Prayers for France

Attacks and their aftermath, heatwaves, floods and storms, strikes and protest, and unsettled elections all appear in the prayers for France. Refugees and children at the Calais camp are remembered, along with justice for those harmed by people in trusted positions, and thanks is given for the climate agreement signed in Paris.

O Lord, Hear My Prayer: After the Texas Flash Floods and for the Hungry in Gaza and Yemen (July 10, 2025)

Note from this week’s writer: Many of us in the U.S. can’t get the images out of our minds of the disastrous flash flood in Texas this week. We hold those images before us as we pray for all all facing disasters throughout the world. Read Psalm 46:1-7. O Lord, hear my prayer; O Lord, […]

For Every Child on This Planet: Prayers Against Abuse, Trafficking, and Gun Violence (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 […]

Do You Believe This: Prayers for Christian Unity, Gaza, the Uyghurs and a Warming World (January 23, 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 […]

Always We Begin Again: Prayers After the Jeju Air Crash, New Orleans, and Jimmy Carter’s Death (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 […]

Violence Breeds Violence: A Prayer After the Trump Rally Shooting and Attacks on Candidates (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 […]

Prayers for World Leaders: France in Limbo, Kenya’s Cabinet, and the UK Election (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 […]

The Largest Election Year in History: Prayers for Voters in Iran, France, Rwanda and Venezuela (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 […]

For a Leader: Blessings for Claudia Sheinbaum, Robert Fico, Pope Francis and LGBTQ Leaders (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 […]

Consecrating Our Chaos: A Prayer for Religious and Spiritual Leaders Around the World (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, […]

Bless the Lord, O My Soul: A Prayer for a Weary World From Gaza to Haiti (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 […]