Prayers for Ukraine

Much of what is gathered for Ukraine concerns war: the unrest and occupation that came first, the wider invasion that followed, and the families displaced into Poland and other countries. Elections, freedom of speech and the grain harvest also appear, along with prayers for medical workers and for ceasefires that have not yet held.

Help Us to Set Down Our Weapons: Prayers for Eastern Congo and Asylum Seekers (June 16, 2022)

O Holy One, We think we are listening to you. We are really practicing listening to you. We have a long way to go — to do your will. To love ourselves. To love our neighbor. To Love You. We get distracted — so much is going on around us and worldwide. We have so […]

Eternal God, Love’s Trinity: A Prayer for the Cost of Living, Fossil Fuels, and Hunger in Madagascar (June 9, 2022)

Eternal God. . . Love’s trinity, self perfect, self sustaining; Love which commands, enables and obeys. . . We praise and thank you that you love and care for all people. In your love enable us to hear what you say and obey your command to love one another. In love of one another we […]

May Our Groans Be Prayer: For Gun Violence, Hunger in Afghanistan and Yemen, and Nepal (June 2, 2022)

God, there are hardly any words for these times. You promise that when we are in these unfathomable places Your very Spirit intercedes with groans too deep for words. We need that now, as we groan through our exhausted bodies and tattered hearts. May our groans be prayer, be release for all we feel without […]

We Need You Now: A Prayer After the Uvalde School Shooting and the Buffalo Supermarket Massacre (May 26, 2022)

God, We need you now. We needed you yesterday. We need you today. We need you tomorrow. We need you now. We need you to do something. To stop the brutal unfathomable violence that is surfacing in every part of our world. We need you to change the hearts of lawmakers. We need you to […]

How Long That Road Is: A Prayer for Shireen Abu Akleh, Journalists Killed, and Teachers (May 12, 2022)

How long that road is. But, for all the time the journey has taken, how we have needed every second of it in order to learn what the road passes by. – Dag Hammarskjold* We pray. The newspaper lies in a plastic bag in the driveway. The news shows up on our phone or TV […]

The Dashing of Hopes: Prayers for Iraq, Failed Reforestation, and Wildfires in New Mexico (May 5, 2022)

Lord, where do we begin? We want to talk about the dashing of hopes, the failure of inspiration, the death of expectation. Afghanistan has fallen out of our consciousness as Ukraine falls into our attention, and now there is what’s happening in Iraq, as army and separatists clash and thousands flee. Monoculture (rubber trees) has […]

Make Us Instruments of Your Peace: Prayers for Ukraine, Darfur, and Missing Women in Mexico (April 28, 2022)

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. ” —Prayer of Saint Francis Resurrecting Christ, you turned the world upside down and […]

Blessed Are Those Who Have Not Seen: Prayers for Shanghai’s Lockdown and Besieged Mariupol (April 21, 2022)

Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” John 20:28, 29 Eternal God, three in one and one in three; We give thanks for the countless faithful believers who, down […]

Teach Us to Listen: Prayers for Yemen, Ukraine, Ethiopia, and Ketanji Brown Jackson (April 7, 2022)

The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens – wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught. ~ Isaiah 50:4 Lord of all learning and growth, we pray that you would teach us […]

Relative and Absolute Poverty: A Prayer for Those Slipping Into Want (March 31, 2022)

Creator God, I am so privileged that I don’t know I am! Living here in the first world it is striking to hear someone explain the difference between “relative poverty” and “absolute poverty.” We pray that we are forgiven our attempts to pray for the whole world while neglecting to centre ourselves on You. As the seasons […]