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.

Cradle Your Children: Prayers for Europe’s Snows, Syria, Parkland, and Ethiopia’s Emergency (March 1, 2018)

Holy One, You are a God of Might and Majesty, Tenderness and Vulnerability. You are the one who casts stars into the heavens and who brings forth the first green shoots from the fertile ground. All of Creation cannot hold your glory; and yet you cradle us in gentle wings of mercy. All this is […]

Be Still and Know: A Prayer Amid Gunfire, Bombings, and the Cries of Refugees (February 22, 2018)

“Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10) O God, O God, my God, our world is full of anything but stillness. There is no silence to be found, I fear; no quiet about. We hear of your “still small voice”, we know You have taught that there is virtue in silence, we […]

It Seems Very Odd, Lord: Prayers for Cape Town’s Drought, Parkland, and a Week of Crashes (February 15, 2018)

It seems very odd, Lord, that people call for January to be a month to try being vegan when Lent was a period, 40 days, in the time before world trade hit our food markets when it was a necessity. We pray for those to whom being vegan is not a life style choice […]

Breathe and Behold: Prayers for Cape Town and Flint’s Water, Syria’s Siege, and Winter Olympians (February 8, 2018)

Holy One, We keep scrolling through the news, forever flicking from catastrophe to exhilaration to trauma, over and over and over again. Make us stop. Force us to take a break. Teach us how to breathe. Show us how to behold–rather than barrel through–your world. We pray that we might take a break and breathe […]

Complicit as We Are in Humanity: A Prayer of Confession and Wonder (February 2, 2018)

Our prayer is for ourselves, complicit as we are in humanity. We pray for the humility to admit that we understand, sometimes participate, in the sins of humanity: the sin of tribalism that sets Turk against Kurd in mortal combat, the sin of denial that tries to reduce the horrors of the Holocaust to verbal […]

Come Fill Us With Your Light: Prayers for Eastern Ghouta, Jalalabad, and the Gambia (January 25, 2018)

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever. ~ Psalm 111:10 …we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. ~ 1 Corinthians 8:1 …anyone who loves God is known by him. ~ 1 […]

A Prayer for Lovers: The Greatest of These Is Love, from Jerusalem to Myanmar to Zimbabwe (January 18, 2018)

Prayer for Lovers “Faith, Hope and Love Abide. But the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13) Holy and Loving God, Your voice is so clear. Your message unavoidable: to love. We confess, Loving God, that we fall short despite your best efforts to teach. We heard your still small voice to Elijah. […]

A World of Contrasts: Prayers for Record Cold, Australia’s Heat, and California’s Mudslides (January 11, 2018)

“The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” – Heb. 4:12 Lord you provide for our needs and equip us to help, provide for the needs of others […]

Let It Be With Us: Prayers for the Least and the Mighty, from Benin to Catalonia (December 21, 2017)

“Let it be with me according to your word.” –Mary, on learning that she was to bear the son of God (Luke 1:38) Let it be with us, according to Your word. Let the hungry be filled with good things. Let the lowly be lifted up. Let the mighty be cast down. Let your promise of mercy […]

Look With Your Eyes: Advent Prayers for Hungry Children in DR Congo and Refugees in Limbo (December 14, 2017)

Holy One, “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.” (John 1) “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of […]