World in Prayer

Sharing in God’s loving compassion for all

Prayers for Mexico

Mexico appears in these prayers through earthquakes, landslides and storms, and through violence, disappearances and the search for missing people. Migration is a constant theme, with families crossing and waiting at the northern border. Elections, water and the arts are held here too, with thanks for ordinary kindness along the way.

Lessons from Cranes and Geese: El Salvador’s Election, Afghanistan, and Migrants (March 4, 2021)

As most of you know, World in Prayer is written by a team whose members take turns writing the prayers. And I, who am writing this week – I ran out of words a long time ago. Trapped in what seemed like near-isolation by the pandemic; anguished by its resulting ever-growing number of deaths and […]

Stick with Love: Prayers for Myanmar, US Prisons, and the Philippines (February 18, 2021)

I have decided to stick with love… Hate is too great a burden to bear.  Martin Luther King Oh Lord, your house is built with understanding and compassion – it is our quiet center.  If only we could grasp its power. In small agitations and overwhelming calamities, during times of lament and great injustices help […]

Though I May Speak: Prayers for a Walled World, Famine, and the Storming of the US Capitol (January 7, 2021)

Editor’s note:  World In Prayer needs a few more writers and editors!  Our team consists of 12-15 volunteers, from several different countries and continents. Each week, one person writes the prayers in response to international news. A second person then edits and posts the prayers online.  Because we rotate who writes and edits, you would end up serving […]

God of Our Ancestors: A Prayer as US COVID Deaths Pass 200,000 and Wildfires Burn (September 24, 2020)

God of Our Ancestors, Since before we were born, you have knit your people into a great reimagining of purpose and life. You call us by your mercy and claim us with your truth. Even in these days of protest and pandemic, show us what it means that you are the Creator, Christ, and Comforter. […]

Give Grace to Your Servants: A Prayer of Grief for a World Apart (July 16, 2020)

This week’s prayer contains excerpts from The [Episcopal] Book of Common Prayer. Lord God, today we gather in Your name, though most of us not in the indoor spaces that have come to symbolize gathering spaces for those seeking truth, justice, and faith. Many of us struggle to feel the sacred or even simple connection […]

How Long, O Lord: Prayers for the Pandemic, a Mexico Earthquake, and Arizona Wildfires (June 25, 2020)

(Many thanks to Evangelical Lutheran Church in America pastor/author, Nadia Bolz-Weber, for some of the prayer petitions.) God who is called by many names, God of this earth and all its peoples, today we are crying out, how long, O Lord? How long until we can touch our parents and beloved elders? (even as we thank you for […]

Hope Will Not Be Canceled: How Are We to Pray in a Time of Pandemic (March 25, 2020)

Conversations will not be cancelled. Relationships will not be cancelled. Love will not be cancelled. Songs will not be cancelled. Reading will not be cancelled. Self-care will not be cancelled. Hope will not be cancelled. * Beloved, how are we to pray in these times of pandemic, when country after country imposes stringent stay-at-home orders? […]

Like Grasses Showing Tender Faces: A Prayer as the Pandemic Circles the Globe (March 12, 2020)

Every little thing is sent for something, and in that thing there should be happiness and the power to make happy. Like the grasses showing tender faces to each other, thus we should do, for this was the wish of the Grandfathers of the World.   Black Elk, (1863-1950) Oh God, we read these words […]

Come, Lord, Take Our Fear Away: Tennessee Tornadoes, Floods, and Children at the Borders (March 5, 2020)

Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the guilt of my sin. … (God said) I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon […]

One Ecosystem: Prayers for a Calving Antarctic Glacier, Locust Swarms, and Syria’s Displaced (February 13, 2020)

Ah, Lord God, our creator, our father.   The world is changing.  Again. It’s difficult to realize, as I write when the sky is wall to wall blue and a plane suddenly adds a tracery of white, that that interesting line is part of what is changing our world. As another huge iceberg calves from […]