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.

Speak, For Your Servant Is Listening: Prayers for Gaza, Ecuador, Taiwan, and US Storms (January 11, 2024)

Now the LORD came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” – 1 Samuel 3:10 Listening God, In the beginning, you created the whole world – the stars, planets, mountains, animals, the tiniest living creatures, snow and rain, sweet-smelling flowers, beautiful rocks, and yet you […]

We Have Met the Magi and They Are Us: An Epiphany Prayer for Light Bearers (January 4, 2024)

We hope that full shalom will come when the four billion of us who believe in a Transcendent Other are converted more deeply to the enlightenment that calls us all not to kill, not to lie, not to steal, not to lust, to respect parents, and to help the needy and weak. The teaching of […]

Comfort, Comfort My People: Prayers for Gaza, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Indonesia (December 7, 2023)

“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.” –Isaiah 40:1 Comforting God of us all, Oh, how we need your abiding peace. A peace that only you can give as we navigate this season in our homes, our relationships, our jobs, our neighborhoods, and our world. God, you say “comfort, comfort,” and yet we feel the […]

In the Midst of Chaos, I Will Be Peace: A Prayer as the Gaza Ceasefire Breaks Down (November 30, 2023)

Editor: Shortly after the prayers were posted, the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas broke down. In light of this, as duty editor, I have amended and re-posted our prayers.In the midst of chaos, I will be peace. In the heart of anger, I will be love. In the presence of despair, I will be hope. […]

I Was Hungry and You Gave Me Food: A Matthew 25 Prayer for the Least of These (November 23, 2023)

During a week when many ponder the end of the liturgical year and may follow the lectionary reading from Matthew 25: 31-46, “Judgement of the Nations,” we pray: For I was hungry and you gave me food. . . The world mourns the loss of United States humanitarian and political organizer Rev. Arthur Simon, founder […]

God of Our Longings: Prayers for Gaza, Ukraine, Migrant Caravans, and Nepal’s Earthquakes (November 9, 2023)

God of our Longings, The German root of longing, langen, is ‘reach, extend.’ We reach and extend our hands and hearts to You. We reach and extend our hands and hearts to each other as we see so much that is broken and longing to be made whole again. We long for deep and lasting […]

It Could Have Been Me: A Personal Prayer on Israel, Hamas, and Inherited Grief (October 26, 2023)

My maternal grandparents wanted to emigrate to Israel. Growing up as extremely poor Jews in Poland, in 1920 they were barely out of their teens when they caught the dream of a safe homeland for Jews, governed not by hereditary leaders, but by the people. With no ships willing to transport Jews to what the […]

Like Trees Planted by Streams of Water: Prayers for Israel, Ukraine, and a Fragile Planet (October 12, 2023)

Psalm 1 (NRSVUE) 1 Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked or take the path that sinners tread or sit in the seat of scoffers, 2 but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night. Holy One, as we look […]

We Have Inherited a Garden: A Prayer for Climate Action and Our Common Home (October 5, 2023)

Future generations will never forgive us if we miss the opportunity to protect our common home. We have inherited a garden; we must not leave a desert for our children. (This quote is lifted from a joint appeal signed at the Vatican October 4 , 2023 – the feast of St. Francis of Assisi and […]

The Thinnest Silence: A Prayer About Listening for the Voice of God (September 28, 2023)

Holy One, Divine Creator, whom some name God, we pray every week for so many things: for those suffering from effects of climate change and the earthquakes, the hurricanes, the super droughts, super fires, and the super floods; for children and women abused and sold and trafficked even in our modern era of development; for […]