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.

Father Earth and Mother Sky: Prayers for Indianapolis, Tigray, and India’s Oxygen Crisis (April 29, 2021)

Oh God, Our Father Earth and Mother Earth, Help us to center our hearts, our thoughts, our yearnings, to let go of past wrongs and uncertain futures, to let the air out and take a simple breath in – here in the present of your eternal time. We acknowledge the lands of our ancestors. We […]

Let Justice Roll Down: Earth Day Prayers After the Chauvin Verdict, for India and Chad (April 22, 2021)

“But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” Amos 5:24 Dear God, Justice. Justice. Justice. This is what we cry out all the day long, Lord, as we pray for a more equitable world for the people whom you love so deeply and infinitely. God we pray that we might […]

You Keep Track of Our Sorrows: Prayers for Daunte Wright, Afghanistan, and a Warming Earth (April 15, 2021)

O God, you come to us wherever and however we might be. No matter how much we may not believe it, we are worthy of your love and grace. Therefore, we uplift to you all of our raggedy and incomplete prayers to you—the ones that fall from our lips, the ones that remain hidden within […]

Living Toward Resurrection: Indonesia’s Floods, Taiwan’s Train Crash, and Rwanda (April 8, 2021)

God of new life, In these Easter days the wonder of the Risen Christ is close. Walking in the budding woods, resurrection is everywhere, the heart-song of the wild daffodil’s golden center, the magnolia’s blushed cup, the downy new leaf and the rippling brook. It is clear that life-death-life is the pattern at the center […]

Jesus Is Risen: An Easter Prayer Amid Grief in Brazil, India, and Tanzania (April 1, 2021)

At the last minute I substituted for the scheduled writer, and found myself thinking how little different our current world situation is from that of the first Easter. The same uncertainties, political. military, social and civil unrest, and divisions were being played out, while families and communities struggled to live and raise future generations while […]

We Long to Hide: Prayers After the Atlanta and Boulder Shootings and for Myanmar (March 25, 2021)

Dear God, You know that we sometimes long to hide. We long to hide from the things which make our world and communities profoundly suffer. We long to hide from the people who hurt us and those we care about. We wish we could hide from the mounting demands from our jobs, school, and the […]

Scared to Death or Scared to Life: A Lenten Prayer After the Atlanta Shootings (March 18, 2021)

Gracious and loving God, During this season of Lent, as we journey with your Son to the cross and through the cross, we admit that we are fearful. We are scared — scared to let go, scared to join in, scared to open up. We are scared to open our hearts, our time, our homes […]

Lessons from Cranes and Geese: El Salvador’s Election, Afghanistan, and Migrants (March 4, 2021)

As most of you know, World in Prayer is written by a team whose members take turns writing the prayers. And I, who am writing this week – I ran out of words a long time ago. Trapped in what seemed like near-isolation by the pandemic; anguished by its resulting ever-growing number of deaths and […]

Come and Fill Us with Your Peace: A Prayer as US COVID Deaths Pass 500,000 (February 26, 2021)

God, in whom we live and move and have our being, there is nothing that separates us from you, your grace, and your love. And yet, sometimes it is so hard to trust that you are at work around and within us, especially this Lenten season when it feels as if we have never left […]

Stick with Love: Prayers for Myanmar, US Prisons, and the Philippines (February 18, 2021)

I have decided to stick with love… Hate is too great a burden to bear. Martin Luther King Oh Lord, your house is built with understanding and compassion – it is our quiet center. If only we could grasp its power. In small agitations and overwhelming calamities, during times of lament and great injustices help […]