World in Prayer

Sharing in God’s loving compassion for all

Prayers for Iran

Prayers naming Iran hold nuclear negotiations and the tension around them, strikes and fragile ceasefires, and talks that begin and stall. Protest is a recurring theme, particularly the treatment of women and of schoolgirls, along with those imprisoned or censored. Journalists and activists who speak at real cost are honored.

The Lord’s Prayer for a Hurting World: Violence Against Women, Floods, and Global Drought (September 22, 2022)

Writer’s note: I have no idea where this version of the Lord’s Prayer came from, so I apologise for not giving credit where credit is due. I know I’ve amended it over the years, but it is something that draws me back time and again. So I am using it as a framework for this […]

Not a Spirit of Fear: A Prayer After the Attack on Salman Rushdie, and for Refugees (August 18, 2022)

Holy One, In these times, with the world news heavily upon us, we reflect upon words from 2 Timothy: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.”   (New Living Translation) Ten years ago, speaking in New York (U.S.), Indian-born British-American novelist Salman Rushdie said that […]

Help Us to Set Down Our Weapons: Prayers for Eastern Congo and Asylum Seekers (June 16, 2022)

O Holy One, We think we are listening to you. We are really practicing listening to you. We have a long way to go — to do your will. To love ourselves. To love our neighbor. To Love You. We get distracted — so much is going on around us and worldwide. We have so […]

Mourning Buffalo and Lifting Our Eyes: Prayers After a Racist Massacre, and for Iraq’s Sandstorms (May 19, 2022)

Loving and ever-present God, we come before you this week bringing all that we are seeking your presence, your love, your wisdom, and your grace. We do not have to look far to see the brokenness and pain in the world, from health struggles to concerns about our finances, many of us bring fears and […]

O Come, O Come Emmanuel: Prayers for Migrants, the Michigan School Shooting, and Yemen (December 2, 2021)

O Come, O Come Emmanuel God with us, We are so grateful that you are with us. In every moment of our being. The moments when we feel You beating in echo with our hearts and the moments when we feel completely alone.  We do not have to ask, You are already and always with […]

An Alphabet of Prayer: From Aged Adults to Zoom Fatigue in a Pandemic Year (August 5, 2021)

Sustaining God, we offer an alphabetical litany to You. Please shine Your light on: Aged adults who feel isolated in a pandemic… Birthing persons… Cancelations… Delta and other variants of COVID-19 which are highly transmissible and more virulent than the original… Ethiopia, where a civil war rages… Food pantries… Grocery store employees and all other […]

Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying: Floods in Germany and China, and Wildfires (July 22, 2021)

Lord, listen to your children praying, Lord, send your Spirit in this place; Lord, listen to your children praying, send us love, send us pow’r, send us grace.                              Text and music- Ken Medema God of all creation, God who calls us each and all by name, hear our prayers of anguish, of contrition, of […]

Shield Us in Every Need: Prayers for Cyprus Wildfires, Haiti, and a Condo Collapse (July 8, 2021)

In name of the Holy Spirit of grace, In name of the Father of the City of Peace, In name of Jesus who takes death off us, Oh, in name of the Three who shield us in every need, If well you have found us tonight, Seven times better may you leave us without harm, […]

Imagine Transformation: Prayers for Mali’s Coup, Gaza, and the Kamloops Children (June 3, 2021)

With all the pain, violence, and sorrow that we see and experience, how is it possible to not grow hard? Some days it seems nearly impossible to see compassion and hope at work in the world. In times like these, we can send compassion and hope out into the world. Loving God, we come to […]

You Keep Track of Our Sorrows: Prayers for Daunte Wright, Afghanistan, and a Warming Earth (April 15, 2021)

O God, you come to us wherever and however we might be. No matter how much we may not believe it, we are worthy of your love and grace. Therefore, we uplift to you all of our raggedy and incomplete prayers to you—the ones that fall from our lips, the ones that remain hidden within […]