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.

How Can We Ask Forgiveness: Prayers for South Sudan’s Children and the Rohingya (June 19, 2014)

Dearest One, How can I ask forgiveness for letting a person die? How can we ask forgiveness not just for ourselves, but for the whole world? Not just for this moment in time, but for all of human history, for all lives to come? Four sleeping homeless people were run over – apparently deliberately – […]

Two Thirds of Our Planet: A Prayer for an Interlinked World and the Missing at Sea (May 22, 2014)

Two thirds of our planet are covered by sea. Two thirds of our planet are still unexplored. (Hans Hass) Lord, you are so immense, intelligent and intangible, that we think you are incomprehensible, impenetrable, inscrutable. Somehow that gives us the idea that you cannot know or understand us, our environment, our planet. We act […]

A Good Friday Vigil: Prayers for the Korean Ferry, South Sudan, Forgiveness, and New Beginnings (April 17, 2014)

I write this during the long vigil between Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. The time when those who follow the ancient traditions of the Christian church year stay up and keep watch with Jesus, as he prays in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. We have, once again, been present as he washes the disciples’ […]

We Pray the Promise: An Ash Wednesday Prayer for Ukraine, South Sudan, and Syria (February 20, 2014)

First, a story. The first time I came to an Ash Wednesday service – in a time when churches were still very clear as to what the not-yet-baptized could participate in – I hadn’t thought to ask beforehand if I could receive the ashes. So I rather uneasily followed the line forward, and the Rector paused, hesitated, when […]

Home by Another Road: A New Year Prayer for a World Still Broken After Christmas (January 2, 2014)

World in Prayer This Week – January 2, 2014 “And having been warned in dream not to return to Herod, they [the Wise Ones] left for their own country by another road.” Matthew 2:12 (NRSV) God of dreams and desires, in this sacred season you reach to the world in rhythms beyond the rational. An […]

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel: An Advent Prayer to Set the Captives Free (December 19, 2013)

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. We are still waiting for you. We are waiting for the Prince of Peace. We are waiting for the Wisdom from on high. We are waiting for the King of all nations. O come and set the captives free. Free those who are captive to violence. The people of Syria, […]

May Your Footsteps Show: A Prayer for Migrants Lost in the Niger Desert (October 31, 2013)

Creator God, by your word and in your power, you have created us and our world. As we learn more of you, so we come to realize how powerful is your word. In your company I’ll go where your love and footsteps show. Thus I’ll move and live and grow in you and you in me. (John L. Bell […]

Your Word Is a Lamp: An Interfaith Prayer for Peace in Forgotten Wars (October 17, 2013)

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” – Psalm 119:105 Loving God of light and goodness and grace and peace; by whatever name you are known we give you thanks. With people of faith around the world we proclaim you and seek common ways to worship and serve […]