Prayers for Spain

Spain appears in these prayers chiefly through migration by sea, with rescues, drownings, and the welcome or refusal that follows. Wildfires, heatwaves, floods in Valencia and Andalusia, a train crash, and attacks in Barcelona are held here, along with gratitude for citizenship offered to the descendants of the expelled.

Let Me Hear of Your Steadfast Love: Prayers for Iowa’s Tornadoes and the Mauritius Oil Spill (August 20, 2020)

“Let me hear of your steadfast love in the morning, for in you I put my trust. Teach me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.” Psalm 143:8 Dearest creator of us all, It is to you that we lift our souls and our very beings. As we draw […]

Kitten-Shaped Prayers: Ethiopia’s Oromo Protests, Hong Kong’s Security Law, and a Myanmar Landslide (July 2, 2020)

The World in Prayer team member who wrote this week’s prayers has spent the past 6 weeks catching, taming, and finding homes for a litter of feral kittens. It has, she says, definitely affected how she understands God, and how she prays for the world. “You’ll have to forgive me,” she writes, “if these prayers […]

Praying With Psalm 116: A Pandemic of Grief, Lost Work, and Famine of Biblical Proportions (April 23, 2020)

Praying with Psalm 116 in this time of pandemic* We love you, O God, because you have heard the voice of our supplications, because you have inclined your ear to us whenever we called upon you. (Psalm 116, v. 1, adapted) Because you have been faithful to us, O God, from time immemorial, bringing us […]

Hope Will Not Be Canceled: How Are We to Pray in a Time of Pandemic (March 25, 2020)

Conversations will not be cancelled. Relationships will not be cancelled. Love will not be cancelled. Songs will not be cancelled. Reading will not be cancelled. Self-care will not be cancelled. Hope will not be cancelled. * Beloved, how are we to pray in these times of pandemic, when country after country imposes stringent stay-at-home orders? […]

Like Grasses Showing Tender Faces: A Prayer as the Pandemic Circles the Globe (March 12, 2020)

Every little thing is sent for something, and in that thing there should be happiness and the power to make happy. Like the grasses showing tender faces to each other, thus we should do, for this was the wish of the Grandfathers of the World. Black Elk, (1863-1950) Oh God, we read these words […]

A Prayer at the Turn of the Decade: For Nations at War and Hearts in Despair (January 2, 2020)

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. James 1:17 Oh Lord, there are many things that concern us and call us to prayer. We open our hearts to you in gratitude and wonder. We pray for those who rage and are quick to anger, for those who seem to be eaten up […]

The Prince of Peace in a Weary World: A Christmas Prayer for Refugees and the Poor (December 26, 2019)

As we approach the end of another year, we tend to reflect and look back over the last year or decade but unless this informs our choices and behaviours going forward it is in danger of being an empty and futile activity. So many have expressed frustration, anger or disconnectedness with the political process in […]

A World Surrounded by Protests: Prayers from Chile and Ecuador to Hong Kong and Barcelona (October 24, 2019)

Creator God, we give thanks for the privilege of praying. Hear us as we try to pray for our world. Our world seems to be surround by protests. We pray for those in Chile and Ecuador who protest against income inequality. We pray for those who protest about corruption in Iraq, Egypt, and Lebanon. We […]

Every Stranger a Bearer of Gifts: Prayers for Migrants, Cyclone Fani, and Attacked Houses of Worship (May 2, 2019)

This week’s prayers begin with music. Music composed in the late 18th century by an Austrian composer, using an ancient Latin text. Music sung, this past Sunday, by a touring Russian ensemble, at the beginning of worship in an Episcopal church in California, U.S. But perhaps a bit of background is in order. The members […]

Call to Us Now: Prayers After the Sri Lanka Easter Bombings and the Philippines Earthquake (April 25, 2019)

Holy One, Your Name is above all names, it is so high that we cannot attain it, yet still we seek it. And when we cannot find you, when we do not understand what is happening, when our hearts quake with fear and our spirits tremble with unknowing, when we stumble and search and seek […]