Prayers for Kenya

Kenya is held in these prayers through drought and food insecurity across the Horn of Africa, refugee camps in the north, election tension, and attacks on students and communities. Land rights, disease, child labor, and a dam collapse are named as well, with thanks for accountability and for ordinary joys.

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 […]

Somewhere, Right Now: Prayers for Kyiv, Refugees in Poland, and Famine in Somalia (December 8, 2022)

Ancient of Days, Somewhere in Kiev, Ukraine, a man plays his guitar with his old, faithful pup howling along, even though they sing in darkness. Somewhere in Krakow, Poland, a grandmother folds shirts, presses trousers, routines to calm her anxious heart, even as the unexpected guests in their small home yearn to return to their […]

The Universe Sings of Your Glory: A COP27 Prayer for Lake Chad and the Amazon (November 17, 2022)

God in heaven, we pray for the successful implementation of the carbon reduction discussions at the COP27 Conference in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. As the conference gained international attention from November 7-18, may we be mindful of the communities that continue to bear daily struggles as a result of environmental challenges forced by climate change: for […]

Lord of the Dance: After the Seoul Crowd Crush and Uganda’s Ebola Outbreak (November 3, 2022)

Sandhill cranes dancing at sunset at Staten Island Rd. Preserve, Northern California. Photo art by a member of the World in Prayer team. Dance, then, wherever you may be,I am the Lord of the Dance, said he,And I’ll lead you all, wherever you may be,And I’ll lead you all in the Dance, said he. –Sydney […]

We Bring Our Hearts’ Cries to You: Prayers for Ukraine, Turkey’s Mine Explosion, and Uganda’s Ebola (October 20, 2022)

Dearest Creator of all that is and ever will be. Guardian of Light. Giver of Breath. Judge of all deeds, seen and unseen. Infuse us with your love, gratitude, and peace. Let us feel safe in a world thriving in chaos and fear. Help us to raise our children without prejudice. Teach us to teach […]

Let All Who Thirst Come to the Water: A Prayer in a Time of Drought (September 8, 2022)

Holy One, there is a song haunting me lately. An evocative melody. A single soprano invokes, “Oh let all who thirst, let them come… to the water.” The first time I heard it, I wept. And lately I hear it often. Unsummoned, it echoes within my soul; a lament in layers of drought. Source of […]

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 […]

We Bring You Everything: A Prayer for the Lambeth Conference and a Scorched Planet (August 4, 2022)

Writer’s note: I am one of half dozen members of our small World in Prayer Team who needed a break. But then I read last week’s posting and realised I could not be party to this important ministry faltering – albeit temporarily. I find myself with nothing, yet also too much, to pray for – […]

Take Heart: A Prayer for Those Who Dread the News, from Church Shootings to Earthquakes (June 23, 2022)

Dearly beloved Children of God, Do you sometimes wake not to prayer, but to dread, fearing what new horror will show up in the news? Afraid even to go to church, after this week’s news of three killed in a mass shooting at an Episcopal church in Alabama, U.S., and two priests shot dead at […]

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 […]