World in Prayer

Sharing in God’s loving compassion for all

Prayers for Syria

Syria appears here mainly through the long war and its displacement, with families scattered into neighboring countries and beyond, health care and shelter in short supply, and religious minorities among those held in prayer. Chemical weapons, ceasefire talks and repeated negotiations are named plainly, along with thanks for those who help.

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 […]

A Full-Course Meal of Prayer: Remembering 9/11 and Ebola’s Dead (September 11, 2014)

So. Many. Words. On this, the anniversary of 9-11, so many prayers float across my screen. I want to take a bit from this one, a bit from that, serve them up, a full-course meal of prayer for those who died and those who lived the first responders then, and now, in so many places […]

Thy Will Be Done: Prayers for Ferguson, Ukraine, and Kashmir’s Floods (September 4, 2014)

O God of every tradition, we pray thy will be done. We are assaulted second by second throughout the 24-hour news cycle by words and images that describe so many ways in which it is not done: Nation and would-be nation bargain over beheaded journalists in the Middle East Nation and nation rattle sabers over […]

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.)   […]

For the Healing of the Nations: A Prayer for the Children of Syria (July 31, 2014)

Is anything too hard for the Lord?  Genesis 18:14 Healing of the nations.  I watched a documentary on BBC TV called “The Children of Syria,” which followed children for several months from all sides in the war. Watching them parrot the hate for their former friends as taught them by their adult family and community […]

Be Still, for the Presence of the Lord: A Prayer for Meriam Ibrahim (June 26, 2014)

“I will create a pathway in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:19 Beloved Holy One, Amidst the muted roar of nighttime and early morning traffic on highways, the stench of diesel and gasoline, the noise of human living, You are here. YOU ARE. Praise be! Whatever our situation – in town, village, […]

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 – […]

There Is a Balm in Gilead: A Prayer for Farzana Parveen and the Kidnapped Nigerian Schoolgirls (May 29, 2014)

Go up to Gilead and take balm. — Jeremiah 46:11 “There is a Balm in Gilead” – American Spiritual There is a balm in Gilead To make the wounded whole; There is a balm in Gilead To heal the sin sick soul. Some times I feel discouraged, And think my work’s in vain, But then […]