World in Prayer

Sharing in God’s loving compassion for all

Prayers for India

The prayers that name India range widely: heatwaves and floods, the pandemic years, elections and communal tension, the treatment of women and of Dalit and tribal communities, and the safety of workers. Thanksgivings appear too, for rescues, tree planting and voices calling for interfaith unity.

Made in the Image of God: A Prayer Against Hatred of the Other and for Those Who Welcome Refugees (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 […]

Your Kingdom Grows in Day and Night: Prayers for China’s Children and Canada’s Schools (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 […]

In That Promise We Rest: Prayers for US Flooding, India’s Heat Wave, and a Japanese Volcano (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 […]

Prayer Tree: After the Nepal Earthquake, the Baltimore Riots, and Chile’s Calbuco Volcano (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 […]

We Live in the In-Between Times: An Easter Prayer After Garissa and for a Thirsty Planet (April 3, 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 […]

The Violence of Love: Prayers After the Germanwings Crash and for Ebola-Hit West Africa (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 […]

For God So Loved the World: A Lenten Prayer of Wonder and Hope (March 12, 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 […]

Stir Up Your Power: An Advent Prayer for Justice, Torture Victims, and the Climate (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 […]

Black Lives Matter: A Prayer Against Violence and Modern Slavery (December 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 […]