Prayers for South Sudan

Civil war and the displacement it causes shape most of what has been prayed for South Sudan, together with famine, drought, and some of the lowest household incomes anywhere. Peace agreements, peacekeepers, and children settled in refugee camps across the border are named here as well.

My Soul in Stillness Waits: An Advent Prayer for 117 Million Displaced People (December 5, 2024)

Attentive Nervous Thoughtful Incarnation Concerned Immanuel Preparing Awaiting Testify Expecting The season of Advent, literally “the coming,” holds special significance for many anticipating justice. The United Nations reports that 117.3 million people are currently displaced from their homes due to war, environmental disasters, and political instability. People from Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, […]

Co-Guardians of a Fragile Planet: A Prayer in the Season of Creation for Floods, Drought, and Hunger (September 26, 2024)

“Prayer is nothing else than a sense of God’s presence.” ~ Brother Laurence (lay brother, Paris, France 1614-1691) “Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God.” ~ Mother Theresa of Calcutta (1910-1997) “We have to pray with our eyes on God and not on the difficulties.” ~ Oswald Chambers (1874-1917) “I (Jesus) tell you, […]

Christ Is Our Peace: A Prayer for UN Peacekeepers from Kosovo to South Sudan (May 30, 2024)

This week, the world community recognized the May 30 International Day of United Nations (UN) Peacekeepers. For 76 years, UN peacekeepers have worked to save and change lives in the world’s most fragile political and security situations. Since 1948, more than two million uniformed and civilian personnel have helped countries to transition from war to […]

Listen: A Prayer for 350 Million People Facing Extreme Hunger (May 23, 2024)

Listen, O Israel, the LORD is God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:4-5 LISTEN! The prophet Isaiah began this passage with the Hebrew word, “Shema”- LISTEN. So, why aren’t we listening, Divine One? […]

Love Your Enemies: A Prayer in Genocidal Times for Ukraine, Gaza, South Sudan, and Afghanistan (April 11, 2024)

‘To you who are ready for the truth, I say this: Love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the supple moves of prayer for that person.’ ~ Luke 6:27-28 The Message ‘We are not easily reduced to prayer’ – […]

I Was Hungry and You Gave Me Food: A Matthew 25 Prayer for the Least of These (November 23, 2023)

During a week when many ponder the end of the liturgical year and may follow the lectionary reading from Matthew 25: 31-46, “Judgement of the Nations,” we pray: For I was hungry and you gave me food. . . The world mourns the loss of United States humanitarian and political organizer Rev. Arthur Simon, founder […]

The Thinnest Silence: A Prayer About Listening for the Voice of God (September 28, 2023)

Holy One, Divine Creator, whom some name God, we pray every week for so many things: for those suffering from effects of climate change and the earthquakes, the hurricanes, the super droughts, super fires, and the super floods; for children and women abused and sold and trafficked even in our modern era of development; for […]

The Bond of Our Common Humanity: A Lenten Prayer for Ukraine and Turkey (February 23, 2023)

“The bond of our common humanity is stronger than the divisiveness of our fears and prejudices.” – Jimmy Carter Oh, Lord, you shepherd us. You follow us. You lead us through the fog of our times. We get caught up in fear and weighed down by seemingly eternal prejudices. As we enter this Lenten season […]

We Are Standing on Holy Ground: Prayers After the Turkey and Syria Earthquake (February 9, 2023)

“This is holy ground, we’re standing on holy ground For the Lord is present and where He is is holy.” And the commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so. (Joshua 5:15, Holy Bible, English […]

This Blessing Calls You Home: A Christmas Blessing and Prayer for Every Nation on Earth (December 22, 2022)

A CHRISTMAS BLESSING by Christine Valters Paintner online Abbess at AbbeyoftheArts.com Reproduced with permission This blessing dances at the doorway of light and dark, knows both as sacred: fertile womb space, miracle of blooming. This blessing breathes through those moments of labor when you too birth the holy into this fragile, luminous, hurting world as Mary […]