World in Prayer

Sharing in God’s loving compassion for all

Prayers for Brazil

Brazil comes into these prayers through drought, floods and mudslides, building fires and collapses, and the heavy toll of the pandemic. The Amazon and its Indigenous peoples are a steady concern, as is poverty in the cities, with thanks given for coral discoveries, scientists and leaders working for the forest.

Is There No Balm in Gilead: Prayers After George Floyd, for Cyclone Nisarga and a Grieving World (June 4, 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 […]

Help Us Get Our Responses Right: Cyclone Amphan, Michigan’s Dams, and Kabul (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 […]

More Than Conquerors: A Prayer After the Kabul Maternity Ward Attack and the Visakhapatnam Gas Leak (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 […]

Peace Be With You: A Prayer for a World Behind Locked Doors During the COVID-19 Pandemic (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 […]

Like Grasses Showing Tender Faces: A Prayer as the Pandemic Circles the Globe (March 12, 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 […]

Come, Lord, Take Our Fear Away: Tennessee Tornadoes, Floods, and Children at the Borders (March 5, 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 […]

Be Gentle With Us: Prayers for the Kurds, Typhoon Hagibis, and Lebanon’s Wildfires (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 – […]

Listening for God’s Voice: Prayers for Hurricane Dorian and Burning Forests (September 19, 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. […]

May Your Love Flow Through: A Prayer for the Burning Amazon and a World on Fire (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 […]

Ask the Animals and They Will Teach You: A Prayer for a Dying Glacier and Children in Detention (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? […]