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.

O God, Why Are You Silent: Prayers for Ukraine, Rafah, Wildfires, and Pakistan’s Floods (August 11, 2022)

Writers note: As I faced writing these prayers, all that kept resonating through my mind was the hymn, “O God, Why Are You Silent” written by Marty Haugen and found in the Evangelical Lutheran Worship. The words of the first two verses resound in my breaking heart (it can be sung to any 7676D hymn […]

We Bring You Everything: A Prayer for the Lambeth Conference and a Scorched Planet (August 4, 2022)

Writer’s note: I am one of half dozen members of our small World in Prayer Team who needed a break. But then I read last week’s posting and realised I could not be party to this important ministry faltering – albeit temporarily. I find myself with nothing, yet also too much, to pray for – […]

When Will the Shootings End: A Prayer After Highland Park and Copenhagen (July 7, 2022)

Gracious and loving God, there is not a moment that we do not belong to you. You claim us as your beloved from beginning to end. Reassured and emboldened by this good news, we uplift our petitions and prayers to you this day, knowing nothing separates us from you and your love for us. God […]

Seeing and Blessing: A Body Prayer for Ukraine, Migrants Who Died in a Texas Truck, and Bangladesh’s Floods (June 30, 2022)

Body Prayer Stand with your feet rooted into the earth. Bring your hands together in a prayer position at your heart. Bow bending at your waist. A bow of reverence, of gratitude, of praise, of seeing. From the bow take your arms wide open, hands open like to receive another in a hug. […]

Take Heart: A Prayer for Those Who Dread the News, from Church Shootings to Earthquakes (June 23, 2022)

Dearly beloved Children of God, Do you sometimes wake not to prayer, but to dread, fearing what new horror will show up in the news? Afraid even to go to church, after this week’s news of three killed in a mass shooting at an Episcopal church in Alabama, U.S., and two priests shot dead at […]

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 […]

Mourning Buffalo and Lifting Our Eyes: Prayers After a Racist Massacre, and for Iraq’s Sandstorms (May 19, 2022)

Loving and ever-present God, we come before you this week bringing all that we are seeking your presence, your love, your wisdom, and your grace. We do not have to look far to see the brokenness and pain in the world, from health struggles to concerns about our finances, many of us bring fears and […]

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 […]