Prayers for Lebanon

Bombings, airstrikes, and ceasefires brokered and broken run through the prayers for Lebanon, together with the Beirut port explosion of 2020 and its long recovery. Syrian refugee families, protest over corruption and economic crisis, wildfires, and cholera are named, as is a restaurant that feeds the hungry daily.

Be Still and Know: A Prayer Amid Gunfire, Bombings, and the Cries of Refugees (February 22, 2018)

“Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10) O God, O God, my God, our world is full of anything but stillness. There is no silence to be found, I fear; no quiet about. We hear of your “still small voice”, we know You have taught that there is virtue in silence, we […]

Let It Be With Us: Prayers for the Least and the Mighty, from Benin to Catalonia (December 21, 2017)

“Let it be with me according to your word.” –Mary, on learning that she was to bear the son of God (Luke 1:38) Let it be with us, according to Your word. Let the hungry be filled with good things. Let the lowly be lifted up. Let the mighty be cast down. Let your promise of mercy […]

God of Grace and Glory: A Thanksgiving Prayer for the Rohingya and Those Facing Deportation (November 23, 2017)

“…for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” ~ Matthew 25:42-43 God of […]

This Is the Day the Lord Has Made: Prayers After the Egypt Church Bombings and Stockholm Attack (April 13, 2017)

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24 We are stumbling on our way toward the day of Resurrection, gracious God. Stumbling and falling, sometimes crawling on our knees toward the cross, hoping that when we lift our tear-filled eyes, it will be empty, […]

Risen One, You Are Here: Prayers for the Chibok Girls, Child Soldiers, and Attawapiskat (April 14, 2016)

“While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.” –Luke 24:15-16 Risen one, you are here. Here, as we look at the video released this week by the Boko Haram group in Nigeria, that appears to show some of the 276 girls […]

How Can We Pray With Joy: An Advent Prayer After the San Bernardino Shooting (December 3, 2015)

Stir up our hearts, Lord God, to prepare the way of your Son. By his coming give to all the people of the world knowledge of your salvation. From Prayer of the Day for Second Sunday of Advent, Common Lectionary How much we want to pray this prayer, holy and compassionate God. How much we […]

An Armistice at Our Own Eleventh Hour: Prayers to End Genocide, Torture, and Disease (November 12, 2015)

Having but recently celebrated that moment “at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month month” 97 years ago when the belligerents of World War I agreed to armistice, to the cessation of harmful deeds even in the absence of an agreed formula for a fully organized peace, let us lift hands […]

For God So Loved the World: A Lenten Prayer of Wonder and Hope (March 12, 2015)

World News in Prayer for March 12, 2015 For God so loved the world… Gracious and holy one, God of all creation, God of all people everywhere, it is so easy, as we journey through this season of Lent, to get lost in the wilderness of pain and sorrow we see in the world […]

How Can We Ask Forgiveness: Prayers for South Sudan’s Children and the Rohingya (June 19, 2014)

Dearest One, How can I ask forgiveness for letting a person die? How can we ask forgiveness not just for ourselves, but for the whole world? Not just for this moment in time, but for all of human history, for all lives to come? Four sleeping homeless people were run over – apparently deliberately – […]

We Pray the Promise: An Ash Wednesday Prayer for Ukraine, South Sudan, and Syria (February 20, 2014)

First, a story. The first time I came to an Ash Wednesday service – in a time when churches were still very clear as to what the not-yet-baptized could participate in – I hadn’t thought to ask beforehand if I could receive the ashes. So I rather uneasily followed the line forward, and the Rector paused, hesitated, when […]