World in Prayer

Sharing in God’s loving compassion for all

Prayers for Pakistan

Prayers here have followed Pakistan through monsoon flooding and shortages of clean water, conflict along the Afghan border and the Kashmir frontier, and the persecution of religious minorities. Elections held under tension are named as well, alongside thanks for those who work for education, relief and peace.

Well May the World Go: A Prayer of Anguish After the Charleston Church Shooting (June 18, 2015)

Well may the world go, The world go, the world go, Well may the world go, When I’m far away. — Pete Seeger (c. 1973) For months now, this has been my wake-up song, a conscious choice to spend my first moments of each day letting go of all I can’t control, of all I cannot […]

Love One Another: Prayers After the Pakistan Helicopter Crash and Oklahoma Tornadoes (May 8, 2015)

Jesus said, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” God of Love and Light and Life, God of All Time and No Time, sometimes the demands of everyday life just overtake us and we forget, we lose track, we neglect those things to which we have committed ourselves- […]

Prayer Tree: After the Nepal Earthquake, the Baltimore Riots, and Chile’s Calbuco Volcano (April 30, 2015)

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. – Romans 12: 12   I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding. -1 Cor 14: 14 – 16   Pray continually – 1 Thessalonians […]

Release to the Captives: Prayers for Raif Badawi and Boko Haram’s Kidnapped Girls (January 22, 2015)

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”  Mark 1:14-15   We know, Lord, that you call us to a far wider agenda than proclaiming good news and […]

What Does This Love Look Like: Prayers for Malala’s Nobel Prize and Boko Haram’s Captives (October 30, 2014)

One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a […]

Let There Be Light: Prayers on Secret Trade Deals and Mexico’s Disappeared (October 9, 2014)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines […]

May There Be Peace: A Prayer for the International Day of Peace (September 18, 2014)

As the UN marks the International Day of Peace and the World Council of Churches invites us to join the International Day of Prayer for Peace this September 21st, let us pray for peace in our hearts and minds, in our families, in our communities, in our nations, and throughout the world. Our Lord Jesus […]

Healer of Our Every Ill: A Prayer After the Death of Robin Williams (August 14, 2014)

World in Prayer for August 14, 2014   (As I looked around me at our world this week, preparing to write these prayers, I found myself singing over and over the words to Marty Haugen’s wonderful hymn, “Healer of Our Every Ill”, and so I have incorporated them into the prayers for this week.)   […]