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.

We Thirst for You: Advent Prayers After the Colombia Plane Crash and Tropical Storm Otto (December 28, 2016)

O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will […]

Let Us Love One Another: A Prayer for Haiti’s Cholera Epidemic and a Divided World (December 28, 2016)

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 1 John 4:7 Beloved God, we see evidence throughout the world of how hard it is for some neighbors to love one another. We find continued difficulty in seeing You in each other. We […]

Write What You See: Prayers After the US Election, for Nigeria’s Survivors and Yemen’s Hunger (December 28, 2016)

What’s God going to say to my questions? I’m braced for the worst. I’ll climb to the lookout tower and scan the horizon. I’ll wait to see what God says, how he’ll answer my complaint. And then God answered: “Write this. Write what you see. Write it out in big block letters so that it […]

Nothing Can Separate Us: Prayers Before the US Election, for Calais and Italy’s Earthquake (December 28, 2016)

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.” Romans 8:38-39, NLT Recognizing the effects of fear and anxiety in our lives, we […]

Guide Us in Truth and Love: Prayers for Mosul, Standing Rock, and a Divided America (December 28, 2016)

On Sunday after Sunday in our worship we sing: Worthy is Christ, the Lamb who was slain, Whose blood set us free to be people of God. Power and riches, wisdom and strength, And honor and blessing and glory are his. And with these words in mind this day, we pray […]

Lord, In Your Mercy: Prayers for Mosul, Aleppo, Hurricane Matthew, and Thailand (December 28, 2016)

Once again, Lord, the voice of the prophets remains strikingly relevant through the centuries. Joel 2:24-25a reminds us that: The threshing floors shall be full of grain, the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. I will repay you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten. As we pray for people who are […]

Pray Without Ceasing: Prayers for Aleppo, the Dalit Marches in India, and Calais (December 28, 2016)

Pray without ceasing…Becoming more infused with the nature and Spirit of God as we pray… Taking on the attributes of God as we become one with him beyond our earthly limits of time and space… Lord as Jacob (Israel) struggled and demanded a blessing from his opponent at Peniel, may we persist and demand your gifts […]

The Moment to Decide: Prayers for Colombia’s Peace Vote, Mexico’s Volcano, and Syria (October 6, 2016)

At the time of the Mexican war, often viewed as a practice war for the United States shortly before the American Civil War, the poet James Russell Lowell penned lines that still speak to us: Once to every man and nation, comes the moment to decide, In the strife of truth with falsehood, for the […]

Commit Your Way to the Lord: A Prayer for First Nations Children and Quiet Peacemakers (September 29, 2016)

Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him; do not fret over those who prosper in their way, over those who carry out evil devices. Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath. Do not fret – it leads only to evil. […]

Bad Deeds Have Consequences: Prayers After the Aleppo Aid Convoy Strike and Police Shootings (September 22, 2016)

“The Bible says little about the temperature of hell nor the furniture of heaven”. This quote from the great German theologian Reinhold Niebuhr fits in with the story of the rich man and Lazarus where we are made aware of the dangers of being mean with our money and uncharitable to others. This is echoed […]