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.

Shalom Be With You: Prayers for Douma, Parkland and the Muenster Attack (April 12, 2018)

[Jesus] stood among them and said to them, ‘Shalom be with you.’ ~ Luke 24:36 God of creation and creativity, you’ve given us the gift of language and communication so that we might speak of and learn about you, however feeble our understanding might be. We often take the gift of words for granted, forgetting […]

Comfort, O Comfort My People: An Advent Prayer After the Travel Ban and Delhi’s Toxic Air (December 7, 2017)

Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. (Isaiah 40:1-2, NRSV) God of comfort, we live in a world that increasingly reveals its disconnection from […]

May We Love Urgently: Prayers for Puerto Rico, the Rohingya, Wildfires, and Mogadishu (October 19, 2017)

Dear Lord, Your people in Puerto Rico and across the Caribbean have looked up into rain flooded skies and out onto destroyed homelands, waiting for water, food, shelter and the provision of medical care. Open the hearts of decision makers to release funds to continue the rescue, to bring relief and stability. Smooth the communications […]

So Much We Fail to Understand: Barcelona, Sierra Leone’s Mudslides, and Egypt’s Train Crash (August 17, 2017)

We lift this prayer, written from the ancestral home of the llini, Miami, Shawnee, Dakota Sioux, Chickasaw, Winnebago, Delaware, Kickapoo, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Huron-Wyandot, and Sac-Fox tribes with full respect for their creativity and courage. We lift this prayer that will be read within many other geographic and cultural contexts with full respect for the various ways you have inspired […]

Lead Us From Darkness to Light: A Prayer for Peace 72 Years After Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 10, 2017)

Dear God Today we pray for peace. We remember those who perished with the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan 72 years ago this week. The monuments and memorials and parks in these cities and other cities and lands having suffered holocausts remind us that our prayers are mighty and necessary. Help us to […]

Fruit of the Spirit: Prayers for 20 Million Facing Hunger and for Those Who Help (July 20, 2017)

“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” ~ Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT) Heavenly Father, we come before you – worn, weary, and hungry for the fruit of the Holy Spirit to fill out hearts and […]

Worth More Than Sparrows: Prayers for Portugal’s Wildfires, Storm Cindy, and Yemen’s Cholera (June 22, 2017)

Lord, I can see the cherries ripening on the tree outside. The raspberries redden almost quicker than I can pick, but there are those for whom there will be no harvest. As sparrows happily investigate the fruit, they remind me, everyone is of more value than sparrows. Deep down we really know this, however […]

Come, Holy Spirit: Prayers for Cyclone Mora, the Kabul Bombing, and Cholera in Yemen (June 1, 2017)

God, our creator, we thank you for you spoke the world into being for good and send your empowering Spirit on all. Forgive us when it is easy to look at all the events which the news media highlights and think nothing ever changes. Yet as the world turns and we move into astronomical […]

Roll Away the Stones: Prayers After the Aleppo Bus Bombing and for Refugees at Sea (April 20, 2017)

“According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” 1 Peter 1.3 Lord, giver of life, let us live our lives to the full, with humility, care and compassion and in your Son’s image. Let us forgive where […]

Not One Sparrow Forgotten: Prayers for Famine in Yemen, Cyclone Debbie, and Wildlife (March 30, 2017)

Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows. Luke 12:6-7 In the glory of the changing seasons; in the beauty of the […]