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.

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 […]

Turning the World Upside Down: Prayers for the Uttarakhand Dam Disaster and a Wounded Creation (February 12, 2021)

There has been an unexpected glitch preventing the prayers being edited and posted as usual yesterday for which we apologise. Here they are now. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . […]

They Shall Mount Up with Wings Like Eagles: Prayers for Myanmar’s Coup and India’s Farmers (February 4, 2021)

“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall […]

Lord, Rend the Heavens and Answer: Prayers for Gaza, Indonesia’s Disasters, and Syria’s Camps (January 21, 2021)

This opening Litany of Praise is from the Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity 2021 taken from the ecumenical service published by CTBI prepared by the The Monastic Community of Grandchamp. Switzerland. Congregation: You who call us to be praise in the midst of the earth: glory to you! Reader 1: We sing your praise in the midst […]

We Long to Be Held: A Prayer After the US Capitol Attack and Uganda’s Election (January 14, 2021)

Dear God, Today we long to be held. We long to be held, not by the hateful actions we see on our televisions. Not by a virus that continually kills thousands upon thousands. Not by our divisions and the things which cause us to break apart. We long to be held by your unbreakable, unshakeable, […]

Though I May Speak: Prayers for a Walled World, Famine, and the Storming of the US Capitol (January 7, 2021)

Editor’s note: World In Prayer needs a few more writers and editors! Our team consists of 12-15 volunteers, from several different countries and continents. Each week, one person writes the prayers in response to international news. A second person then edits and posts the prayers online. Because we rotate who writes and edits, you would end up serving […]

Come Now, O Prince of Peace: Advent Prayers for Ethiopia, Nigeria, and New Zealand (December 17, 2020)

Come now, O Prince of Peace, make us one body. Come, O Lord Jesus, reconcile your people. – Geonyong Lee (Tune: OSOSO) With heavy hearts, we come to you during this time of waiting, this time of Advent as we prepare for the coming of the One who is God’s incarnated Love. Only this year, […]

We Are Uncertain, Lord: An Advent Prayer for Joy in Venezuela, India, and Iraq (December 10, 2020)

Dear God, We know this above all things – your steadfast love endures beyond all things here on this earth and beyond this earth. We know this, and yet we still struggle. We know that we are your people, and we also know that you most certainly are our God. Although we know we can […]

The Road Less Traveled: A Thanksgiving Prayer for a Year of Too Many Changes (November 26, 2020)

Creator God, This year has been different. We know you don’t need us to tell you that – but it helps to get it off our minds and you have broad shoulders to carry our burden. Easter was different, Eid and Diwali, too. And now Thanksgiving and next it will be Christmas. We know people’s […]