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.

Made in Your Image: Prayers for Hong Kong, India’s Drought, and Children Who Died in Custody (June 13, 2019)

Wherever you are right now, take a moment to feel God’s presence and center yourself in that presence. Holy One, our faith journeys reveal new things to us each and every day. Each journey is different, and each journey brings forth feelings of both faith and doubt, of both righteous anger and of peace. Help […]

Reveal Your Spirit: Prayers for the Chibok Girls, a Death in a US Jail, and Rwanda’s Healing Walk (May 30, 2019)

(6/1/19 Apologies to our readers. Due to my own sheer stupidity – aka, forgetting to restart the emails after changing a setting – the prayers didn’t email on schedule this week. Mea culpa! -Andee, World in Prayer founder) Holy One,In our prayers, we seek you and in our praying, we feel the air stirred by […]

Awaken in Us Compassion: Prayers for Midwest Floods, Cyclone Fani, and Ebola Health Workers (May 9, 2019)

Oh God, you who are always listening to us; you who hear the bird singing in the topmost branch against the blue, blue sky; you who know of the sobbing deep in the rubble after a bombing or the utterings of the newly-born. You, who are the heart of compassion, who gave your son Jesus […]

Every Stranger a Bearer of Gifts: Prayers for Migrants, Cyclone Fani, and Attacked Houses of Worship (May 2, 2019)

This week’s prayers begin with music. Music composed in the late 18th century by an Austrian composer, using an ancient Latin text. Music sung, this past Sunday, by a touring Russian ensemble, at the beginning of worship in an Episcopal church in California, U.S. But perhaps a bit of background is in order. The members […]

Call to Us Now: Prayers After the Sri Lanka Easter Bombings and the Philippines Earthquake (April 25, 2019)

Holy One, Your Name is above all names, it is so high that we cannot attain it, yet still we seek it. And when we cannot find you, when we do not understand what is happening, when our hearts quake with fear and our spirits tremble with unknowing, when we stumble and search and seek […]

After Notre Dame Burned: A Holy Week Prayer for Sacred Places Under Threat (April 18, 2019)

Holy One, As Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France burned this week, so many millions of us were bound together in heartbreak. As Notre Dame emerged damaged but not fully destroyed, so many millions were bound together in hope. As we consider Paris and Notre Dame, we pray for fulfilling and fruitful work of healing and […]

Tears Become Our Prayers: For Cyclone Idai’s Survivors and the Christchurch Mosques (March 28, 2019)

Holy One, In the dark of the night when tears become our prayers, we believe the Spirit intercedes for us, breathing through our lament. In the light of the day when fears hushes our voice, we believe that Christ listens to all that we carry in deep within our hearts. In the midst of life’s […]

Open Our Senses: Prayers After Cyclone Idai, Midwest Floods, and the Christchurch Massacre (March 21, 2019)

Loving God, We know you as a trusted source of direction and purpose. Sometimes we think our thoughts are your thoughts. Sometimes we pray that they are. But today we pray for the sensory awareness of how you feel. We hope that it will guide us and how we feel about refugees who have experienced […]

Count the Stars: Prayers After Christchurch, the Ethiopia Crash, and the Lagos Collapse (March 14, 2019)

[God] brought [Abram] outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” ~ Genesis 15:5 God of abundance, we know that you are able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine, and yet our […]

Safe in the Shadow of the Lord: A Prayer on Cheap Goods, Fake News, and Religious Persecution (March 7, 2019)

“Safe in the shadow of the Lord beneath His hand and power, I trust in Him, I trust in Him, my fortress and my tower.” – paraphrase of Ps 91 by Timothy Dudley-Smith Heavenly Father, Your word and being is of compassion, merciful care and everlasting love to all, regardless of merit. The response […]