Lord, make me an instrument of your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. ” —Prayer of Saint Francis Resurrecting Christ, you turned the world upside down and […]
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.
Come Now, O Prince of Peace: A Prayer as Russia Invades Ukraine (February 24, 2022)
As this week, fraught with so many cares and concerns, has unfolded, I have found myself singing this Advent hymn over and over again. And even though it is not the Advent season, this world is certainly in a period of waiting and watching and wondering. And so we sing together: Come now, O Prince […]
How Shall I Pray Today: Prayers for Drought and Floods, Afghanistan’s Girls, and David Amess (October 21, 2021)
How shall I pray, today, Lord? So many topics, situations, peoples, needs, joys, and problems all clamoring for attention and my thoughts are whirling and screaming. Calm us, Lord, as you calmed the storm on Galilee for your disciples. “The world and all that is in it belong to the Lord; the earth and all who live […]
Kitten-Shaped Prayers: Ethiopia’s Oromo Protests, Hong Kong’s Security Law, and a Myanmar Landslide (July 2, 2020)
The World in Prayer team member who wrote this week’s prayers has spent the past 6 weeks catching, taming, and finding homes for a litter of feral kittens. It has, she says, definitely affected how she understands God, and how she prays for the world. “You’ll have to forgive me,” she writes, “if these prayers […]
Beyond All Boundaries: Prayers for a Locust Plague in East Africa, Justice for Ahmaud Arbery, and Mothers (May 7, 2020)
Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer, we come to you in prayer today, longing to see and sense your presence in these uncertain times. We pray for your world, as we seek to understand and find a way to stop the spread of COVID-19. Bring comfort to those who grieve, remembering especially those in India who died or are suffering […]
Praying With Psalm 116: A Pandemic of Grief, Lost Work, and Famine of Biblical Proportions (April 23, 2020)
Praying with Psalm 116 in this time of pandemic* We love you, O God, because you have heard the voice of our supplications, because you have inclined your ear to us whenever we called upon you. (Psalm 116, v. 1, adapted) Because you have been faithful to us, O God, from time immemorial, bringing us […]
Peace Be With You: A Prayer for a World Behind Locked Doors During the COVID-19 Pandemic (April 16, 2020)
A reading from the Gospel of John, chapter 20, verses 19 through 29, in the New Revised Standard Version: When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the authorities, Jesus came and stood among […]
We Are Listening: Locust Swarms in East Africa, Floods in Uganda, Earthquakes in Puerto Rico (February 6, 2020)
Will you love the “you” you hide if I but call your name? —Will you quell the fear inside and never be the same? Will you use the faith you’ve found to reshape the world around, through my sight and touch and sound in you and you in me? “The Summons” (Traditional Scottish song, words […]
Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child: Prayers for Kashmir, Kenya, and Hong Kong (September 12, 2019)
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child, Sometimes I feel like a motherless child, Sometimes I feel like a motherless child, A long way from home. – African-American spiritual Mother-Father God, we come to you when we feel lost. We come to you when we feel discouraged. We come to you when our strength […]
Can We Dare to Love Like You: Prayers for Migrants Stranded off Italy and for the Righteous Few (August 15, 2019)
There is a Love that is deeper than love, that fills the world, that fuels the world. O, give thanks and sing. From Genesis 18:16-23 (Paraphrased): The Lord, having heard much outcry about the sins of the two cities, was prepared to destroy them, and all the people in them. But Abraham challenged the Lord: […]