World in Prayer

Sharing in God’s loving compassion for all

Prayers for Nigeria

Conflict in the north runs through the prayers for Nigeria, with abductions, displacement and the food insecurity that follows. Floods, building collapses, protest and policing also appear, and thanksgiving is offered for teachers, clean-energy projects and communities working for peace.

Because the Media Is Silent: Advent Prayers for Aleppo, Yemen, and Earthquake Zones (December 28, 2016)

We have come to worship you, Shepherd of Israel.  Out of the busy-ness we create for ourselves at this season, we come to remember why.   We give thanks for the bravery of Mary, for the courage of Joseph,  and we ask that these qualities support us in the face of overwhelming commercialization and the rewriting of […]

Write What You See: Prayers After the US Election, for Nigeria’s Survivors and Yemen’s Hunger (December 28, 2016)

What’s God going to say to my questions? I’m braced for the worst. I’ll climb to the lookout tower and scan the horizon. I’ll wait to see what God says, how he’ll answer my complaint. And then God answered: “Write this. Write what you see. Write it out in big block letters so that it […]

Nothing Can Separate Us: Prayers Before the US Election, for Calais and Italy’s Earthquake (December 28, 2016)

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.”  Romans 8:38-39, NLT Recognizing the effects of fear and anxiety in our lives, we […]

All Good Gifts: A Summer Prayer After the Istanbul Airport Attack and for South Sudan’s Hunger (June 30, 2016)

God of the seasons, we thank you for summer.  You surround us with evidence of revival, eternal life, abundance, resurrection in every field, every garden, every flower bed, every forest, every vacation spot and swimming hole. The discovery in Nepal of a tiny but flourishing colony of birds – red-faced liocichla – thought to have been […]

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 […]

Free Me from the Shackles of My Privilege: A Prayer from Somalia to Haiti (March 11, 2016)

  Alpha and Omega God, I realize again and again that I am a person of privilege.  I am confronted with the fact that I have so much, so many opportunities.  I am convicted by my daily “concerns;” which restaurant will I go to for dinner, will my latest on-line shopping purchases be delivered on […]

Lead Us Not into Temptation: Prayers for Syria, Mexico’s Prison Riot, and Taiwan’s Earthquake (February 11, 2016)

Our Father in heaven, lead us not into temptation. Help us to recognize the temptations that surround us, the subtle snares that, on their face, seem good: The temptation to use violence and force to achieve peace and gentleness; The temptation to see our perspective as truth and others as heresy; The temptation to believe […]

For Such a Time as This: Prayers After the Chibok Bombings, the Kabul Attack, and Damascus (February 4, 2016)

“Do not think that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to […]

Prayers of Contrast: Bombings in Istanbul and Jakarta, and Flint’s Poisoned Water (January 14, 2016)

Your love is steadfast, O Lord, but how fickle we are. We are never satisfied. In our dissatisfaction we destroy that which we do not understand and devastate that which satisfies as if there is never enough. Our prayers are prayers of contrast as we recognize political, financial and economic pressures are very different across […]