Prayers for Israel

Israel is held in these prayers chiefly through conflict and its aftermath: rocket fire and airstrikes, hostages and ceasefires, and the grief shared with Palestine and Lebanon. Elections, government tension and corruption inquiries are noted, as are journalists at risk and people who long for an ordinary, secure day.

The Bond of Our Common Humanity: A Lenten Prayer for Ukraine and Turkey (February 23, 2023)

“The bond of our common humanity is stronger than the divisiveness of our fears and prejudices.” – Jimmy Carter Oh, Lord, you shepherd us. You follow us. You lead us through the fog of our times. We get caught up in fear and weighed down by seemingly eternal prejudices. As we enter this Lenten season […]

This Blessing Calls You Home: A Christmas Blessing and Prayer for Every Nation on Earth (December 22, 2022)

A CHRISTMAS BLESSING by Christine Valters Paintner online Abbess at AbbeyoftheArts.com Reproduced with permission This blessing dances at the doorway of light and dark, knows both as sacred: fertile womb space, miracle of blooming. This blessing breathes through those moments of labor when you too birth the holy into this fragile, luminous, hurting world as Mary […]

You Have the Truth to Set Us Free: A Thanksgiving Prayer for the Trafficked and Displaced (November 24, 2022)

“… for I am verily persuaded the Lord hath more truth yet to break forth out of His Holy Word.” John Robinson. Lord, the news is difficult, often strange, maybe false, maybe half truth, out of context and fuelled by conspiracy. What a relief to know that you have the truth contained within yourself; granted […]

O God, Why Are You Silent: Prayers for Ukraine, Rafah, Wildfires, and Pakistan’s Floods (August 11, 2022)

Writers note: As I faced writing these prayers, all that kept resonating through my mind was the hymn, “O God, Why Are You Silent” written by Marty Haugen and found in the Evangelical Lutheran Worship. The words of the first two verses resound in my breaking heart (it can be sung to any 7676D hymn […]

How Long That Road Is: A Prayer for Shireen Abu Akleh, Journalists Killed, and Teachers (May 12, 2022)

How long that road is. But, for all the time the journey has taken, how we have needed every second of it in order to learn what the road passes by. – Dag Hammarskjold* We pray. The newspaper lies in a plastic bag in the driveway. The news shows up on our phone or TV […]

Blessed Are Those Who Have Not Seen: Prayers for Shanghai’s Lockdown and Besieged Mariupol (April 21, 2022)

Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” John 20:28, 29 Eternal God, three in one and one in three; We give thanks for the countless faithful believers who, down […]

Relative and Absolute Poverty: A Prayer for Those Slipping Into Want (March 31, 2022)

Creator God, I am so privileged that I don’t know I am! Living here in the first world it is striking to hear someone explain the difference between “relative poverty” and “absolute poverty.” We pray that we are forgiven our attempts to pray for the whole world while neglecting to centre ourselves on You. As the seasons […]

Butterfly Prayers: For Haitian Migrants, La Palma’s Volcano, and Afghanistan’s Women (September 30, 2021)

God of limitless love, Thank you for creating us with expansive capacity for love. The heart is a vast landscape. What wonder this is that we can feel so many different emotions, seemingly conflicting, at the same time, that we can love so deeply. Sometimes in the face of all the suffering we see, we confuse love […]

When I Am Afraid: Prayers for Haiti’s Earthquake, Wildfires in France, and Afghanistan (August 19, 2021)

Be gracious to me, O God, for people trample on me; all day long foes oppress me; my enemies trample on me all day long, for many fight against me. O Most High, when I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I am […]

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, […]