Prayers for Africa

Farmers in West Africa walking flooded fields, looking for salvageable stems: images like this shape how the continent is prayed for here. The prayers hold communities enduring climate extremes and places where water is scarce or polluted, and they name the injustice that a continent home to so many of the world's poorest bears little responsibility for the warming.

Into Your Hands: Prayers Against Modern Slavery, Hunger, and Closing Borders (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 […]

Prayers of Contrast: Bombings in Istanbul and Jakarta, and Flint’s Poisoned Water (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 […]

He Came Down That We May Have Peace: An Epiphany Prayer for Persecuted Christians (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 […]

Where in the World Are You: A Prayer of Silence for West Africa and Canada (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 […]

We Have No Words to Say: Prayers for Ebola, California’s Drought, and Mount Ontake (October 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 […]

Courageous Spirits and Compassionate Hearts: Prayers for Donetsk, Ebola, and Those Held Hostage (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 […]

Nothing Can Separate Us: A Prayer After the Killing of James Foley (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 […]

God of Grace and God of Mercy: Prayers for Iraq’s Yazidis and for Gaza (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, […]

For the Healing of the Nations: A Prayer for the Children of Syria (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 […]

So Many Treasures Are Hidden: Prayers After MH17 and the Taiwan Plane Crash (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 […]