Prayers for Japan

Natural disaster shapes much of what has been prayed for Japan: earthquakes and tsunami, volcanic eruptions, typhoons, blizzards, and heatwaves, with the long aftermath of Fukushima returning more than once. Prayers also mark violence against disabled people, rescues at sea, and steps toward equal marriage.

Our World Is Broken: Prayers After the Haiti Massacre, the Fall of Assad, and for the Hibakusha (December 12, 2024)

Dear God, Our world is broken in ways that pain us: Our hearts break with those who are grieving, especially those in Haiti after the massacre that left over 180 people dead. We pray that this situation will not escalate with retaliation, but will be ended by justice and reconciliation that prevails. Our minds whirl […]

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel: Prayers for the Israel Lebanon Ceasefire and Aid to Gaza (November 28, 2024)

Will you come to our world, God? And will you come with hope? For we see too many situations we can only lament, too few that lift our spirits; too much despair, too little resilience and respect; too many longings and laments and limited visions, too few steps forward. O come, O come, Emmanuel. And […]

Glimmers of Grace: Prayers for Elections, Gaza, the Spanish Floods and Sudan’s Women (October 31, 2024)

Loving God, We know that our world is often uncertain. Many nations have recently faced elections, such as British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and New Brunswick in Canada, and Japan, where the Liberal Democratic Party, which has held power almost continually since 1955, lost its single-party majority at Sunday’s election. We also know that in some places, elections […]

Co-Guardians of a Fragile Planet: A Prayer in the Season of Creation for Floods, Drought, and Hunger (September 26, 2024)

“Prayer is nothing else than a sense of God’s presence.” ~ Brother Laurence (lay brother, Paris, France 1614-1691) “Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God.” ~ Mother Theresa of Calcutta (1910-1997) “We have to pray with our eyes on God and not on the difficulties.” ~ Oswald Chambers (1874-1917) “I (Jesus) tell you, […]

Transcendent and Intimate: Prayers for Sudan’s Displaced, a Sao Paulo Crash and India’s Doctors (August 15, 2024)

Holy One, you are both transcendent, stretching far beyond our understanding and intimate, closer than the air we breathe. I find comfort in that! Especially when tragedy and illness strikes close to home, it is comforting to know that I am surrounded by your love and care AND at the same time that same love […]

All Are Your Beloved Children: Prayers for Bangladesh, the UK Riots, and Japan’s Earthquake (August 8, 2024)

O Lord, We grow in our awareness of you as we enter this time of prayer. You never leave any one of us. We are grateful for your enduring love. Help us to remember that all are your beloved children. God, there are times when we are not our best selves. Help us to become […]

Make Us Instruments of Your Peace: A Prayer for Gaza, Haiti, and Countries at War (March 14, 2024)

May these words of St. Francis (in italics), written so long ago, prayed on so many hearts and lips, from places of longing and agony, from places of peace seeking more peace, guide our prayers: Lord, make us instruments of your peace: In all countries with armed conflict. Palestine and Israel, Ukraine and Russia, many […]

Love Come Down: Prayers for Gaza, Ukraine, Pakistan, and a Groaning Earth (February 8, 2024)

God of Love, As we turn from the light of Epiphany towards the shadowland of Lent, may we, your beloved, take comfort in the profound story of Love Come Down. Comfort in a Jesus who left the mountaintop of Transfiguration and came down into the low places of suffering and pain, power and violence, came […]

God of Our Longings: Prayers for Gaza, Ukraine, Migrant Caravans, and Nepal’s Earthquakes (November 9, 2023)

God of our Longings, The German root of longing, langen, is ‘reach, extend.’ We reach and extend our hands and hearts to You. We reach and extend our hands and hearts to each other as we see so much that is broken and longing to be made whole again. We long for deep and lasting […]

The Thinnest Silence: A Prayer About Listening for the Voice of God (September 28, 2023)

Holy One, Divine Creator, whom some name God, we pray every week for so many things: for those suffering from effects of climate change and the earthquakes, the hurricanes, the super droughts, super fires, and the super floods; for children and women abused and sold and trafficked even in our modern era of development; for […]