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.

Jesus Wept: A Prayer From the Earthquake Ruins of Mexico and the Storm-Battered Caribbean (September 21, 2017)

“Jesus Wept” Oh, Lord… Oh, Lord. Every bone in our body, every tear in our eye, every drop of blood in our heart, cries to You. We are not fools, O Lord. We are certain that others despaired in their time. But this is our time, O Lord. So hear, and forgive, the desperation of […]

Amazing Grace: Prayers After Hurricane Irma, Deadly School Fires, and Western Wildfires (September 14, 2017)

[Italicized portions below from John Newton’s hymn Amazing Grace] Amazing grace! How sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found; Was blind, but now I see. God of grace and sound, we need finding. The world around us is broken by climatic and political chaos, and […]

Hear Our Cries: A Prayer for Storm-Struck Communities, DACA Families, and Journalists Silenced (September 7, 2017)

Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart. -Ps.119:34 The commandments…are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.” -Romans 13:9-10 Abba, Father of each one of us wherever we […]

Lord, Declare New Things: After Hurricane Harvey, Monsoon Floods, and the Freetown Landslide (August 31, 2017)

Do you know what I have done for you? – John 13:12c And new things I now declare – Isaiah 42:9b The word of the Lord stands forever – Isaiah 40:8b, I Peter 1:25 Lord, we see what you have done for us, but sometimes it is difficult as we do not know or […]

Come and See: A Prayer After Barcelona, Charlottesville’s Aftermath, and the Ischia Earthquake (August 24, 2017)

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from […]

So Much We Fail to Understand: Barcelona, Sierra Leone’s Mudslides, and Egypt’s Train Crash (August 17, 2017)

We lift this prayer, written from the ancestral home of the llini, Miami, Shawnee, Dakota Sioux, Chickasaw, Winnebago, Delaware, Kickapoo, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Huron-Wyandot, and Sac-Fox tribes with full respect for their creativity and courage. We lift this prayer that will be read within many other geographic and cultural contexts with full respect for the various ways you have inspired […]

Lead Us From Darkness to Light: A Prayer for Peace 72 Years After Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 10, 2017)

Dear God Today we pray for peace. We remember those who perished with the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan 72 years ago this week. The monuments and memorials and parks in these cities and other cities and lands having suffered holocausts remind us that our prayers are mighty and necessary. Help us to […]

There Is a Balm in Gilead: Prayers for Those Jailed for Speaking Out, Firefighters, and Elephants (August 3, 2017)

The Lord upholds all who are falling, and raises up all who are bowed down. Psalm 145:14 There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole; There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin-sick soul. God of grace and glory, God who knows our hearts and minds, you can see, you […]

Fruit of the Spirit: Prayers for 20 Million Facing Hunger and for Those Who Help (July 20, 2017)

“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” ~ Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT) Heavenly Father, we come before you – worn, weary, and hungry for the fruit of the Holy Spirit to fill out hearts and […]

Not by Bread Alone: A Prayer for Liu Xiaobo, a Rescue in Florida, and a Trillion-Ton Iceberg (July 13, 2017)

Dear God of instruction, open our hearts to learn, learn as our forebears in faith learned. Looking back on their experiences in captivity and liberation, they heard, “So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you […]