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 […]
Prayers for Germany
Germany is prayed for here in its welcome of refugees, in demonstrations and attacks on Jewish and immigrant neighbors, and in floods that took many lives in 2021. The fall of the Berlin Wall and changes of chancellor are marked, with thanks for those who counter extremism and for the return of the lynx.
A Life in Service to Others: Prayers for Yemen, India’s Migrant Workers, and Tripoli (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 […]
Hope Will Not Be Canceled: How Are We to Pray in a Time of Pandemic (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? […]
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 […]
A Prayer at the Turn of the Decade: For Nations at War and Hearts in Despair (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 […]
Leaves for the Healing of the Nations: Prayers After the Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting (November 1, 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 […]
Perfect Love Casts Out Fear: A Toronto Officer, a Hyderabad Priest and a Montgomery Memorial (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 […]
Entertain Angels Unaware: Remembering Barbara Bush and Winnie Mandela, and Praying for Our Leaders (April 19, 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 […]
Shalom Be With You: Prayers for Douma, Parkland and the Muenster Attack (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 […]
Breathe and Behold: Prayers for Cape Town and Flint’s Water, Syria’s Siege, and Winter Olympians (February 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 […]