Prayers for the United States

Prayers naming the United States have followed storms, tornadoes, wildfires and floods across many states, along with elections and political tension, gun violence, and questions of migration and race. Health, mental health and the well-being of ordinary households appear often, as do thanksgivings for its landscapes and wild places.

Love Lives Again: A Holy Week Prayer After the Moscow Attack and Baltimore Bridge Collapse (March 28, 2024)

God of us all, Love lives again. Love triumphs over the hate, pain, and death. You were there at the very beginning of time and gave us the beauty of this world: gorgeous flowers and trees, oceans, and mountains, galaxies we will never comprehend. Yet, you still knew we needed your love. You gave us […]

The Noise of Politics: A Holy Week Prayer for Elections in Russia, Iran, and El Salvador (March 21, 2024)

As millions of Christians celebrate the Passion of the Lord Jesus this week and embark upon Holy Week and the Triduum, we are reminded of a portion of the prayer, “The Noise of Politics” by Walter Brueggemann in his book Prayers for a Privileged People: We listen beyond jeering protesters and soaring jets and faintly […]

Bless the Lord, O My Soul: A Prayer for a Weary World From Gaza to Haiti (March 7, 2024)

Psalm 85:11-12 Mercy and faithfulness have met; justice and peace have embraced. Faithfulness shall spring from the earth and justice look down from heaven. “Bless the Lord oh my soul… Oh my soul Worship his holy name Sing like never before Oh my soul I’ll worship your holy name.” Holy One to whom I raise […]

Help Us to Learn to Love Again: A Prayer in Verse for Iran, Gaza, and the Texas Wildfires (February 29, 2024)

Loving God, Help us to learn to love again, To care as we did way back when. May we care as children do in simple ways. Give us some calm amidst the chaotic days. God, we are in a moment when we need time; We need your presence in order to overcome this climb. We […]

Blessing the Animals: A Prayer of Thanks for Spiders, Bats, Bonobos, and Beloved Pets (February 22, 2024)

You who created them and called them good: Bless again these creatures who come to us as a blessing fashioned of fur or feather or fin, formed of flesh that breathes with your own breath, that you have made from sheer delight, that you have given in dazzling variety. Bless them who curl themselves around […]

The Fasting That I Wish: A Lenten Prayer for Trafficking Victims and the Hungry of Gaza (February 15, 2024)

This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own. The United States […]

Love Come Down: Prayers for Gaza, Ukraine, Pakistan, and a Groaning Earth (February 8, 2024)

God of Love, As we turn from the light of Epiphany towards the shadowland of Lent, may we, your beloved, take comfort in the profound story of Love Come Down. Comfort in a Jesus who left the mountaintop of Transfiguration and came down into the low places of suffering and pain, power and violence, came […]

Those Who Tell Our Stories: A Prayer for Journalists Killed in Gaza and the Starving Behind the Headlines (February 1, 2024)

Dear Lord, This prayer arises during a foggy day from a home on a quiet residential street. Somewhere else it is dark at night and people pray. and the smoke and bombs seem to crush any ability to even think and survival is everything. It feels like both forgiveness and mercy are needed in the […]

Under Every Frozen Ground: Prayers for Ukraine, Gaza, Somalia, Nigeria, and Ethiopia (January 25, 2024)

Under every floor is soil, within all soil are roots—taking in nourishment in the unseen dark. Frozen though it may be, each seed holds possibility of transformation. God of transformation, we cry with the Psalmist “how long” when we look upon the suffering of your beloved people and the ways we pit ourselves against one […]

Lovely People Doing God’s Work: A Prayer of Thanks for Peacemakers Around the World (January 18, 2024)

God of Peace, Lover of Justice, We come before you with hearts filled with gratitude and thanksgiving for the countless women and men, past and present, who have worked tirelessly advocating for equality and promoting peace. May we be inspired by their bravery and wisdom. May we get to know one another, fostering trust and […]