 Dearest creator of us all, It is to you that we lift our souls and our very beings. As we draw […]
Countries: Iran, Italy, Republic of Mauritius, Spain, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News this Week in Prayer, Thursday, August 13, 2020
Holy Creator, You are at our Beginning and our Ending, the one who wakes us in the morning and settles us to sleep at night. When we move through the fog of uncertainty, bring a piercing light of a clarity, even if just for a moment. When we want to plop down in heaps of […]
Countries: Arctic, Belarus, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Lebanon, Mozambique, Russia, South Africa
World News in Prayer – August 6, 2020
Dear Lord, help us to hear these voices. I pray today that my knees and back hold up. I pray that my mom and children are ok in our two-bedroom apartment while I work at a hotel and clean 15 rooms each day. I pray that my paycheck will be enough, that my car holds […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cambodia, Central African Republic, China, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Ecuador, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Liberia, Moldova, Myanmar (Burma), Nigeria, Pakistan, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Somalia, South Sudan, Thailand, United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News in Prayer – Thursday, 30th July 2020
I never anticipated that now, in the midst of an abundant summer following a beautiful spring, we would still be living out a winter spirituality. But the Covid-19 Pandemic has brought this upon us. But…We’re All in This Together, Right?….except…. Lowering of pollution that first month—the air so crisp and clear and breathable. Everything stood […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Belarus, Brazil, China, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Russia, Somalia, South Africa, Turkey, Zimbabwe
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, July 23, 2020
Ever-creating God, Your glory fills the skies, from the transient sparkle of the fleeting meteor to the unexpected spectacle of Comet Neowise; your glory fills the earth from mountain height to ocean depth. We praise you. As difficult as it is to find words to express how much your glory thrills and excites us it […]
Countries: Australia, Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, India, Nepal, Pakistan, United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, July 16, 2020
This week’s prayer contains excerpts from The [Episcopal] Book of Common Prayer. Lord God, today we gather in Your name, though most of us not in the indoor spaces that have come to symbolize gathering spaces for those seeking truth, justice, and faith. Many of us struggle to feel the sacred or even simple connection […]
Countries: Argentina, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Mexico, Oman, South Africa, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, July 9, 2020
This week there is a musical response that can be played following each time of prayer. The music clip is from Singing the Faith. The lyrics are: Be still and know that I am God, and there is none beside me. Creator God, we meet to give you praise and worship. Each one of our […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, July 2, 2020
The World in Prayer team member who wrote this week’s prayers has spent the past 6 weeks catching, taming, and finding homes for a litter of feral kittens. It has, she says, definitely affected how she understands God, and how she prays for the world. “You’ll have to forgive me,” she writes, “if these prayers […]
Countries: Bangladesh, Botswana, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, China, Ethiopia, France, Hong Kong, Kenya, Laos, Liberia, Malawi, Morocco, Myanmar (Burma), Nigeria, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Tanzania, Thailand, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA), Zimbabwe
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 25 June 2020
(Many thanks to Evangelical Lutheran Church in America pastor/author, Nadia Bolz-Weber, for some of the prayer petitions.) God who is called by many names, God of this earth and all its peoples, today we are crying out, how long, O Lord? How long until we can touch our parents and beloved elders? (even as we thank you for […]
Countries: Brazil, Gabon, India, Mexico, Pakistan, United States of America (USA), Zimbabwe
World News in Prayer – Thursday, 18 June, 2020
What does the Lord ask of us? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God.~ Micah 6 : 8 “My thoughts are not like your thoughts. And your ways are not like my ways,” announces the Lord. “The heavens are higher than the earth. And my ways are higher than your […]
Countries: Australia, Chechnya, India, Zimbabwe
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 11 June 2020
Christ, Jesus our friend and companion in the streets, in police stations, on curbsides, at take out restaurants, in hospital waiting rooms, in public health offices that are conducting contact tracing phone calls, in hallways of governments, and with those who listen to testimony. You, Lord, who wait for us to open the door, to […]
Countries: Argentina, Brazil, China, Ghana, India
World News in Prayer – Thursday, 4 June, 2020
Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? So why has the healing of my dear people not come about? ~ Jeremiah 8:22 Is there no balm in Gilead, Holy God? For we, your people, desperately need a balm, a healing, a sense that the desperate pain we are feeling will come to […]
Countries: Africa, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, England, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, May 28, 2020
A reading from the Book of Genesis, chapter 11: [In ancient times] the whole earth had one language and the same words. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad […]
Countries: China, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, May 21, 2020
Even as the world turns, it seems the world has stood still in the shock of the pandemic. But we know this is not truly so, even as we know that you, Lord, hold all in your hand and love what you have created. Science tells us that hurricanes and cyclones will continue to get […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brazil, India, Russia, Sweden, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, May 14, 2020
Dear God, We take so much for granted. We want things to go a certain way, our way: Forgive us our narrow-mindedness. Help us to see beyond our small spot on the planet, beyond our place in this moment of time. Move us out of our heads and into our hearts. Shake us loose from […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Brazil, India, South Korea (Republic of Korea), United States of America (USA)
World News in Prayer – Thursday, May 7, 2020
Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer, we come to you in prayer today, longing to see and sense your presence in these uncertain times. We pray for your world, as we seek to understand and find a way to stop the spread of COVID-19. Bring comfort to those who grieve, remembering especially those in India who died or are suffering […]
Countries: Australia, Ethiopia, Germany, India, Kenya, New Zealand, Peru, Somalia, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, April 30, 2020
Dear Lord, Sometimes we feel so alone and unprepared and exhausted. Sometimes we feel forgotten and stepped upon. Lord, remind us to breathe, to look outward and to look inward. Lord, remind us that in praying we are doing your will. Help us to examine ourselves and to prepare for each day, knowing you are […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Greece, South Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, United States of America (USA), Venezuela, Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, April 23, 2020
Praying with Psalm 116 in this time of pandemic* We love you, O God, because you have heard the voice of our supplications, because you have inclined your ear to us whenever we called upon you. (Psalm 116, v. 1, adapted) Because you have been faithful to us, O God, from time immemorial, bringing us […]
Countries: Andorra, Belgium, Channel Islands, France, Indonesia, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Kenya, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Nigeria, San Marino, South Sudan, Spain, St. Marten, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, April 16, 2020
A reading from the Gospel of John, chapter 20, verses 19 through 29, in the New Revised Standard Version: When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the authorities, Jesus came and stood among […]
Countries: Brazil, China, Kenya, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, April 9, 2020
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ~ Lamentations 3: 21b – 23 [Early on the first day of the week] Mary Magdalene […]
Countries: Italy, Nigeria, South Africa
World News in Prayer – April 2, 2020
Nobel Peace Laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (President of Liberia from 2006 to 2018, including during the Ebola crisis) writes: Dear fellow citizens of the world, … It does not mean that we are on our own, every country for themselves. On the contrary, it is the sign of a communal response, that border closures make […]
Countries: Germany, India, Libya, Nepal, Nigeria, Palestine, Switzerland, United Kingdom (UK), Yemen
World News in Prayer – Thursday, March 25, 2020
Conversations will not be cancelled. Relationships will not be cancelled. Love will not be cancelled. Songs will not be cancelled. Reading will not be cancelled. Self-care will not be cancelled. Hope will not be cancelled. * Beloved, how are we to pray in these times of pandemic, when country after country imposes stringent stay-at-home orders? […]
Countries: Australia, Canada, China, Croatia, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA), Zimbabwe
World News this Week in Prayer, Thursday, March 19, 2020
From a distance the world looks blue and green And the snow capped mountains white From a distance the ocean meets the stream And the eagle takes to flight* Holy One, during this time of social distancing and lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic, remind us that we are still connected to one another. We […]
Countries: Canada, Italy, Lummi Nation
World News in Prayer – Thursday, 12th March 2020
Every little thing is sent for something, and in that thing there should be happiness and the power to make happy. Like the grasses showing tender faces to each other, thus we should do, for this was the wish of the Grandfathers of the World. Black Elk, (1863-1950) Oh God, we read these words […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Algeria, Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, Belgium, Bhutan, Bosnia, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guadalupe, Herzegovina, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau, Malaysia, Mexico, Monaco, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, North Korea, North Macedonia, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Singapore, Slovenia, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates (UAE), United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 5 March, 2020
Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the guilt of my sin. … (God said) I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon […]
Countries: Africa, Antarctica, Arctic, Australia, Brazil, Europe, Greece, Greenland, Iraq, Mexico, Syria, Turkey, Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 27 February 2020
Jesus is a rock in a weary land, A weary land, a weary land; My Jesus is a rock in a weary land, A shelter in the time of storm. African American spiritual God of forgiveness and mercy, God of grace and truth, we enter this season of Lent with both gratitude and trepidation. Evidence […]
Countries: China, Ethiopia, Haiti, India, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 20 February 2020
World News in Prayer – Thursday, February 20, 2020 We offer our prayers for the growth of God’s kingdom in our world today, uniting our voices with Christ, who perfects our prayers. Let us pray. Holy Rock, when our world trembles and quakes, when plagues of locusts take over, and when drought and wildfires wreak […]
Countries: Australia, Cameroon, Syria, Turkey, United States of America (USA), Zimbabwe
World News This Week in Prayer, Thursday, February 13, 2020
Ah, Lord God, our creator, our father. The world is changing. Again. It’s difficult to realize, as I write when the sky is wall to wall blue and a plane suddenly adds a tracery of white, that that interesting line is part of what is changing our world. As another huge iceberg calves from […]
Countries: Asia, China, Jordan, Mexico, Syria
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, February 6, 2020
Will you love the “you” you hide if I but call your name? —Will you quell the fear inside and never be the same? Will you use the faith you’ve found to reshape the world around, through my sight and touch and sound in you and you in me? “The Summons” (Traditional Scottish song, words […]
Countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Puerto Rico, Somalia, Uganda, United States of America (USA)
World News in Prayer – Thursday, 30 January 2020
Arise, shine, for your light has come, And the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth And thick darkness is over the peoples, But the Lord rises upon you And his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your dawn. Isaiah […]
Countries: Australia, China, Ghana, Poland
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, January 23, 2020
He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8 Dear God, Sometimes it feels that this world is full of so much chaos that we forget to take the time […]
Countries: Australia, China, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs. January 16, 2020
Dear Friends in Prayer, Did you ever have one of those sleepless nights? When, after three hours of perfectly wonderful, refreshing sleep, you are suddenly awake, wide awake, for no apparent reason? And when, despite watching a couple of shows on your Kindle Fire (or whatever you resort to during wakeful hours), your mind is […]
Countries: Australia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mexico, Panama, Philippines, Russia, Syria, United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – January 9, 2020
Dear God, While we know you hold onto us, and we know that you are there during every moment of our lives, we also live with so much fear. Fear for the planet, fear for all people around the world, fear for our friends and family, fear for the places we live, and fear for […]
Countries: Australia, Iran, Puerto Rico, Ukraine
World News This Week in Prayer – January 2, 2020
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. James 1:17 Oh Lord, there are many things that concern us and call us to prayer. We open our hearts to you in gratitude and wonder. We pray for those who rage and are quick to anger, for those who seem to be eaten up […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Cameroon, Central African Republic, China, Ethiopia, France, Germany, India, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Mali, Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Korea (Republic of Korea), South Sudan, Spain, Syria, United Kingdom (UK), Yemen
World News in Prayer – Thursday, 26th December 2019
As we approach the end of another year, we tend to reflect and look back over the last year or decade but unless this informs our choices and behaviours going forward it is in danger of being an empty and futile activity. So many have expressed frustration, anger or disconnectedness with the political process in […]
Countries: Australia, Chile, China, Europe, France, Greenland, Hong Kong, India, Iraq, Mexico, Micronesia, Myanmar (Burma), Russia, Spain, Syria, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Christmas 2019
Christmas 2019 Sure on This Shining Night – Concordia Choir Sure on this shining night Of starmade shadows round, Kindness must watch for me This side the ground. The late year lies down the north. All is healed, all is health. High summer holds the earth. Hearts all whole. Sure on this shining night I […]
World News This Week in Prayer — Thursday, 12 December 2019
During this season of Advent, this season of waiting, we are called to anticipate the fulfillment of God’s reign. Advent is a chance for each one of us to practice the reign of God in the way we meet and treat one another. As we prepare for this time of prayer, let us anticipate the […]
Countries: Canada, New Zealand, Samoa, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer — Thursday, 5 December 2019
We open our hearts to you, God of compassion, God of power, Because we know we need your creative power and precision of language when we speak, we need to learn the voice of clarity, to see with vision, to hear with discretion and act with generosity. In this season of hyper-charged commercialism, ever attempting […]
Countries: Africa, Arctic, France
World News in Prayer – Thursday, 28 November 2019
Father God, are we there yet? We are between the last Sunday of the year and the first – are we nearly there yet? “The days are coming” (book of Jeremiah) – are we nearly there yet? We are between the new beginning and end of the last new beginning – are we nearly there […]
Countries: Albania, Australia, France, Italy, Rwanda, Uganda
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 21 November 2019
Ever-present God, as we come to the end of another liturgical year, we remember and celebrate the present and coming kingship of Christ. We anticipate the coming day when the prophetic words of scripture are fulfilled and we work, diligently, to co-create a world where all people are loved and respected. Yet, we are perplexed […]
Countries: Australia, Bolivia, China, Ethiopia, France, Senegal, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 13 November, 2019
Great justice-seeker of the universe, You know that we live in a great and awful time. You have opened our minds to the secrets of nature, but record flooding in Venice, Italy, and raging fires from the United States to Australia, give us reason to pause about having the power of sub-atomic particles placed into […]
Countries: Australia, Bolivia, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, United States of America (USA)
World News in Prayer – Thursday, 7 November 2019
Dear Lord, Great Mystery, Comforter and Reconciler of All. In your Great Mystery you are a bulwark, a fortress and watchtower. You protect and shield and send light forth to guide and unite. We build walls, over 70 of them across lands and around the world from the U.S.-Mexican border to the fences separating Hungary […]
World News this Week in Prayer – Thursday, October 31, 2019
Holy God, we give thanks this day for the diversity of your creation. As we prepare our hearts and minds for prayer, we remember that you created our world in all of its differences. We give thanks this day, O God, for all the saints who have come before us: those who worshiped in homes […]
Countries: Great Britain, Lebanon, United States of America (USA)
World News this Week in Prayer – Thursday, 24 October 2019
Creator God, we give thanks for the privilege of praying. Hear us as we try to pray for our world. Our world seems to be surround by protests. We pray for those in Chile and Ecuador who protest against income inequality. We pray for those who protest about corruption in Iraq, Egypt, and Lebanon. We […]
Countries: Chile, China, Ecuador, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, New Zealand, Spain
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., October 17, 2019
Be gentle with us, O Lover of Souls. Be gentle with us, for surely in this fractured and fracturing world, that above all is what we need: To (re)learn to be gentle with ourselves. To be gentle with each other. To be gentle with our planet. Be gentle with those – especially with those – […]
Countries: Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Gambia, Japan, Lebanon, Mexico, South Korea (Republic of Korea), Syria, Turkey, United States of America (USA), Venezuela
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, October 10, 2019
[Yay, our website is finally back up! If you subscribe to the email edition of World in Prayer, we apologize that you’re getting last week’s prayers again. Unfortunately, we have no way of telling the email service to skip a post that we’ve already sent out manually.] But now thus says the Lord, he who […]
Countries: Hong Kong, Syria, Turkey, United States of America (USA), Venezuela
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, October 3, 2019
God, We lift in prayer this week: Political leaders and all people in Hong Kong, China; North Korea and surrounding neighbors; Baghdad, Iraq; Paris, France; the United States of America and all Central American countries; The family of Botham Jean and all impending fall-out from the sentencing of Amber Guyger; The families of those who […]
Countries: Central America, France, Iraq, North Korea, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 26 September 2019
Precious Lord, take my hand. Lead me on, let me stand. I am tired, I am weak, and worn. Precious Lord, there are times when the news of the world – your world – seems only to abuse and abase us, when it seems indeed to assault us. When a large clump of the Mont […]
Countries: Italy, United States of America (USA)
World News in Prayer – Thursday, 19th September 2019
There is a voice ringing throughout the universe; throughout all space and time; seeking to reach our ears, to touch our hearts and souls. Gracious God, help us to listen for Your voice, calming and clear, throughout the chaos of our frenzied lives, the voices in our heads, and the roaring sounds all around us. […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil, Europe, Indonesia, Syria, The Bahamas
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child, Sometimes I feel like a motherless child, Sometimes I feel like a motherless child, A long way from home. – African-American spiritual Mother-Father God, we come to you when we feel lost. We come to you when we feel discouraged. We come to you when our strength […]
Countries: Hong Kong, India, Israel, Japan, Kenya, South Korea (Republic of Korea), The Bahamas, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019
Kindle a flame to lighten the dark and take all fear away. ~ John L Bell and Graham Maule* When nations are being riven by fear, lies, lack of trust in political, business and so many seeming to seek leadership positions for their own aggrandisement rather than the common good: Kindle a flame to lighten […]
Countries: Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Central African Republic, Eritrea, Greenland, India, Kashmir, Libya, Mexico, South Africa, Sudan, Sweden, The Bahamas, Turkey, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 29, 2019
Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. – 1 Peter 4:8 God of love, you created the world and everything in it. You created the beautiful rain forests, the colorful sunsets, the innumerable animals and leaving creatures, human beings, and most of all you created the love […]
Countries: Brazil, Caribbean Islands, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Russia, South Africa, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 22, 2019
But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Brazil, Canada, China, Great Britain, Iceland, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Switzerland, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 15, 2019
There is a Love that is deeper than love, that fills the world, that fuels the world. O, give thanks and sing. From Genesis 18:16-23 (Paraphrased): The Lord, having heard much outcry about the sins of the two cities, was prepared to destroy them, and all the people in them. But Abraham challenged the Lord: […]
Countries: Belgium, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), India, Israel, Italy, Kashmir, Kenya, North Korea, Pakistan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, South Korea (Republic of Korea), Sweden, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 8, 2019
‘Truly the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him on those who hope in his steadfast love..’ ~ Ps 33:18 ‘Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen….. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God so that what […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Australia, India, Latvia, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, Syria, United States of America (USA), Zimbabwe
World News this Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 1, 2019
My soul cries out with a joyful shout that the God of my heart is great, and my spirit sings of the wondrous things that you bring to the ones who wait. You fixed your sight on your servant’s plight, and my weakness you did not spurn, so from east to west shall my name […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Iran, Israel, Italy, Mexico, North Korea, Palestine, Russia, Saudi Arabia
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, July 25, 2019
He has shown all you people what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8 NIV Let us pray. We think of the 45 People beaten by organized thugs in Yuen Long, a far northwest metro station […]
Countries: Hong Kong, Libya, Sudan, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 18 July 2019
As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. Isaiah 66:13 Mother God, How grateful we are, Lord, for your constant presence in our lives as we walk as little children on this earth. As we look around this world and see the awful things which happen […]
Countries: Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), France, India, Zimbabwe
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, July 11, 2019
Lord in your mercy Hear our prayer Lord, there is so much happening in our world we hardly know where to direct our attention and can only be grateful that you see all and answer the prayers of all your people. So we place in your hands our concerns for our environment from the high […]
Countries: Brazil, China, New Zealand, United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, July 4, 2019
“My Country ‘Tis of Thee Sweet Land of Liberty of Thee I Sing” (Hymn, Samuel Francis Smith) Holy God, I write from my little corner of the world, my little neighborhood of my native land, the United States, celebrating its birth. You have heard the fun, fireworks explosions from sea to shining sea. You […]
Countries: United States of America (USA)
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, June 27, 2019
I lift up my eyes to the hills— from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Psalm 121:1-2 (NRSV) Rescuing and Redeeming God, we lift our eyes up to you. We lift our eyes out of the chaos of our lives seeking […]
Countries: Malaysia, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, June 20, 2019
Holy One, Our hands reach out, our voices call forth, our hearts lift up, and in the act of praying, once again, we discover you. Our words are but a small measure of the world’s great need, yet as we draw close to you, you draw close to us. We pray to you, O Lord. […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Haiti, Hong Kong, Kenya, Malawi, Myanmar (Burma), Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, United States of America (USA), Venezuela, Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, June 13, 2019
Wherever you are right now, take a moment to feel God’s presence and center yourself in that presence. Holy One, our faith journeys reveal new things to us each and every day. Each journey is different, and each journey brings forth feelings of both faith and doubt, of both righteous anger and of peace. Help […]
Countries: Botswana, China, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Hong Kong, India, Mexico, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, 6 June, 2019
“God of grace and God of glory on thy people pour thy power… Grant us wisdom grant us courage for the living of these days.” (Hymn, Harry Emerson Fosdick) Holy God, we sing our hymn of faith with faith, sometimes in the spirit of the modern proverb to “fake it ‘till we make it”. Our […]
Countries: China, India, Nicaragua, Sudan, Venezuela
World News The Week in Prayer- Thursday, May 30. 2019
(6/1/19 Apologies to our readers. Due to my own sheer stupidity – aka, forgetting to restart the emails after changing a setting – the prayers didn’t email on schedule this week. Mea culpa! -Andee, World in Prayer founder) Holy One,In our prayers, we seek you and in our praying, we feel the air stirred by […]
Countries: Bangladesh, India, Iran, Israel, Nigeria, Palestine (Gaza), Rwanda, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 23 May 2019
Creator of the universe, the same yesterday, today and forever and yet new every morning: You made the world in beauty. Open our hearts to your power that moves around us and between us and within us, until your glory is revealed in our love of all communities. Transform us and all communities by your justice […]
Countries: Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), France, Great Britain, India, Mozambique
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, May 16, 2019
“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” – John 13:34-35 (NRSV) Loving God, Jesus commanded the disciples to love one another. But […]
Countries: Burkina Faso, Nigeria, North Korea, Sri Lanka, Sudan
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, May 9, 2019
Oh God, you who are always listening to us; you who hear the bird singing in the topmost branch against the blue, blue sky; you who know of the sobbing deep in the rubble after a bombing or the utterings of the newly-born. You, who are the heart of compassion, who gave your son Jesus […]
Countries: Cameroon, Colombia, India, Libya, United States of America (USA), Venezuela
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, May 2, 2019
This week’s prayers begin with music. Music composed in the late 18th century by an Austrian composer, using an ancient Latin text. Music sung, this past Sunday, by a touring Russian ensemble, at the beginning of worship in an Episcopal church in California, U.S. But perhaps a bit of background is in order. The members […]
Countries: Antarctica, Bangladesh, Comoro Islands, Cyprus, Greece, India, Israel, Italy, Malta, Mexico, Mozambique, Nigeria, Spain, Syria, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, April 25, 2019
Holy One, Your Name is above all names, it is so high that we cannot attain it, yet still we seek it. And when we cannot find you, when we do not understand what is happening, when our hearts quake with fear and our spirits tremble with unknowing, when we stumble and search and seek […]
Countries: Australia, Brazil, Columbia, Hong Kong, Libya, New Zealand, Philippines, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, United States of America (USA)
World News in Prayer – Thursday 18 April 2019
Holy One, As Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France burned this week, so many millions of us were bound together in heartbreak. As Notre Dame emerged damaged but not fully destroyed, so many millions were bound together in hope. As we consider Paris and Notre Dame, we pray for fulfilling and fruitful work of healing and […]
Countries: France, Israel, Libya, Portugal, Sudan, Ukraine, Venezuela, Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, April 11, 2019
God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, […]
Countries: Brazil, China, Columbia, Ecuador, Guyana, Libya, Malawi, Malaysia, Mozambique, Myanmar (Burma), North Korea, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Rwanda, Syria, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, Zimbabwe
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, April 4, 2019
“Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing…” ~ Isaiah 43: 18 – 19a. (NIV) “For now my place is in him, and I am not dependent upon any of the self-achieved righteousness of the Law. God has given me that genuine righteousness […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Algeria, Brunei, Canada, Cyprus, Japan, Madagascar, Ukraine, Venezuela
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, March 28, 2019
Holy One, In the dark of the night when tears become our prayers, we believe the Spirit intercedes for us, breathing through our lament. In the light of the day when fears hushes our voice, we believe that Christ listens to all that we carry in deep within our hearts. In the midst of life’s […]
Countries: India, Iraq, Israel, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, New Zealand, United States of America (USA), Venezuela, Yemen, Zimbabwe
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, March 21, 2019
Loving God, We know you as a trusted source of direction and purpose. Sometimes we think our thoughts are your thoughts. Sometimes we pray that they are. But today we pray for the sensory awareness of how you feel. We hope that it will guide us and how we feel about refugees who have experienced […]
Countries: Mozambique, New Zealand, Zimbabwe
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, March 14, 2019
[God] brought [Abram] outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” ~ Genesis 15:5 God of abundance, we know that you are able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine, and yet our […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Australia, Brazil, Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, North Korea, Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, March 7, 2019
“Safe in the shadow of the Lord beneath His hand and power, I trust in Him, I trust in Him, my fortress and my tower.” – paraphrase of Ps 91 by Timothy Dudley-Smith Heavenly Father, Your word and being is of compassion, merciful care and everlasting love to all, regardless of merit. The response […]
Countries: Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, England, Europe, India, Iraq, Middle East, Northern Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, Scotland, Somalia, South America, Syria, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA), Venezuela
World News This Week in Prayer, Thursday, February 28, 2019
Longing for light, we wait in darkness. Longing for truth, we turn to you. Make us your own, your holy people, Light for the world to see. Christ, be our light! Shine in our hearts. Shine through the darkness. Christ, be our light! Shine in your church gathered today. Words and music by Bernadette Farrell […]
Countries: Brazil, India, Mexico, North Korea, Pakistan, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, United States of America (USA), Venezuela
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 21 February 2019
[Italics are quotes from “Ella’s Song” by Sweet Honey in the Rock.] We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes. Almighty God, we pray for all who fear for their lives around the globe, living in war-torn areas, living in fear of terrorism, and living under oppressive governments, including: the civilians in Baghuz, Syria […]
Countries: Argentina, Haiti, Iran, Mexico, Switzerland, Syria, United States of America (USA), Venezuela
World News in Prayer – Thursday, 14th February 2019
Creator God, It doesn’t seem enough to say we thank you for the beauty of your creation. When we think of all that happened from the growth of our planet, its place in the solar system and the most we can say is “thanks”. You know the gratitude of our hearts, the deep meaning we want to […]
Countries: Australia, Brazil, Chile, China, Columbia, England, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Venezuela, Wales, Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, February 7, 2019
Holy One, We pray to see the world as you see it. We pray to have our hearts rejoice with what delights you. We pray to have our hearts break with what grieves you. The world has wonder, but also pain. When our spirits are full of tumult and questions, we turn to you. You […]
Countries: Australia, France, Syria, Venezuela, Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – January 31, 2019
But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present […]
Countries: Australia, South Sudan, Syria, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA), Venezuela, Yemen, Zimbabwe
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., January 24, 2019
Heavenly Father, we find ourselves in abundance. We feel great sadness but also great love in our world. We worry about those who feel forgotten; we worry about the people who tell stories of persecution because their difference is seen as criminal. We turn to you, Holy Creator, to free us from worry and to […]
Countries: United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA), Venezuela, Zimbabwe
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, January 17, 2019
As the words of the Spirit echo in our ears, “You are my child, my beloved.” “You bring me delight and joy.” The news of the week shakes us back to reality, the world is not as it could be, the heavenly kingdom struggles to break forth. Grant us courage in the face of our […]
Countries: Australia, Kenya, Mexico, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, January 10, 2019
And a voice came from above, “You are my beloved child; I love you.” – Luke 3:22 Baptized in water, sealed by the Spirit, marked with the sign of Christ our king: Born of the Spirit, we are God’s children; joyfully now God’s praise we sing. Michael Saward, tune: BUNESSAN Holy One, you who love […]
Countries: Australia, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Guatemala, Iran, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Sudan, Syria, United States of America (USA), Venezuela, Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, January 3, 2019
Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:30-31 Heavenly God, How can we ever thank you? How can […]
Countries: Indonesia, Mexico, Yemen
World in Prayer – Christmas 2018
Love. Love, said poet Christina Rossetti, “Love came down at Christmas.” Love spoke to Mary in the voice of the angel Gabriel. Love said: “Fear not.” Fear not, when you have seen a vision of hope and glory, healing and joy that transcends the universe. Fear not when you are called to be the bearer of […]
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, December 20, 2018
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Luke 4:18-19, Isaiah 61:1,2 Oh […]
Countries: China, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, December 13, 2018
“For unto us a child is born… and the government shall be upon his shoulders.” (Isaiah 9:6) God, it’s hard to be a citizen. At each stage of creation, you looked and said, “it is good”. You established The Promised Land as a place to live out your covenant, that you will be our God […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 6 December 2018
A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the Lord […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, November 29, 2018
Holy One, When what we have is yours and what we receive is a gift from you, we offer up our words of prayer in the knowledge that you are the Word from whom all our prayers flow. We pray with grief for the things that have broken your heart; we pray with joy for […]
Countries: Ethiopia, Mexico, Myanmar (Burma), Russia, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, November 22, 2018
Note: Words in italics are from Ps 8 (NRSV) O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! As cosmologists view a “ghost galaxy” hidden in sight… You have set your glory above the heavens. As the UN tries to recruit more women to be Blue Helmets peacekeepers, Mali has the […]
Countries: Guatemala, Indonesia, Mali, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, November 15, 2018
Thanksgiving Prayer “Oh, may this bounteous God through all our life be near us, With ever joyful hearts and blessed peace to cheer us; And keep us in His grace, and guide us when perplexed; And guard us through all ills in this world, till the next!” (verse 2, “Now Thank We All Our God,” […]
Countries: Bangladesh, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Myanmar (Burma), Nicaragua, Philippines, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 8 November 2018
Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is […]
Countries: Cameroon, United States of America (USA), Yemen, Zanzibar
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 1 November 2018
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the […]
Countries: Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Germany, Iran, Israel, Netherlands, Palestine, Sri Lanka, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, October 25, 2018
Then the king will say to those on his right, “My father has blessed you! Come and receive the kingdom that was prepared for you before the world was created. When I was hungry, you gave me something to eat, and when I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. When I was a […]
Countries: China, Madagascar, Mexico, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer — Thursday, October 18, 2018
The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it; for he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the rivers. Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? Those who have clean hands […]
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, October 11, 2018
(Inspired by the Book of Common Prayer, Prayers of the People Form VI) In peace, we pray to you, Lord God. Silence For all people in their daily life and work; For our families, friends, and neighbors, and for those who are alone. For this community, […]
Countries: China, India, Russia, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer, Thursday, October 4, 2018
Holy One, Shape our prayers to the Gospel of Your Son. Teach us to see as you see and to feel as you feel. This is our prayer. This day and each day, we lift up our prayers for each and every person who needs to see you in their lives and to feel your […]
Countries: India, Indonesia, Micronesia, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 27 September 2018
What are we that you are mindful of us? You made us a little lower than the heavenly beings, and crowned us with glory and honor. You made us ruler over the works of your hands; You put everything under our feet O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is our name in all the Earth.” […]
Countries: China, Syria, United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer, Thursday, September 20, 2018
“For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” – 1 Corinthians 11:26 We come before you today, O God, a mixture of emotions, with a plethora of experiences. Guide our hearts as we look on this world in which we live, so that we […]
Countries: Australia, Nigeria, Zimbabwe
World News This Week in Prayer, Thursday, September 13, 2018
“So we can say with confidence, with boldness, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.’ ” Hebrews 12:6 Precious Lord, take my hand, Lead me on, let me stand, I am tired, I am weak, I am worn. Through the storm, through the night, Lead me on to the light. Take my […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Russia, Syria, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, September 6, 2018
Do not fear, for I am with you, do not be afraid, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand. For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Do not fear, I […]
Countries: Brazil, Greece, Japan, Syria, Venezuela
World News This Week in Prayer – 30 August 2018
How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all day long? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Psalm 13:1-2 (NRSV) How long, O Lord? Our hearts and […]
Countries: China, Iran, Mexico, Myanmar (Burma), Venezuela
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 23, 2018
God of compassion God of green earth and snow God of darkness And illumination God of new things And of things torn apart God of waters and maker of dry land God of tender souls clinging God in this moment and across all sunrises and the universe Help us to understand our place in this […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Greece, India, Indonesia, United States of America (USA), Venezuela
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 16, 2018
God, today is one of those days when it is hard to pray. One of the days when life feels so overwhelming that shutting down might seem like the best option. And on days like today, we have this community of prayer that lifts us up. Right now, we pray for each one reading this […]
Countries: Afghanistan, India, Italy, Sudan, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, August 8, 2018
Holy One, our lives push us forward each day, distracting and distressing us. We move through the motions and meet the demands laid out before us. We have many priorities and not enough time. We make decision after decision that pulls our attention away from you. Yet, you are here. We declare this; we believe […]
Countries: Australia, Indonesia, Israel, Pakistan, Palestine, Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 2, 2018
On God alone I wait silently; God my deliverer, God my strong tower. Paraphrase from Ps. 62, John L. Bell* When all efforts have been made to cope with natural disasters: the earthquake in Lombok, Indonesia; the wildfires in California, USA, Sweden, Siberia, Russian Federation, Greece, water shortages in Yemen, the UK, Syria, Kenya; On God alone I wait silently; God my deliverer, God […]
Countries: Australia, Canada, El Salvador, European Union, Greece, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Sweden, Syria, Turkey, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA), Yemen, Zimbabwe
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, July 26, 2018
Editor’s note: Mary, Martha, and Lazarus of Bethany were friends of Jesus. This year, a number of christian denominations commemorate them on July 29. Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’ Martha, the sister of the dead man, said […]
Countries: Greece, Kenya, Laos, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Sweden, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, July 19, 2018
Jesus said to the disciples, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they […]
Countries: Australia, European Union, Israel, Japan, Palestine, South Africa, Sweden
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, July 12, 2018
God of Many Names “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in time of trouble. Therefore, we will not fear.” Psalm 46:1-2 Holy and Loving God, we come to You from many places, the physical and spiritual. We use different names and descriptions and ideas when we talk about You, or come before […]
Countries: El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Syria, Thailand, Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, July 5, 2018
This week’s prayers are adapted, with permission, from a prayer written for U.S. Independence Day 2018 by Leslie Barnes Scoopmire. (Inspired by the Preamble to the United States Constitution) In peace, we pray to You, Lord, God: from our rising to our resting we give You thanks and praise for all your blessings. We give […]
Countries: Africa, Bangladesh, Canada, China, Jordan, Kenya, Mexico, Myanmar (Burma), North Korea, Poland, Russia, South Sudan, Syria, Thailand
World News This Week in Prayer, Thursday, June 28, 2018
Dear Lord, In the Northern Hemisphere, we expectantly “roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer…”* but there is a parent and grandparent duty. We plan exciting activities for little ones in our care, for camps and vacations and community programs. In this season of school year endings we watch and wait for exam […]
Countries: Australia, England, Malta, Myanmar (Burma), New Zealand, Russia, South Sudan, Thailand, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, June 21, 2018
World Refugee Day was observed on June 20. Let us remember that a person’s dignity, worth, or humanity does not depend on their citizenship. May we be filled with the deep understanding that Jesus calls us to welcome and love the stranger. Let us pray: God of compassion, we are torn apart by the cruelty […]
Countries: Hungary, Iraq, Italy, Mexico, Spain, United States of America (USA)
World News in Prayer – Thursday, 14th June 2018
The United Nations’ World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought is observed every year on June 17. This year’s observance will be hosted in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the Lord will answer them, I the God […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 7, June 2018
(The hymn used in these prayers is “Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying” by Ken Medema) Lord, listen to your children praying, Lord, send your Spirit in this place; Lord, listen to your children praying, Send us love, send us pow’r, send us grace. Lord God, open our eyes to the power and promise of […]
Countries: Guatemala, Iraq, Jordan, Mexico, North Korea, Pakistan, Puerto Rico, Turkey, United States of America (USA), Yemen, Zimbabwe
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, May 31, 2018
Jesus asked “Who are my mother and my brothers?” Lord Almighty, Son and Spirit, you who live in community know that we are always separate from one another but invite us into your family. You give us a way to live together for our mutual comfort and support. We give thanks for those, who understanding […]
Countries: Australia, Iceland, India, Mozambique, North Korea, Rwanda, South Africa, South Korea (Republic of Korea), United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, May 24, 2018
“God hears ‘amen’ wherever we are.” –Radney M. Foster We come to you, O Lord, from many places, joining our voices to praise you and to ask for your intercession. We know You hear us regardless of where we are physically. • In places where we hope peace is possible: between North and South Korea, […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Bermuda, Caribbean Islands, China, Italy, Mexico, Nigeria, North Korea, South Korea (Republic of Korea), Syria, Venezuela
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., May 17, 2018
“Let us hear of joy and gladness, that the body you have broken may rejoice” -Psalm 51:8, adapted We are your body, O God. Wonderfully made, and full of promise. We are your body, O God, broken, yet full of promise. We are too often broken in our relationships with one another. Quick to […]
Countries: Israel, North Korea, Palestine, Russia, South Korea (Republic of Korea)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, May 10, 2018
Lord, we come before you Prayer is communication that invites at-one-ness with You, the source of our being. We call you God, and as revealed in the flesh, Jesus. We ask for empowerment. Transform us with the life-giving force of the Holy Spirit. Make us channels of the your Eternal Love, Light, and Grace. Help us to […]
Countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Egypt, England, India, Indonesia, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Norway, Poland, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Zimbabwe
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 3 May 2018
There is a balm in Gilead To make the wounded whole; There is a balm in Gilead To heal the sin-sick soul. (African American spiritual) O God, when our hearts are breaking, when our souls are wounded, to whom else shall we turn? Where else shall we bring our prayers, our concerns, our woundedness, our confusion, […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Armenia, Honduras, Iran, Libya, Malaysia, Nigeria, North Korea, Turkey, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., April 26, 2018
“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” ~ 1 John 4:7 “Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love […]
Countries: Canada, Germany, India
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 19th April 2018
We call ourselves to remember, dear God, that you are one. We call you to hear our prayer as we struggle for focus. Our world, your world, changes so drastically. We pray for the immediate survivors of the deaths of the famous, like Barbara Bush in the United States and Winnie Mandela in the Republic […]
Countries: France, Germany, Hungary, North Korea, Poland, Russia, South Africa, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, April 12, 2018
[Jesus] stood among them and said to them, ‘Shalom be with you.’ ~ Luke 24:36 God of creation and creativity, you’ve given us the gift of language and communication so that we might speak of and learn about you, however feeble our understanding might be. We often take the gift of words for granted, forgetting […]
Countries: Brazil, Central African Republic, China, Germany, Guinea, India, Japan, Myanmar (Burma), Nigeria, Palestine, Russia, South Africa, South Sudan, Syria
World News this Week in Prayer – April 5, 2018
An Aftermath Prayer (Luke 24:32-33) Holy God, You defeated doubt and death on Easter morning. You turned the world of what is possible and impossible upside down. You gave us Resurrection. Now comes the aftermath. In the aftermath of many things in life we often fail to follow through with our joy, our intentions, our […]
Countries: Balkans, Burkina Faso, China, Eritrea, Libya, Middle East, Myanmar (Burma), North Korea, Pakistan, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, Zimbabwe
World News in Prayer – Thursday, 29 March 2018
All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him. ~ Ps 22:27 Lord, when we think of Mary at the foot of the cross supported by family and friends it is a week for families to cling together. As […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, March 22, 2018
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, March 15, 2018
Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart; Naught be all else to me, save that thou art: Thou my best thought both by day and by night, Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light. (Irish Traditional, Tune SLANE) O Light of the World, we stumble around in the darkness of this world which […]
Countries: Canada, England, Japan, Libya, Nepal, Nigeria, North Korea, Philippines, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, March 8, 2018
Holy One, When we want to linger in shadows, you expose us to light. When we want to slump into a corner, you lift us up in your presence. When we think our words, our actions, our lives have no effect, you remind us that we are leading people in surprising and unexpected ways. So […]
Countries: Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Israel, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Syria, Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, March 1, 2018
Holy One, You are a God of Might and Majesty, Tenderness and Vulnerability. You are the one who casts stars into the heavens and who brings forth the first green shoots from the fertile ground. All of Creation cannot hold your glory; and yet you cradle us in gentle wings of mercy. All this is […]
Countries: China, Ethiopia, Syria, Turkey, United States of America (USA), Venezuela
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, February 22, 2018
“Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10) O God, O God, my God, our world is full of anything but stillness. There is no silence to be found, I fear; no quiet about. We hear of your “still small voice”, we know You have taught that there is virtue in silence, we […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iraq, Kenya, Lebanon, Syria
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, February 15th, 2018
It seems very odd, Lord, that people call for January to be a month to try being vegan when Lent was a period, 40 days, in the time before world trade hit our food markets when it was a necessity. We pray for those to whom being vegan is not a life style choice […]
Countries: Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Haiti, Israel, Jordan, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, Syria
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018
Holy One, We keep scrolling through the news, forever flicking from catastrophe to exhilaration to trauma, over and over and over again. Make us stop. Force us to take a break. Teach us how to breathe. Show us how to behold–rather than barrel through–your world. We pray that we might take a break and breathe […]
Countries: Germany, South Africa, Syria, United States of America (USA), Venezuela
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, Feb. 2, 2018
Our prayer is for ourselves, complicit as we are in humanity. We pray for the humility to admit that we understand, sometimes participate, in the sins of humanity: the sin of tribalism that sets Turk against Kurd in mortal combat, the sin of denial that tries to reduce the horrors of the Holocaust to verbal […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 25 January 2018
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever. ~ Psalm 111:10 …we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. ~ 1 Corinthians 8:1 …anyone who loves God is known by him. ~ 1 […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Austria, France, Gambia, India, Japan, Kurdistan, Mexico, South Africa, Syria, Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, January 18, 2018
Prayer for Lovers “Faith, Hope and Love Abide. But the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13) Holy and Loving God, Your voice is so clear. Your message unavoidable: to love. We confess, Loving God, that we fall short despite your best efforts to teach. We heard your still small voice to Elijah. […]
Countries: Myanmar (Burma), Somalia, Venezuela, Yemen, Zimbabwe
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, January 11, 2018
“The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” – Heb. 4:12 Lord you provide for our needs and equip us to help, provide for the needs of others […]
Countries: Australia, Middle East, Myanmar (Burma), North Korea, Pakistan, South Korea (Republic of Korea)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, January 4, 2018
1 “I look up to the mountains— does my help come from there? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth! 3 He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber. 4 Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps. 5 The Lord […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Christmas 2017
Holy child God from God, Light from Light Wisdom from before all worlds began Pain bearer Soul healer Life giver Challenger and Comforter Love beyond Love, beyond Love: Bless us all. As is our custom, in this Christmas-tide, we pause from praying about international events, to pray for everyone, in every nation in this world: […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, December 21, 2017
“Let it be with me according to your word.” –Mary, on learning that she was to bear the son of God (Luke 1:38) Let it be with us, according to Your word. Let the hungry be filled with good things. Let the lowly be lifted up. Let the mighty be cast down. Let your promise of mercy […]
Countries: Benin, Honduras, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Nigeria, South Africa, Spain, Syria, Tanzania
World News This Week in Prayer- December 14, 2017
Holy One, “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.” (John 1) “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of […]
Countries: Central America, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Germany, Greece, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Myanmar (Burma), Palestine, Syria, Turkey, Zimbabwe
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 7th November 2017
Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. (Isaiah 40:1-2, NRSV) God of comfort, we live in a world that increasingly reveals its disconnection from […]
Countries: Chad, India, Iran, Libya, Myanmar (Burma), North Korea, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Yemen
World News in Prayer Thursday, November 30, 2017
“Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.” ~ Isaiah 64:8 “The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them.” ~ Isaiah 9:2 “Either […]
Countries: Bangladesh, Myanmar (Burma), Yemen, Zimbabwe
World News in Prayer Thursday, November 23, 2017
“…for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” ~ Matthew 25:42-43 God of […]
Countries: Asia, China, Europe, Germany, India, Italy, Lebanon, Myanmar (Burma), Nigeria, North Korea, South Korea (Republic of Korea), Syria, Zimbabwe
World News in Prayer – Thursday, 16 November 2017
Note: The writer this week is using the framework of the Liturgy of the Hours (Opus Dei i.e. Work of God) so sanctifying the day with prayer. The one who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning, and darkens the day into night, who calls for the waters of […]
Countries: Canada, Iran, Iraq, Mexico, Zimbabwe
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, November 9, 2017
Heavenly Father, as another week passes more tragedy and disaster have befallen your creation earth: A deadly mass shooting in Texas, US; a toxic smog blanketing Delhi, India; and a poverty-lead gambling crisis in Venezuela. Help us, please Lord. Our hearts break as we ask you to help and bless everyone affected by these disastrous […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., Nov. 2, 2017`
Once again, dear God, once again we come to you in grief and anger. Once again terror has struck at the heart of New York City, U.S. Once again, we know the weeping of Rachel that is heard across Your creation. Once again, what You declared to be good has fallen short of Your glory. […]
Countries: Egypt, France, Israel, Myanmar (Burma), Nigeria, Pakistan, Spain
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, October 26, 2017
A 500th Anniversary Reformation Litany (Adapted from the writings of Lutheran reformers) Note: 31 October 2017 marks 500 years since the monk and priest Martin Luther nailed a series of statements calling for reform in the Catholic church to the door of the city church in Wittenberg, Germany. This action unwittingly set off the German […]
Countries: Australia, Bangladesh, Iceland, India, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Nepal, Nicaragua, Portugal, Spain, Syria, United Kingdom (UK), Venezuela
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, October 19, 2017
Dear Lord, Your people in Puerto Rico and across the Caribbean have looked up into rain flooded skies and out onto destroyed homelands, waiting for water, food, shelter and the provision of medical care. Open the hearts of decision makers to release funds to continue the rescue, to bring relief and stability. Smooth the communications […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iraq, Ireland, Nigeria, Portugal, Somalia, South Sudan, Spain, Syria, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 12th October 2017
Beloved God, here in the United States, home of many and mingled people, all of whom we honor, we bring our astonished praise for all the gifts that surround us. Having just learned the names of MacArthur Foundation Fellows of 2017, we have been at least introduced to marvelous ways our universe and our lives […]
Countries: Brazil, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, October 5, 2017
A note from the writer of this week’s prayers: I really wrestled with what prayers to write today. Part of me – a LARGE part – wanted to rage at God: “If Jesus’ crucifixion, death and resurrection was supposed to end the power of evil and sin, your experiment has failed. Utterly. It’s time to […]
Countries: Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Myanmar (Burma), Spain, Sri Lanka, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, September 28, 2017
Ex 31:16 “The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant.”(NIV) Creator God, you give us every good and perfect gift. We celebrate the equinox so easily, the turning of the world and change of seasons, the seedtime and the harvest; our unique place in the […]
Countries: Albania, Aruba, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bali, Iraq, Israel, Mexico, Niger, North Korea, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, Saudi Arabia, Solomon Islands, Spain, Syria, United States of America (USA), Vanuatu
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday 21 September 2017
“Jesus Wept” Oh, Lord… Oh, Lord. Every bone in our body, every tear in our eye, every drop of blood in our heart, cries to You. We are not fools, O Lord. We are certain that others despaired in their time. But this is our time, O Lord. So hear, and forgive, the desperation of […]
Countries: Mexico, Middle East, Myanmar (Burma), North Korea, Venezuela
World News in Prayer for Thursday, September 14, 2017
[Italicized portions below from John Newton’s hymn Amazing Grace] Amazing grace! How sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found; Was blind, but now I see. God of grace and sound, we need finding. The world around us is broken by climatic and political chaos, and […]
Countries: Anguilla, Bangladesh, Barbuda, Cuba, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), St. Barts, United States of America (USA)
World News in Prayer for Thursday, 7 September 2017
Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart. -Ps.119:34 The commandments…are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.” -Romans 13:9-10 Abba, Father of each one of us wherever we […]
Countries: Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Syria, Venezuela, Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 31, 2017
Do you know what I have done for you? – John 13:12c And new things I now declare – Isaiah 42:9b The word of the Lord stands forever – Isaiah 40:8b, I Peter 1:25 Lord, we see what you have done for us, but sometimes it is difficult as we do not know or […]
Countries: Bangladesh, Brazil, China, India, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Niger, Sierra Leone, Switzerland, Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 24, 2017
The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from […]
Countries: Italy, Spain, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 17 August 2017
We lift this prayer, written from the ancestral home of the llini, Miami, Shawnee, Dakota Sioux, Chickasaw, Winnebago, Delaware, Kickapoo, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Huron-Wyandot, and Sac-Fox tribes with full respect for their creativity and courage. We lift this prayer that will be read within many other geographic and cultural contexts with full respect for the various ways you have inspired […]
Countries: Burkina Faso, Egypt, Jordan, Nepal, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Spain, United States of America (USA)
World News in Prayer – Thursday, August 10, 2017
Dear God Today we pray for peace. We remember those who perished with the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan 72 years ago this week. The monuments and memorials and parks in these cities and other cities and lands having suffered holocausts remind us that our prayers are mighty and necessary. Help us to […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 3, 2017
The Lord upholds all who are falling, and raises up all who are bowed down. Psalm 145:14 There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole; There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin-sick soul. God of grace and glory, God who knows our hearts and minds, you can see, you […]
Countries: Botswana, Brazil, Canada, China, Iran, Kenya, Pakistan, Syria, Turkey, Venezuela
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, July 27
The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple…. My eyes shed streams of tears because your law is not kept. Ps 119: 130, 136 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Colombia, Egypt, Mexico, Somalia, South Africa, Syria, United Kingdom (UK), Venezuela
World News This Week in Prayer Thursday, July 20, 2017
“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” ~ Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT) Heavenly Father, we come before you – worn, weary, and hungry for the fruit of the Holy Spirit to fill out hearts and […]
Countries: Canada, France, Iceland, India, Italy, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Spain, Tanzania, Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, July 13, 2017
Dear God of instruction, open our hearts to learn, learn as our forebears in faith learned. Looking back on their experiences in captivity and liberation, they heard, “So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you […]
Countries: Antarctica, China, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, July 6, 2017
Lord, time after time the news reflects what has happened; this week’s events reflecting what has already happened. So we pray for those for whom the news is also “olds” – for they remember the pain, the trauma, the fear, the deep changes in their lives. We pray for those caught in the fire in […]
Countries: Bahrain, Brazil, Canada, Iraq, New Zealand, North Korea, South Africa, Syria
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, June 29, 2017
Your glorious cause, O God Engages our hearts May Jesus Christ be known Wherever we are We ask not for ourselves, but for Your renown The cross has saved us so we pray Your kingdom come. – Let Your Kingdom Come, by Bob Kauflin Holy and almighty God, in the face of suffering and trials, […]
Countries: Brazil, Israel, Italy, Niger, Palestine, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, June 22, 2017
Lord, I can see the cherries ripening on the tree outside. The raspberries redden almost quicker than I can pick, but there are those for whom there will be no harvest. As sparrows happily investigate the fruit, they remind me, everyone is of more value than sparrows. Deep down we really know this, however […]
Countries: Argentina, Central African Republic, Iran, Iraq, Manus Island, Middle East, Nauru, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Sudan, Syria, Turkey, United Kingdom (UK), Venezuela, Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, June 15, 2017
The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the overseer of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest. —Matthew 9.37-38 Harvest by Pastor Steve Garnaas-Holmes Maybe the harvest is not bringing people to Christ but gathering the fruits of the Spirit God has sown in you for the sake of […]
Countries: Afghanistan, China, England, Iran, Ireland, Niger, North Korea, Somalia, Syria
World News in Prayer June 8, 2017
Holy God, I am empty. I wake up to Manchester, England, I go to bed to London Bridge falling down, and I feel empty, lost. I apologize, you expect more from me. To be in good company doesn’t let me off the hook. The terrors that pursued Elijah made him want to lie down and […]
Countries: England
World News in Prayer June 1, 2017
God, our creator, we thank you for you spoke the world into being for good and send your empowering Spirit on all. Forgive us when it is easy to look at all the events which the news media highlights and think nothing ever changes. Yet as the world turns and we move into astronomical […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, May 25, 2017
Shepherding God, the Psalmist assures us that you walk with us in the darkest of valleys, that your rod and staff will bring us comfort, that we will find a banquet table set before us, even in the midst of our enemies, that goodness and mercy will be our companions on the road of life. […]
World News in Prayer – Thursday, May 18, 2017
One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. ~ Luke 8:22 Loving God: we come to you today with great uncertainty of our governments, in our neighbors, and within ourselves. Help us to cross over to […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, May 11, 2017
[Jesus said to the disciples,] “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I […]
Countries: China, France, Iran, Libya, Nepal, South Korea (Republic of Korea), Venezuela, Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, May 4, 2017
I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. – John 10:10b Never-ending God, we long for abundant life. All too often we settle for what our minds believe we deserve. But that isn’t abundance. Or, as we strive to live abundantly, we do so at the expense of others, or the environment, […]
Countries: Brazil, China, Iran, Somalia, Spain, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, April 27, 2017
Amen. Yes. So be it. It will certainly be like this. May it be so. This is the truth. On this we can depend. Amen! Compassionate and loving God, as we watch events unfold across our world, our emotions often cannot be translated into words. So we call out to You with a word You […]
Countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Finland, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, New Zealand, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Syria, Venezuela
World News in Prayer – April 20, 2017
“According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” 1 Peter 1.3 Lord, giver of life, let us live our lives to the full, with humility, care and compassion and in your Son’s image. Let us forgive where […]
Countries: North Korea, Philippines, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News in Prayer- Thursday, April 13, 2017
This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24 We are stumbling on our way toward the day of Resurrection, gracious God. Stumbling and falling, sometimes crawling on our knees toward the cross, hoping that when we lift our tear-filled eyes, it will be empty, […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Canada, Egypt, France, Italy, Lebanon, North Korea, Pakistan, Poland, Serbia, Sweden, Syria, Turkey
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, April 6, 2017
The Scottish theologian, William Barclay, suggested using ‘the mind of God’ instead of ‘the Word’ for Jesus. And so John 1:1, 2-5, 14 reads In the beginning was the mind of God,… 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was […]
Countries: Australia, Chechnya, New Zealand, Pakistan, Peru, Russia, Somalia, Syria, Yemen
World News This Week In Prayer, Thursday, March 30th, 2017
Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows. Luke 12:6-7 In the glory of the changing seasons; in the beauty of the […]
Countries: Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canary Islands, Ecuador, Indonesia, Iraq, New Zealand, Nigeria, Panama, Peru, Somalia, South Sudan, Tonga, United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer — Thursday, March 23, 2017
Jeremiah 17:8 New International Version (NIV) They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit. Our prayers come before […]
Countries: Balkans, Ethiopia, Kenya, Middle East, North Korea, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, March 16, 2017
Lord, have mercy, Christ, have mercy, Here and there and everywhere in between, On you and me and everyone in between, Now and later and upon everything in between. Lord Christ, we need your mercy. The suffering in South Sudan echoes the horrors of civil war, genocide and ethnic cleansing that mock the hope of […]
Countries: Ethiopia, South Sudan, Syria
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, March 9, 2017
Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Australia, Brazil, Egypt, France, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mozambique, North Korea, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, United States of America (USA), Zimbabwe
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, March 2 2017
Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the guilt of my sin. … (God said) I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, February 23, 2017
This week, Girl Guides and Girl Scouts from 146 countries celebrated World Thinking Day. Lord, we pray that all members of the various uniformed organisations will remember these years as time of enjoyment, friendship and enlightenment. We pray that their leaders will not abuse in any way the power and trust placed in them, but […]
Countries: Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Ecuador, India, Libya, Malawi, South Africa, South Sudan, United States of America (USA), Zambia, Zimbabwe
World News in Prayer – Thursday, February 16, 2017
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always […]
Countries: Australia, Dominican Republic, France, India, Indonesia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Syria, Taiwan
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., Feb. 9, 2017
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself. -Luke 10:27 “it is written in the law.” heart & soul. love. neighbor. even if they aren’t nice. another chance to hear that answer. […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Australia, Colombia, Israel, Mongolia, Palestine, Somalia, Syria, United States of America (USA), Venezuela
World News This Week in prayer – Thursday, February 2, 2017
N.B. There has been an email glitch (hopefully resolved) and a lack of clarity in the 4th from last paragraph which has now been amended. In expectation of normal service being resumed next week… Jesus Visits Martha and Mary – Luke 10: 38 – 42, NRSV Now as they went on their way, he entered […]
Countries: India, Nepal, Peru
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., Jan 26, 2017
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” – Jesus, spoken as he was being crucified (Luke 23:34) For almost 17 years, World In Prayer has been posting prayers based on international news, trying to say and show that every human being, in every country, is beloved by God. Trying to find the […]
Countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mexico, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, January 19, 2017
At first I was rather disappointed that fellow clergymen would see my nonviolent efforts as those of the extremist. … But as I continue to think about the matter I gradually gained a bit of satisfaction from being considered an extremist. Was not Jesus an extremist in love – “Love your enemies, bless them that […]
Countries: England, Israel, Libya, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Palestine, Russia, South Korea (Republic of Korea), United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News in Prayer – Thursday, 12th January 2017
“I waited patiently for the Lord. He lifted me out of the mud and mire, he set my feet upon a rock. He put a new song in my mouth.” (Psalm 40:1-3) God, awaken us to a new year. Awaken us also to a new spirit, a new will, even a new way. As we […]
Countries: Cyprus, Japan, North Korea, Northern Cyprus, South Korea (Republic of Korea), Switzerland, Syria, Turkey, United Kingdom (UK)
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, Jan. 5, 2017
Psalm 18:28 – Thou lightest my candle. The Lord my God enlightens the darkness. Dear Creator and Comforter, Oh, how we need your light and sustenance. We are reminded of the Holy Family that took flight 2000 years ago, and of the many exiles and refugees of today; we are reminded of the lowly and […]
Countries: Ecuador, Myanmar (Burma), Somalia, Thailand, Turkey
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, December 29, 2016
Abba God, following the examples of the shepherds, wise men, Simeon and Anna and millions before us, we worship and adore you, giving thanks and praise. As the turbulence that was 2016 draws to a close, we pause on the cusp of what was, what is and what is to be… There is so much […]
Countries: Israel, Palestine, Syria, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Christmas, 2016
Steal into our hearts, O Holy Child. Steal into the aching places, the lonely places, the lost places; Steal into the joy-filled places, the delight-filled places. Steal into our hearts, and fill them with tenderness and love. Steal into our nations, O Holy Child. Steal into the power-hungry and the powerless; Steal into the peace-makers and the […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, December 15, 2016
We have come to worship you, Shepherd of Israel. Out of the busy-ness we create for ourselves at this season, we come to remember why. We give thanks for the bravery of Mary, for the courage of Joseph, and we ask that these qualities support us in the face of overwhelming commercialization and the rewriting of […]
Countries: Egypt, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Nigeria, Solomon Islands, Syria, United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, December 8, 2016
“Father in heaven, The day draws near when the glory of your Son Will make radiant the night of the waiting world. May the lure of greed not impede us from the joy Which moves the heart of those who seek Him. May the darkness not blind us To the vision of wisdom Which fills […]
Countries: England, Finland, Indonesia, Libya, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Syria, Thailand, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, December 1, 2016
O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Australia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Denmark, Finland, Germany, India, Iran, Italy, Netherlands, Somalia, South Korea (Republic of Korea), Sweden, Syria, Turkey, Uganda, United States of America (USA), Zimbabwe
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, November 17, 2016
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 1 John 4:7 Beloved God, we see evidence throughout the world of how hard it is for some neighbors to love one another. We find continued difficulty in seeing You in each other. We […]
Countries: Haiti, Iran, Israel, Syria, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, November 10, 2016
What’s God going to say to my questions? I’m braced for the worst. I’ll climb to the lookout tower and scan the horizon. I’ll wait to see what God says, how he’ll answer my complaint. And then God answered: “Write this. Write what you see. Write it out in big block letters so that it […]
Countries: Nigeria, Peru, South Korea (Republic of Korea), United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, November 3, 2016
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.” Romans 8:38-39, NLT Recognizing the effects of fear and anxiety in our lives, we […]
Countries: Brazil, China, France, India, Italy, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016
On Sunday after Sunday in our worship we sing: Worthy is Christ, the Lamb who was slain, Whose blood set us free to be people of God. Power and riches, wisdom and strength, And honor and blessing and glory are his. And with these words in mind this day, we pray […]
Countries: Burundi, Canada, China, Colombia, Eritrea, Great Britain, Greece, Mexico, Russia, Somalia, Syria, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, Oct. 20, 2016
Once again, Lord, the voice of the prophets remains strikingly relevant through the centuries. Joel 2:24-25a reminds us that: The threshing floors shall be full of grain, the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. I will repay you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten. As we pray for people who are […]
Countries: Bosnia, Canada, Haiti, Herzegovina, Indonesia, Iraq, New Zealand, Philippines, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, South Africa, Spain, Syria, Thailand, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016
Pray without ceasing…Becoming more infused with the nature and Spirit of God as we pray… Taking on the attributes of God as we become one with him beyond our earthly limits of time and space… Lord as Jacob (Israel) struggled and demanded a blessing from his opponent at Peniel, may we persist and demand your gifts […]
Countries: France, India, Iraq, Kenya, Morocco, Syria, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA), Venezuela, Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, October 6, 2016
At the time of the Mexican war, often viewed as a practice war for the United States shortly before the American Civil War, the poet James Russell Lowell penned lines that still speak to us: Once to every man and nation, comes the moment to decide, In the strife of truth with falsehood, for the […]
Countries: Israel, Mexico, Russia, Syria, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, September 29, 2016
Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him; do not fret over those who prosper in their way, over those who carry out evil devices. Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath. Do not fret – it leads only to evil. […]
Countries: Austria, England, India, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United States of America (USA), Wales, Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, September 22, 2016
“The Bible says little about the temperature of hell nor the furniture of heaven”. This quote from the great German theologian Reinhold Niebuhr fits in with the story of the rich man and Lazarus where we are made aware of the dangers of being mean with our money and uncharitable to others. This is echoed […]
Countries: Central African Republic, China, Egypt, England, Greece, Italy, North Korea, South Sudan, Syria, Taiwan, Thailand, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, September 15
O how wondrous is the foreknowledge of the divine heart that knew every creature in advance. For when God looked upon the human face that he had formed, he glimpsed all his works, in that same human form, all summed up. O how wondrous is the inspiration that has thus animated the human being. […]
Countries: Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Colombia, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Taiwan, Tanzania, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, September 8, 2016
Remember, O God. Remember how you, O God, were determined to kill the Israelites whom you had brought out of Egypt, because they had turned against you and worshiped other gods. Remember how Moses called you to account? How he reminded you that you had made promises of faithfulness to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel? Remember…that […]
Countries: China, Colombia, Ethiopia, Gabon, Kenya, South Sudan, Syria, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, September 1, 2016
In an ancient time, our spiritual forebears were conquered and exiled. And the prophet Jeremiah wrote them a letter about how to deal with their calamities. In the various spirits with which those banished people listened to his letter read out, we open ourselves to you in prayer, O God. Jeremiah, speaking for you, told […]
Countries: Albania, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Canada, Colombia, El Salvador, Georgia, Italy, Macedonia, Northern Cyprus, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Syria, Turkey, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 25, 2016
“Give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?” ~ 1 Kings 3:9 Lord, help us. We mean that earnestly, sincerely, indeed prayerfully, not as an epithet. We are not taking your name in vain, we […]
Countries: Zimbabwe
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 18, 2016
World News in Prayer for Thursday, August 18, 2016 Isaiah 58:9, 10 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and God will say, Here I am…If you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of […]
Countries: Albania, Brazil, China, Cyprus, India, Italy, Nigeria, North Korea, Romania, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Thailand, Tunisia, Ukraine, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, August 11, 2016
Loving God, Ancient of Days, so often we lift our prayers to you driven by our emotions. Frightened by the evident dangers- natural and man-made- which the world faces, we cry out clumsily like little children. Enraged by the evident injustices the world faces, we strike out verbally to establish our own opposition. Squelched by […]
Countries: Australia, Belize, Ethiopia, Macedonia, Mexico, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 4, 2016
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7, NIV Loving God, we pray today for the same instruction that you gave to Samuel: […]
Countries: Iraq, North Korea, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, July 28, 2016
‘Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy’. ~ Ezekiel 16:49 You, creator God, are merciful and just; loving all that you created and seeing that your works are good. You draw all creation to you with […]
Countries: France, Germany, India, Japan, Nepal, Scotland, South Sudan, Syria
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, July 21, 2016
“We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place […]
Countries: Ethiopia, Israel, Pakistan, South Africa, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA), Zimbabwe
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, July 14, 2016
There is a terrifying passage in ‘I and Thou’ by the Jewish mystic Martin Buber in which God says ‘I have sunk my hearing in the deafness of mortals’. If this should be even partly true what a tremendous responsibility it places upon us to listen, to listen to each other with our whole attention, […]
Countries: China, Egypt, France, Iraq, Kenya, South Sudan, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA), Venezuela
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, July 7, 2016
This has been one of those weeks, God…one of those weeks in which too many things have been happening- in my own life and in the lives of the rest of your children throughout the world. Here in the United States, we are reeling with not one, but two shootings of black men by police […]
Countries: China, Great Britain, Iraq, Turkey, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., June 30, 2016
God of the seasons, we thank you for summer. You surround us with evidence of revival, eternal life, abundance, resurrection in every field, every garden, every flower bed, every forest, every vacation spot and swimming hole. The discovery in Nepal of a tiny but flourishing colony of birds – red-faced liocichla – thought to have been […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Antarctica, Colombia, Nepal, Nigeria, South Sudan, Turkey, United Kingdom (UK)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, June 23, 2016
Violent protests, burning and looting in Pretoria, South Africa, over mayoral election… Foreign supporters of ISIS have taken over Sirte, Libya, murdering, torturing, crucifying Muslims and Christians… Russian fighters are dropping cluster bombs in Syria, indiscriminately endangering and killing civilians and children as well as fighters… Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Violence and hatred […]
Countries: Australia, Canada, Colombia, India, Israel, Libya, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, South Korea (Republic of Korea), Syria, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, June16, 2016
Prayers in response to Orlando, Florida, US – where a gunman shot and killed 49, with 53 more injured, at a gay nightclub, before he himself was killed Mosul, Iraq – after 19 Yazidi girls were burnt alive by their Islamic State captors, in front of a crowd of hundreds, for refusing to have sex […]
Countries: Iraq, Niger, Uganda, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News in Prayer, Thursday, June 9th 2016
God, of surprises, Christ of the unexpected acts of love and compassion, Holy Spirit blowing where You will – we come to worship and be in Your presence. So often all the words we use in our services and prayers inadvertently block us from being open to Your coming. In the still small voice as […]
World News This Week in Prayer – 2 June, 2016
The Earth is Lord Jehovah’s in its fullness, the world and all its inhabitants. ~ Ps 24:1 Aramaic Bible in Plain English Behold, to Yahweh your God belongs heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth, with all that is therein. ~Deuteronomy 10:14 World English Bible God of earth and heaven protect […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, May 26, 2016
Hello? God? Are you there? Like Thomas before me, I believe. But, I need you to help my unbelief. I spend so much of my time looking forward to completing the task at hand. Yet, when it’s done the joy is short-lived. Swallowed up by the pressure of the next task to be completed; lost […]
Countries: Guinea, Libya, Uganda
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, May 19, 2016
Heavenly Father, we come to you with open but hurt hearts with this week’s news. May the Holy Spirit fill us with strength and compassion towards our neighbors, near and far. We pray for the millions of students who celebrate their graduations. May their learning enrich our world. Lord, hear our prayer. We pray for […]
Countries: Australia, Egypt, France, Greece, Iraq, Mexico, South Africa, Sri Lanka, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA), Venezuela
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, May 12, 2016
Loving God, we pray for your guidance, yea even for your insistence, that we learn from the distillation of meaningful description of the lives of those whose example we would follow. When we feel weak, remind us we are no weaker than Moses who as an infant was condemned to death by Pharaoh with all […]
Countries: Germany, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, May 5, 2016
“You move us to delight in praising You; for You have formed us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in You.” -St Augustine of Hippo in ‘Confessions’ “(Humans) are the ultimate paradox: the finite made for the infinite.” -Archbishop Desmond Tutu in ‘God has a Dream – a vision of […]
Countries: Australia, Canada, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Syria, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, April 28, 2016
Jesus said, ‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not let them be afraid.’ God of comfort, God of peace, we are often fear-filled people. We regard our world through eyes clouded by tears of fear and frustration, making it difficult to […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Austria, Brazil, China, Ecuador, European Union, France, India, Iraq, Nepal, Philippines, South Korea (Republic of Korea), Syria, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, 21 April 2016
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away… Revelation 21:1 There are days and times, Holy God, when our wish for a new earth is almost overwhelming; days and times when, as we look around this old earth, we can see only […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., April 14, 2016
“While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.” –Luke 24:15-16 Risen one, you are here. Here, as we look at the video released this week by the Boko Haram group in Nigeria, that appears to show some of the 276 girls […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Canada, India, Iraq, Jordan, Mozambique, Nigeria, Palestine, Sudan, Syria, Vatican City
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, April 7, 2016
He comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lakeside, He came to those men who knew Him not. He speaks to us the same words: ‘Follow thou me!’ and sets us to the tasks which He has to fulfill for our time. –Albert Schweitzer You come to us, […]
Countries: Afghanistan, China, El Salvador, England, Greece, Honduras, Iceland, Kenya, Mexico, Palestine, Russia, Somalia, Syria, Turkey, United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., March 31, 2016
Lord, in the strength of grace With a glad heart and free … Charles Wesley Today, in the grace of being Easter people, we pray for those who are supported by your grace alone in the turmoil and oppression of war, terror, famine, drought, prejudice, bigotry. We pray for all in Guantanamo Bay military prison […]
Countries: Brazil, Cuba, England, India, Israel, Japan, Libya, Myanmar (Burma), Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, United States of America (USA), Wales
World News This Week in Prayer – Easter 2016
Today, it is Easter. Today, this day, every day, Christ is risen, the world is made new, and we celebrate God’s triumph over evil and death. Today, at least 60 people were killed and many more injured–most of them women and children–in an apparent suicide bombing at a park in Lahore, Pakistan. Today, remembering that the […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, March 24, 2016
The weight of pain, brokenness, despair and grief is profound after yet more bombings and killings in Brussels, Belgium, the almost obscenely routine massacres in Syria, Iraq, Sudan, the murders and kidnaps in Columbia, Mexico, the corruption and destruction of trust and order in too many countries to name on most continents of our shared, […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., March 18, 2016
Today we begin Holy Week, walking the Via Dolorosa with Jesus of Nazareth…sitting at the table at the Last Supper, watching and waiting in Gethsemane’s garden, seeing with horror and dread the arrest and torture and trials, and finally, weeping at the foot of the cross. But today, Gracious God, we begin with his arrival […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Great Britain, Guatemala, Kenya, Pakistan, Palestine, South Sudan, Syria, Turkey, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, March 11, 2016
Alpha and Omega God, I realize again and again that I am a person of privilege. I am confronted with the fact that I have so much, so many opportunities. I am convicted by my daily “concerns;” which restaurant will I go to for dinner, will my latest on-line shopping purchases be delivered on […]
Countries: Australia, Chile, France, Guatemala, Haiti, Ireland, Japan, Libya, Mexico, Myanmar (Burma), Nigeria, North Korea, Somalia, Tunisia, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, March 4, 2016
This. World in Prayer doesn’t post photographs. Ever. We don’t include photographs with our prayers, because: We don’t have the resources or expertise to verify that photos are authentic – unaltered, not staged, genuinely of the place/event they purport to show, really taken by the named photographer. News photos are copyrighted. They cannot be reproduced […]
Countries: Croatia, Serbia, South Sudan, Syria, Uganda
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, February 25, 2016
Lord, as your cherished people we adore you for your unfailing love toward all creation. Your thoughts are not ours; we recognize that your thinking is on a far greater scale than our mere time and place even when we do not understand. Your ways not ours, yet you call us into new ways […]
Countries: Australia, European Union, Fiji, India, Italy, Middle East, Nepal, Russia, Syria
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., February 18, 2016
World In Prayer needs a few more writers and editors! Our team consists of 12-15 volunteers, from several different countries and continents. Each week, one person writes the prayers in response to international news. A second person then edits and posts the prayers online. Because we rotate who writes and edits, you would end up serving approximately once […]
Countries: Austria, Bangladesh, Brazil, Chad, Germany, Greece, India, Mexico, Nepal, Syria, Turkey, Uganda, United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, February 11, 2016
Our Father in heaven, lead us not into temptation. Help us to recognize the temptations that surround us, the subtle snares that, on their face, seem good: The temptation to use violence and force to achieve peace and gentleness; The temptation to see our perspective as truth and others as heresy; The temptation to believe […]
Countries: Mexico, Nigeria, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Taiwan, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, February 4, 2016
“Do not think that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Mexico, Nigeria, Syria
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, January 28, 2016
Loving and Holy God, “in the bleak midwinter” is our sometimes expression of Christmas Christian faith. Like the hymn writer of old we impose our cultural images on the Good News to suit our tastes. You understand us, Holy God, our seriousness and our foolishness; You understand us at our most generous and our most […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, January 21, 2016
Jesus, in the synagogue, read “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s […]
Countries: England, Iraq, Switzerland, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, January 14, 2016
Your love is steadfast, O Lord, but how fickle we are. We are never satisfied. In our dissatisfaction we destroy that which we do not understand and devastate that which satisfies as if there is never enough. Our prayers are prayers of contrast as we recognize political, financial and economic pressures are very different across […]
Countries: Australia, Austria, France, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Nigeria, South Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Turkey, Ukraine
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, January 7, 2016
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;…” “I have summoned you by name; you are mine. Do not be afraid, for I am with you;” Isaiah 43: 1 & 5 “Why did he come? He came down that we may have love, … peace, … joy.” Cameroon (Africa) Carol As we celebrate the Baptism […]
Countries: Cameroon, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Syria, Uganda, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, December 31, 2015
“Forgetting what is behind, and reaching towards what is ahead, I press towards the goal of the high calling in Christ”. –Philippians 3:13-14 A new year, new resolutions, so often it is a new setting up of ourselves for failure and disappointment. As I sit here to the aural backdrop of Chinook helicopters trying to […]
Countries: Syria
World News This Week in Prayer – Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Christmas 2015 For God so loved the world (such a beloved world, to warrant such a gift) That he gave his only Son (such love, to be born amongst us) To live and die as one of us (so strong with tenderness, such joy in sorrow) To imbue us with a spirit of adoption […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, December 17, 2015
Almighty God, we worship you, as you make your way into the world as a weak and vulnerable infant. Prepare us to receive you in our country, in our home, and in our heart. We pray for all those who are weak and vulnerable, and who need help from those around them. As we look […]
Countries: Afghanistan, El Salvador, Eritrea, Guatemala, Honduras, Iraq, Syria
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, December 10, 2015
God of the Whole World, we wait with Mary during this season of Hanukkah and thank You for our lives’ many miracles and blessings. We light one candle each day in recognition of the illumination and hope You bring into our homes and neighborhoods. In this halfway point of Advent, we pray for those who […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, December 3, 2015
Stir up our hearts, Lord God, to prepare the way of your Son. By his coming give to all the people of the world knowledge of your salvation. From Prayer of the Day for Second Sunday of Advent, Common Lectionary How much we want to pray this prayer, holy and compassionate God. How much we […]
Countries: Brazil, France, Lebanon, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, November 26, 2015
17 Pray constantly, and 18 give thanks to God no matter what circumstances you find yourself in. (This is God’s will for all of you in Jesus the Anointed.) 19 Don’t suppress the Spirit. ~ 1 Thessalonians 5: 17 – 19 The Voice Compassionate and merciful God it is good to give you thanks and praise this […]
Countries: Australia, Central African Republic, France, Gambia, Latin America, Malta, Nigeria, Sweden, Syria, Tunisia, West Bank
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, November 19
Violence is what happens when we don’t know what else to do with our suffering. – Parker Palmer Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. – Hebrews 13:2 “Do not be afraid,” the messenger from God said to Mary. “Do not be afraid,” the messenger […]
Countries: Central African Republic, France, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Myanmar (Burma), Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, Syria, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, November 12
Having but recently celebrated that moment “at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month month” 97 years ago when the belligerents of World War I agreed to armistice, to the cessation of harmful deeds even in the absence of an agreed formula for a fully organized peace, let us lift hands […]
Countries: Australia, Burundi, China, Kenya, Lebanon, Myanmar (Burma), Sierra Leone, Syria, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, November 5
God of love, God of inclusion, God of justice and peace, we come to you with hearts heavy with the things that are happening in our world over which we have no control. Lack of control is scary, feels threatening. And yet, even in the midst of our confusion and frustration, there is a truth […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Egypt, France, Pakistan, Russia, United States of America (USA)
World News in Prayer This Week- Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015
Gracious and Good God, we come towards All Saints’ Day with darkness in our world and with hope for your light. We pray for the saints who have entered your kingdom who healed individuals and neighborhoods. We pray for those angels among us: those who feed the hungry, comfort the aggrieved, and love their neighbors. […]
Countries: China, Nepal, Scotland, South Sudan
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, October 22, 2015
‘God is not aloof; God is not a spectator.’ Eugene Victor “Gene” Debs, American union leader. Creator God, we would pray for the whole world, but it’s too big and we are overwhelmed. We understand that you can see all and know all that is before we even think to talk to you about it. […]
Countries: Australia, Bahrain, El Salvador, England, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Philippines, Serbia, Sweden, Syria, Tanzania, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer, Thursday, October 15 2015
WORLD NEWS IN PRAYER THURSDAY, October 15 2015 but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” –Isaiah 40:31 “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Colombia, India, Israel, Syria, Turkey, West Bank
World News This Week In Prayer – Friday, Oct. 9, 2015
Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God.” … “Truly I tell you there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not […]
World News This Week In Prayer – Thurs., Oct. 1, 2015
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, time to tear down and a time to build, a time to […]
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, September 24, 2015
“Now Israel, what does the LORD your God desire from you? Only this: fear him, walk in all his ways, love him, serve him with all your heart and in all your life. Deuteronomy 10: 12 (NIV) The Lord has shown you what is good. He has told you what he requires of you. You […]
Countries: Bangladesh, France, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Panama, Singapore, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News This Week In Prayer – Thurs., September 17, 2015
Mark 9:35: And Jesus said to his followers, Whomever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all. We are not good at servanthood, loving God. We are not good at putting the needs of others first. We are not good at seeing through eyes of justice and compassion. Those are […]
Countries: Chile, European Union, Finland, Germany, Japan, Philippines, Syria, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs. Sept. 10, 2015
Go down, Moses, way down in Egypt land. Tell all Pharaohs to, “let My people go.” Oh God, our God, and God of every suffering refugee, we join in prayer to ask for the wisdom and the courage to name the pharaohs that make life intolerable for so many people in the world. We recognize that: […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Eritrea, Gambia, Germany, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sudan, Syria
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs. Sept. 3, 2015
When evening had come, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great storm of wind arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that […]
Countries: Germany, Iceland, Syria
World News This Week in Prayer August 27, 2015
(Thanks to the Evangelical Lutheran Church for some of these prayer petitions.) Out of the darkness we cry to you, O God. Enable us to find in Christ the faith to trust in your care even in the midst of pain. Assure us that we do not walk alone through the valley of the shadow, […]
World News This Week in Prayer, Thursday, August 20, 2015
God, of whose creative force it is said: “Before the world was created, the Holy One kept creating worlds and destroying them. Finally He created this one, and was satisfied. He said to Adam: ‘This is the last world I shall make. I place it in your hands: hold it in trust.’ “ [Gates of […]
Countries: Cuba, Iran, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 13, 2015
God, in the trouble of this world, in the confusion of rumor and news, in the anxiety of daily life, we pray that you will give us wisdom, that we may discern between good and evil. Give us wisdom in selecting our leaders. We pray for Sri Lanka as they prepare for their Parliamentary […]
Countries: Argentina, China, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Greece, Iraq, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Turkey
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 6, 2015
Today is the 70th anniversary of the atomic bomb dropping on Hiroshima, and three days later over Nagasaki. At a ceremony to mark the anniversary, which included Caroline Kennedy, U.S. Ambassador, Mr. Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan, said “Seventy years on I want to re-emphasize the necessity of world peace.” The Church of England […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Australia, Hungary, Iran, Israel, Japan, Palestine (Gaza), Saudi Arabia, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer- July 30, 2015
Heavenly Father and Mother, be with us today and in all times. We call upon you in our most vulnerable moments. We call for you to bear witness to our lives, to help us take the steps needed to serve you with love, compassion, faith, and understanding. Continue to remind us that it is our […]
Countries: Iran, Iraq, Syria, Zimbabwe
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, July 23, 2015
Do we believe we are made in the image of God, or is our God made in our very finite image?” –Rhoda C. Martin “God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Chile, India, Iran, United Kingdom (UK)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., July 16, 2015
“Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth.” -Psalm 46:10 (NRSV) In the midst of the tasks of life, the busy-ness, the rush, the never-ending to-do lists, it is easy to lose sight of you, O God. Still us now, so that […]
Countries: Afghanistan, France, Iran, Nigeria, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, July 9, 2015
Too often, God, we approach your beloved and beautiful world as Jacob approached his long-ago betrayed brother Esau. We know that we have despoiled an amazing inheritance: saturating our atmosphere with an intolerable load of carbon dioxide depriving many species of habitat and nutrition until extinction claims them approaching economic systems nationally and internationally with […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, July 2, 2015
How long, O Lord? Will you forget me for ever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; light […]
Countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Kuwait, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, June 25, 2015
Lord of the past, present and future, sometimes I have this view of you pushing your hair back, in exasperation, and wondering when will we return to you and listen. Just once in our lives – really listen, then do something. It must be so vexing to you when we do something then complain – […]
Countries: Australia, European Union, Greece, Guinea, Pakistan, Peru, Syria, United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, June 18, 2015
Well may the world go, The world go, the world go, Well may the world go, When I’m far away. — Pete Seeger (c. 1973) For months now, this has been my wake-up song, a conscious choice to spend my first moments of each day letting go of all I can’t control, of all I cannot […]
Countries: Kenya, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Somalia, South Sudan, United States of America (USA), Yemen, Zimbabwe
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, June 11, 2015
Gracious Lord, we seek your Kingdom, which grows during both day and night. Help us, even when we do not know how, to remember that when things seem dark you are still at work in the world. We pray for China where the mass migration of parents looking for work have left millions […]
Countries: Cambodia, Canada, China, India, Myanmar (Burma), Spain
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, June 4, 2015
Assured of God’s grace and sustained by God’s love, let us open our hearts and minds as we pray together. Ever present God, with thanksgiving and praise we honor you for the gift of life. Your love strengthens us in times of despair, your wisdom speaks to us in times of uncertainty, and your Spirit […]
Countries: Canada, China, Ghana
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, May 28, 2015
When reports come in of wars and rumored wars, keep your head and don’t panic. This is routine history; this is no sign of the end. Nation will fight nation and ruler fight ruler, over and over. Famines and earthquakes will occur in various places. This is nothing compared to what is coming. – Matthew […]
Countries: India, Japan, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, May 21, 2015
“Who is so hurt I may not know their heartache?” asks the old hymn I Would Be True. We pray today for the heartbreak of the world. For the heartbreak of those who struggle with over 100 thousand gallons of oil poured from a broken pipeline…who struggle with the devastating effects on one of the […]
Countries: Iran, Nigeria, Syria, United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., May 14, 2015
Dear God, “Lord have mercy,” we often cry out. “Christ have mercy,” we hasten to add, as if knowing how much we wound your loving spirit. We know the best challenges you have given us when you dared us to love our enemies, to be perfect, to forgive 70 times 7, and to turn the […]
World News This Week in Prayer- Friday, May 8, 2015
Jesus said, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” God of Love and Light and Life, God of All Time and No Time, sometimes the demands of everyday life just overtake us and we forget, we lose track, we neglect those things to which we have committed ourselves- […]
Countries: Estonia, Indonesia, Liberia, Malaysia, Norway, Pakistan, Russia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, May 7, 2015
In all our joys and in all our concerns, may we be ever mindful of the presentness of the sacred among us, and to see new possibilities of the now. Creativity God, be our guide in re-imagining our human institutions of government. As the United Kingdom‘s parliament undergoes a change and the United States continues to […]
Countries: Colombia, Nepal, Nigeria, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News in Prayer – delayed
Due to unforeseen circumstances, this week’s edition will be posted on the web site on the morning of Friday, May 8, 2015. The email edition will go out Friday night. Our apologies for the inconvenience.
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, April 30, 2015
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. – Romans 12: 12 I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding. -1 Cor 14: 14 – 16 Pray continually – 1 Thessalonians […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Chile, India, Mexico, Middle East, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Rwanda, Scotland, Syria, Turkey
World News This Week in Prayer – Thurs., April 23, 2015
We have come to worship you, Lord our Shepherd. You, Lord, are our shepherd. Like any shepherd you watch over us, lead us to the best pastures of the mind, the best waters for the spirit, and like sheep we follow. Sheep are not stupid and neither are we. Forgive us our tendency to act […]
Countries: Ethiopia, Libya, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, United States of America (USA), Wales, Yemen, Zimbabwe
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, April 16, 2015
Many are saying, “Oh, that we might see better times!” Lift up the light of your countenance upon us, O LORD. – Psalm 4:6 In this season of resurrection, lift up the light of your countenance upon us, O Lord, that we may see your risen Son, Jesus Christ, who walks with us, […]
Countries: Colombia, Cuba, Italy, South Africa, United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, April 9, 2015
Loving God, we pray for the opportunity to join you in the work of creation. The Bible declares that creation occurred first with light, when the world was full of emptiness and disorder. We look around and see disorder of our own time: in the United States, we are shocked by the cell phone recording […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Cuba, Iran, Kenya, Panama, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – almost Easter, 2015
It is the in-between time. At my church, we have just ended the Maundy Thursday service, remembered Jesus’ institution of the first Eucharist, been commanded to love as he loves us, washed one another’s feet, then stripped the altar. Tonight, Jesus will spend in agonizing prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, and we, his disciples, will try […]
Countries: Bangladesh, Chile, India, Iran, Kenya, Nigeria, Syria, United States of America (USA), Vanuatu, Yemen
World News In Prayer, Thursday, March 26, 2015
Archbishop Oscar Romero was murdered at the altar in a hospital chapel 25 years ago. He wrote: “We have never preached violence, except the violence of love, which left Christ nailed to a cross, the violence that we must each do to ourselves to overcome our selfishness and such cruel inequalities among us. The violence […]
Countries: Australia, Chile, France, Germany, Guinea, India, Iraq, Liberia, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News in Prayer, Thursday March 19, 2015
Creator of all, we come to you in this time of prayer with thankful hearts. Through your expansive love, we receive strength and hope. Through your tender mercy, we learn compassion and forgiveness. Through the gift of your son, Jesus Christ, we seek justice and peace for all people, all nations and all of creation. Help […]
Countries: Australia, Canada, Germany, Tunisia, Vanuatu
World News in Prayer, Thursday 12th March 2015
World News in Prayer for March 12, 2015 For God so loved the world… Gracious and holy one, God of all creation, God of all people everywhere, it is so easy, as we journey through this season of Lent, to get lost in the wilderness of pain and sorrow we see in the world […]
Countries: Brazil, England, Greece, Hungary, India, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Syria, United States of America (USA)
World News in Prayer, Thursday 5th March 2015
Dear God in heaven, You hear in our words more exasperation than prayer. I apologize. We too often use your name as an exclamation point than as our Lord and Savior. Truth be told, we cry out in fear. The world we live in, our age, this generation is in a long season of fear. […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, February 26, 2015
“In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Liberia, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, February 19, 2015
This week has seen the headline that the Mediterranean is the grave of migrants, while in the last 5 days alone over 3,000 have been rescued from sinking people-smuggling boats escaping the chaos and fighting throughout the Middle East. The freeze and massive snow falls in the northeastern states of the U.S. and Canada continue […]
Countries: Argentina, Canada, Russia, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer Thursday, 12 February 2015
As we prepare ourselves for the holy season of Lent, let us reflect in prayer on the words of our Lord Jesus Christ: that when we love the least of these, we love you, Lord. Help us to love the least of these in prison. We pray for prisoners throughout the world. We pray that […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, El Salvador, Guatemala, Iraq, Italy, Libya, Niger, Nigeria, Syria, Taiwan, Ukraine
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, Feb. 5, 2015
The story has it, God, that only a few generations after you created the world and pronounced it “Good”, you looked down and saw that it was filled with wickedness. So much so, that you decided to wipe out every living creature. Except for the family of one righteous man – Noah – and a […]
Countries: Chad, France, Germany, Iraq, Jordan, Malawi, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Ukraine, United States of America (USA), Yugoslavia
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, Jan. 29, 2015
He cried out, “I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” Mark1:24b (NRSV) Surrounded by the presence of the Holy One of God, let us pray together. Holy One, we gather in worship this morning seeking your presence, your grace and your wisdom. Humbly we gather to hear your words of hope and […]
Countries: Brazil, Canada, England, Japan, Mexico, Sudan, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” Mark 1:14-15 We know, Lord, that you call us to a far wider agenda than proclaiming good news and […]
Countries: Australia, Cameroon, Chad, Cuba, France, Iraq, Nauru, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Saudi Arabia, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer- Thursday, Jan.15, 2015
Throughout the world, this Sunday marks the beginning of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, and so together we pray for the church of Christ, that we may all be one. Litany of Thanksgiving Because I love you, O my people, I was born in Bethlehem. They called me Emmanuel, for I am God […]
Countries: France, Haiti, Palestine, South Sudan, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, January 8, 2015
There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord. Proverbs 21:30 The rich and the poor have this in common, the Lord is the Maker of them all. Proverbs 22:2 Lord, when will You tear the heavens apart to make Your will known and show Your might? Yes, I […]
Countries: Afghanistan, France, Iraq, Middle East, Northern Nigeria, Scotland, Somalia, Syria
World News This Week in Prayer- January 1, 2015
Gracious God, our lives are new every morning. Each day we are given opportunities to love you and to love the people you send to us. As we begin a new year, we use this moment to rededicate ourselves to your service and our gifts and talents towards creating your kingdom in this world. Your […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Christmas 2014
On this Christmas day, may we all recommit ourselves to love, to life, to saying “yes” to God’s unexpected invitations. To seeking and meeting the Holy in unexpected places, in the powerless and the hungry, the vulnerable and the longing. May this be a year of hope, and joy. Of giving birth, from the deepest […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, December 18, 2014
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. – John 13:34 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. – Matthew 11:29 I have come into the […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Australia, Brazil, China, Cuba, Egypt, Greece, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, Somalia, Syria, Turkey, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, December 11, 2014
World in Prayer, Dec. 11th Stir up your power, Lord Christ, and come. With your abundant grace and might, free us from the sin that would obstruct your mercy, that willingly we might bear your redeeming love to all the world. We long for this stirring, O God, as we look around our […]
Countries: Austria, Brazil, India, Israel, Palestine, Peru, Philippines, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, Dec. 4, 2014
Oh. Dear. God. No. Not again. I thought I knew what I was going to write for tonight’s prayers. And then I turned on the computer, and read that in the United States, yet another unarmed Black man had been shot, dead, by a police officer. Jesus. I am speechless, beyond shock. Everything I could […]
Countries: Central African Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Israel, Kenya, Liberia, Mauritania, Qatar, Somalia, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA), Uzbekistan, Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – November 27th 2014
“Praise and thanksgiving, Father we offer, for all things living you have made good” Hymn by Albert F.Bayly Father at the start of a new Christian year we offer our thanksgiving for all the mercies we have received over the past years. Despite the snow and difficult traveling conditions for many in Canada and the […]
Countries: Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, China, France, Guinea
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, November 20, 2014
God, it’s hard to be grateful. I remember a book, “Praise God Anyway,” and I hated the idea. Yet You, Holy God, have allowed me to live enough to know the author was right. I must try to be grateful anyway. Holy and Loving God, we come to this season of Thanksgiving wanting to: “Count our […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, November 13, 2014
As we gather the thoughts of our hearts in prayer, we give thanks to the Creator who brings order out of chaos. Let us bring the chaos of our lives and our world to God, to hold in love. Let us pray for those whose memories are chaos: For all veterans whose lives are affected […]
Countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Mexico, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, November 6, 2014
Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers? He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “Go, and do likewise.” (Luke 10:36-37) Heavenly Father, few parables are as easy to understand as the story of the good Samaritan. And […]
Countries: Germany, Guinea, Liberia, Mexico, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, October 30, 2014
One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a […]
Countries: Brazil, Estonia, Iraq, Middle East, Nigeria, Pakistan
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, October 26, 2014
World in Prayer- October 23, 2014 God of creation, God of healing, God of all people everywhere, prayer comes with difficulty this day. Words seem somehow so inadequate to express the confusion…the anger…the fear which seems to fill hearts and minds of people in all parts of your world. What comes to the surface […]
Countries: Canada
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, October 16, 2014
“Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” –Matthew 22:22 NRSV God of majesty, your glory and wonder fills all of creation. In all corners of your world, beauty, truth and wonder abound. Sadly, there are times when we seem to forget that you, and you alone, are the great Creator […]
Countries: Nepal, Syria
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, October 9, 2014
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Canada, Germany, India, Iraq, Japan, Mexico, Pakistan, South Sudan, Sweden, Syria, Turkey, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, Oct. 2, 2014
The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of […]
Countries: Bolivia, England, Japan, Turkey, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer Sept. 25, 2014
“In the spring, when Kings go forth to war…..” (2 Samuel 11:1) Loving God, we look to your word for guidance, learning from the good and the bad, the best and the worst. Sadly, we learn that war has been ever thus. And here we are again. We have learned that Kings and leaders […]
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, September 18, 2014
As the UN marks the International Day of Peace and the World Council of Churches invites us to join the International Day of Prayer for Peace this September 21st, let us pray for peace in our hearts and minds, in our families, in our communities, in our nations, and throughout the world. Our Lord Jesus […]
Countries: Brazil, Guinea, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Scotland, Syria, Ukraine
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, Sept. 11, 2014
So. Many. Words. On this, the anniversary of 9-11, so many prayers float across my screen. I want to take a bit from this one, a bit from that, serve them up, a full-course meal of prayer for those who died and those who lived the first responders then, and now, in so many places […]
Countries: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Guinea, Iraq, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Syria
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, September 4, 2014
O God of every tradition, we pray thy will be done. We are assaulted second by second throughout the 24-hour news cycle by words and images that describe so many ways in which it is not done: Nation and would-be nation bargain over beheaded journalists in the Middle East Nation and nation rattle sabers over […]
Countries: Angola, Kashmir, Middle East, North Korea, Palestine (Gaza), Somalia, Syria, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday August 28, 2014
Gathered together, surrounded by the grace of the Holy One, we enter into this time of prayer seeking Divine wisdom and courage to live faithfully and justly. Let us join together in prayer. Creator God, we feel your Spirit move among us in the gentle breeze, in the ocean waves, and in the colors of […]
Countries: Guinea, Liberia, Middle East, Russia, Sierra Leone, Ukraine
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 21, 2014
“I, along with St Paul, am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 8: 38, 39) In […]
Countries: Iceland, Japan, Liberia
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 14, 2014
World in Prayer for August 14, 2014 (As I looked around me at our world this week, preparing to write these prayers, I found myself singing over and over the words to Marty Haugen’s wonderful hymn, “Healer of Our Every Ill”, and so I have incorporated them into the prayers for this week.) […]
Countries: Brazil, China, Guinea, Iran, Iraq, Liberia, Pakistan, Palestine (Gaza), Sierra Leone, South Korea (Republic of Korea), Syria, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, August 7, 2014
God of grace and God of mercy, be among us. So much evil is done in your name, O God. So much that is not favorable in your sight is done in your name. We know that you are love; we know you loathe the ugliness humans create. God of grace and God of mercy, […]
Countries: Australia, European Union, Iraq, Israel, Palestine (Gaza), Russia, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, July 31, 2014
Is anything too hard for the Lord? Genesis 18:14 Healing of the nations. I watched a documentary on BBC TV called “The Children of Syria,” which followed children for several months from all sides in the war. Watching them parrot the hate for their former friends as taught them by their adult family and community […]
Countries: Colombia, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, United Kingdom (UK)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, July 24, 2014
So many treasures are hidden Lord: When we gave thanks along with the mother whose 2 sons were saved by the actions of a stranger, Reis Leming, in East Anglia in 1953, we were not to know that one would became a professor in Cambridge, England; the other a professor in MIT. Lord, we […]
Countries: India, Iraq, Italy, Palestine, Sierra Leone, Taiwan, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, July 17, 2014
Precious Lord, take my hand, Lead me on, let me stand, I am tired, I am weak, I am worn; Through the storm, through the night, Lead me on to the light, Take my hand, precious Lord, Lead me home. Even as we sing, even as we pray, Precious Lord, our thoughts turn to […]
Countries: Afghanistan, China, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), England, Israel, Mexico, Palestine, Palestine (Gaza), Philippines, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, United States of America (USA), Wales
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, July 10, 2014
Lord, we love our sports, games, competition. Winners and losers, the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, we love it all. But Lord, we mix our metaphors, we mistake life for games, we use the language of war for the playing fields. Remind us, God, that the Middle East is not a playing field. […]
Countries: Israel, Palestine
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, July 3, 2014
Jesus said, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is […]
Countries: Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Ghana, Haiti, Iraq, Liberia, Mauritania, Mozambique, Pakistan, Syria, Uganda, Ukraine
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, June 26, 2014
“I will create a pathway in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:19 Beloved Holy One, Amidst the muted roar of nighttime and early morning traffic on highways, the stench of diesel and gasoline, the noise of human living, You are here. YOU ARE. Praise be! Whatever our situation – in town, village, […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, United Kingdom (UK)
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, June 19, 2014
Dearest One, How can I ask forgiveness for letting a person die? How can we ask forgiveness not just for ourselves, but for the whole world? Not just for this moment in time, but for all of human history, for all lives to come? Four sleeping homeless people were run over – apparently deliberately – […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), France, Kenya, Lebanon, Myanmar (Burma), Pakistan, Rwanda, South Sudan, Syria, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, June 12, 2014
Creator God, in the midst of economic, political, and social turmoils, we thank you for the opportunity to gather for another World Cup. We thank you for open fields that ignite children’s imaginations, for communities and governments that promote healthy activities, for the opportunity to teach teamwork and sportsmanship. We praise you for giving us […]
Countries: Brazil
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, June 5, 2014
World in prayer – Prayers for Pentecost 2014 Gathered together, surrounded by the grace of the Spirit, we enter into this holy time of prayer seeking Divine wisdom and courage to live faithfully and justly. Let us join together in prayer. Creator God, we feel your Spirit move among us in the gentle breeze, in the […]
Countries: Canada, China, Egypt, Middle East, Nigeria, Pakistan, Ukraine
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, June 5, 2014
Wind who makes all winds that blow, gusts that bend the sapling low, gales that heave the sea in waves, stirrings in the mind’s deep caves: aim your breath with steady power on your church, this day, this hour. Raise, renew the life we’ve lost, Spirit God of Pentecost. Loving God, Creator God, your children are […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, May 29, 2014
Go up to Gilead and take balm. — Jeremiah 46:11 “There is a Balm in Gilead” – American Spiritual There is a balm in Gilead To make the wounded whole; There is a balm in Gilead To heal the sin sick soul. Some times I feel discouraged, And think my work’s in vain, But then […]
Countries: Afghanistan, France, Iraq, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, May 22, 2014
Two thirds of our planet are covered by sea. Two thirds of our planet are still unexplored. (Hans Hass) Lord, you are so immense, intelligent and intangible, that we think you are incomprehensible, impenetrable, inscrutable. Somehow that gives us the idea that you cannot know or understand us, our environment, our planet. We act […]
Countries: Australia, Colombia, Libya, Nigeria, South Sudan, Thailand
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, May 15, 2014
Jesus said, “You’re familiar with the command to the ancients, ‘Do not murder.’ I’m telling you that anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder. Carelessly call a brother ‘idiot!’ and you just might find yourself hauled into court. Thoughtlessly yell ‘stupid!’ at a sister and you […]
Countries: China, Nigeria, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Turkey, United States of America (USA), Venezuela
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, May 8, 2014
This week in the liturgical churches, we commemorate the death of Saint Julian of Norwich and her “Revelations of Divine Love”, the first known book in the English language written by a woman. And Sunday is sometimes called “Good Shepherd Sunday”, reminding us of God’s unbounded providence and grace. In the United States, it is […]
Countries: Sudan, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, May 1, 2014
God of Easter and beyond, You have dared us to take Your story “from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the ends of the earth.” You have asked us to lay claim to the world in the name of Love, and You are Love. It is with Your call that we expand the borders of […]
Countries: Ukraine
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, April 24, 2014
O Lord, we doubt and we believe. Help us to hold both our doubt and our belief lightly so we may be astonished and overjoyed when we see you, wounded and whole, living in our world. We doubt we will see peace: in Syria, in Ukraine, between Israelis and Palestinians, even sometimes within our own […]
Countries: Israel, Nigeria, Palestine, South Korea (Republic of Korea), Syria, Ukraine
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, April 17, 2014
I write this during the long vigil between Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. The time when those who follow the ancient traditions of the Christian church year stay up and keep watch with Jesus, as he prays in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. We have, once again, been present as he washes the disciples’ […]
Countries: Central African Republic, Colombia, Eritrea, Iran, Italy, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia, Rwanda, South Korea (Republic of Korea), South Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News The Week in Prayer – Thursday April 10, 2014
Loving God, by your grace teach us patience – and renewed hope when we face such disappointments as: the failure to date to address human rights abuses in Syria; the failure of any sub-Saharan African country to meet Millennial Development Goals of cutting in half the number of people not having access to clean water […]
Countries: Bangladesh, China, European Union, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, Sweden, Syria, Uganda, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, April 3, 2014
In the presence of our Creator, we seek renewal, wisdom, and inspiration. In the presence of our Beloved, we bring our true selves, our desires, and our fears. In the presence of the Holy Mystery, let us gather our hearts in prayer. O Beautiful Presence, open our eyes to all that surrounds us so that […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Chile, Egypt, Guinea, Middle East, Nigeria, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, March 27, 2014
As we stand with Jesus in the wilderness during this Lenten period, we pray for the whole world. For those fighting cancer: may they have support and access to quality medical care. For parents: may they be confident in their childcare and schools. For pregnant women and for those who are trying to build families: […]
Countries: Malaysia, Russia, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, March 20th 2014
Thursday, March 20th 2014 “If God is your co-pilot, swap seats!” (cartoon) “Purity does not come in separation from but in deeper penetration into the Universe … Bathe yourself in the ocean of matter; plunge into it where it is deepest and most violent; struggle in its currents and drink its water. For […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Brazil, Central African Republic, China, Crimea, India, Iraq, Malaysia, Mexico, South Africa, Syria, Tibet, Ukraine, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, March 13, 2014
Lord, our creator who neither slumbers nor sleeps; Lord, our protector, guide and help, be in our coming in prayer and our going out to the world in compassion. This week is the 25th anniversary of the World Wide Web, giving us such a great ability to know more about our world and to share with […]
Countries: Crimea, England, Iceland, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Syria, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday March 6, 2014
Morning Psalm I open my heart, Loving God… I place myself in your hands… I breathe in the beauty of the rising sun… I savor the gift of another day of life. Wherever this day leads, let me rest in the assurance of your presence with me, in me, around and under me. Let me […]
Countries: Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Sudan, Syria, Ukraine
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, February 28, 2014
Creativity God, we search for wholeness because your energy within us desires such. With this in mind, we see the incessant news from our world that seems to portray more brokenness than ever before. A week ago, those in the United States were reminded by one Olympic national news correspondent that “…no amount of Olympic glory […]
Countries: Russia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, February 20, 2014
First, a story. The first time I came to an Ash Wednesday service – in a time when churches were still very clear as to what the not-yet-baptized could participate in – I hadn’t thought to ask beforehand if I could receive the ashes. So I rather uneasily followed the line forward, and the Rector paused, hesitated, when […]
Countries: Central African Republic, Iraq, Lebanon, Nigeria, North Korea, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, February 13, 2014
Calm me, Lord Calm me, Lord, as you calmed the storm; Still me, Lord, keep me from harm, Let all the tumult within me cease, enfold me, Lord, in your peace. Text: David Adam What a maelstrom of events is present in the news this week. Torrential unseasonal rain in Indonesia has affected the Pacific […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Bosnia, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Mexico, Russia, Scotland, Sudan, Syria, United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA), Zimbabwe
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, February 6, 2014
Jesus, you call us to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. May we shine the light of your peace and love to its farthest corners as we remember your world in our prayers. We pray for Russia as it hosts the Winter Olympics in Sochi, for the athletes who […]
Countries: Iraq, Italy, Pakistan, Russia, Syria
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, January 30, 2014
God, on whom we rely, hear this prayer for humility and perseverance. You know that we are ever tempted to reject the better for the perfect. Help us embrace the possibilities unfolding in negotiations between the United States and Syria, in disputes in Ukraine, wherever progress, even modest progress, is being made. Free of implementation […]
Countries: Argentina, Bangladesh, Egypt, Pakistan, Syria, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, January 23, 2014
Just as Jesus called Peter, Andrew, James and John to follow him long ago, Jesus calls us today to follow him. One of the ways we follow is through prayer. Let us join our hearts together and pray. Holy God, help us we pray, to hear your call to us. Make us ready to change the […]
Countries: Australia, Canada, Greece, Lebanon, Switzerland, Syria, Ukraine
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, January 16, 2014
God, sometimes I don’t know what to say. I write my prayer the same week that I offer prayers for three mothers who died too young. I write my prayer with the sounds of despair all around me. A Middle East that never seems to see what the Wise Men saw, a star in the […]
Countries: Middle East, Russia
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, January 9, 2014
And, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Chile, France, Germany, Iraq, Japan, Pakistan, Russia, Sudan, Syria, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – January 2, 2014
World in Prayer This Week – January 2, 2014 “And having been warned in dream not to return to Herod, they [the Wise Ones] left for their own country by another road.” Matthew 2:12 (NRSV) God of dreams and desires, in this sacred season you reach to the world in rhythms beyond the rational. An […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Iraq, Israel, Japan, Mali, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, United States of America (USA), Yemen
World News This Week in Prayer – Christmas 2013
The light of the Christmas star to you. The warmth of home and hearth to you. The cheer and goodwill of friends to you. The hope of a child-like heart to you. The joy of a thousand angels to you. The love of the Son and God’s peace to you. ~ Sherryl Woods ~ In […]
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, December 19, 2013
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. We are still waiting for you. We are waiting for the Prince of Peace. We are waiting for the Wisdom from on high. We are waiting for the King of all nations. O come and set the captives free. Free those who are captive to violence. The people of Syria, […]
Countries: India, Iran, Israel, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, December 12, 2013
This week, Dear Lord, has been one where the contrast between what is right and what is convenient or what we choose to do has been held up to scrutiny. We give thanks for the example that change is possible through the life journey and work of Nelson Mandela. We pray for honesty, humility, and […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, North Korea, Peru, South Africa, Syria, Zimbabwe
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, December 5, 2013
In intercession we, the intercessors, need to know something of the circumstances to kindle our concern. God already knows it all, but it seems in the mystery of humanity where God has given us free will, he will not bypass this and treat us like robots. Our love and concern seem to open the way […]
Countries: Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Egypt, India, Iraq, Mexico, Peru, Philippines, Scotland, Somalia, South Africa, Syria, Thailand, United Kingdom (UK), Zimbabwe
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, November 28, 2013
When Jesus said, ‘I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly’ (John 10 : 10), I do not think He was speaking only of spiritual life – I think He meant us to have positive delight in all the good things in this wonderful world which his […]
Countries: Bangladesh, Egypt, New Zealand, Nigeria, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, November 21, 2013
For in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. Colossians 1:16 (NRSV) Creating God, you spoke and the world came to be. Through your Word, life began. Your living word continues […]
Countries: Egypt, England, Philippines, Somalia, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, November 14, 2013
“God of many Names,” we sing in our hymnbook. Holy God, we come to you from many places with many needs, calling upon you by many names depending on our needs. When all around us is injustice and oppression, we need you as Judge. When all is broken and shattered, we need you as Reconciler […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, November 7, 2013
Creative and guiding spirit, We bring this prayer with particular remembrance that, just as we shall always have the poor among us, so it is also our work to notice and to help. We pray earnestly for the strength of vision and of mind to respond thoughtfully to needs throughout the world, such as: –The […]
Countries: Central African Republic, Latin America, Syria, United States of America (USA)
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, October 31, 2013
Creator God, by your word and in your power, you have created us and our world. As we learn more of you, so we come to realize how powerful is your word. In your company I’ll go where your love and footsteps show. Thus I’ll move and live and grow in you and you in me. (John L. Bell […]
Countries: Azerbaijan, India, Niger, South Sudan, Syria
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, October 24
Rublev One day, God walked in, pale from the grey steppe, slit-eyed against the wind, and stopped, said, Color me, breathe your blood into my mouth. I said, Here is the blood of all our people, these are their bruises, blue and purple, gold, brown, and pale green wash of death. These (god) are the chromatic pains of flesh, I […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, October 17, 2013
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” – Psalm 119:105 Loving God of light and goodness and grace and peace; by whatever name you are known we give you thanks. With people of faith around the world we proclaim you and seek common ways to worship and serve […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, September 26, 2013
God of Heaven and Earth, Creator of all that is, seen and unseen, whom angels worship and adore, be merciful to us and hear us. Lord Jesus Christ, who came to earth to be with us and share in our suffering, be merciful to us and hear us. Holy Spirit, who dwells within us even […]
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, September 19, 2013
Our Father, who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread: –feed the hungry –nourish the poor in spirit –provide clean water –assign meaningful tasks and living wages –sustain our fields and farmers during this […]
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, September 12, 2013
Creator God we praise you for the changing of the seasons, for those areas of the Northern hemisphere where harvest is in progress or already complete; for those areas of the Southern hemisphere where the seedtime approaches and happens. The glory of the world wraps around us and we revel in the warmth and sunshine. […]
World News This Week in Prayer – Thursday, September 5, 2013
I praise you, O God, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” – Psalm 139:14 In the wonder of the moment we marvel at eyes that see the clear blue of sky, hands that feel the hand of a loved one beside us, feet that feel the solid earth beneath and ears that hear the […]
World News This Week In Prayer – Thursday, August 29, 2013
Creator and Sustainer of all that has been, for all that is and all that shall be, we gather in your holy presence. To you we offer praise and thanksgiving for all of the blessings you provide. In this time of worship we come seeking your grace, your wisdom and your peace. Hear us now as we pray and […]
Countries: Brazil, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Iraq, Kenya, Mexico
