World in Prayer

Sharing in God’s loving compassion for all

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.

Love the Least of These: Prayers for Migrants Drowned Off Libya and for Chapel Hill (February 12, 2015)

As we prepare ourselves for the holy season of Lent, let us reflect in prayer on the words of our Lord Jesus Christ: that when we love the least of these, we love you, Lord. Help us to love the least of these in prison. We pray for prisoners throughout the world. We pray that […]

Renewing the Rainbow Covenant: Prayers for Malawi’s Floods and a Warming World (February 5, 2015)

The story has it, God, that only a few generations after you created the world and pronounced it “Good”, you looked down and saw that it was filled with wickedness. So much so, that you decided to wipe out every living creature. Except for the family of one righteous man – Noah – and a […]

Free to Be Children: Prayers for Freed Child Soldiers in South Sudan and Mexico’s Missing Students (January 29, 2015)

He cried out, “I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”  Mark1:24b (NRSV) Surrounded by the presence of the Holy One of God, let us pray together. Holy One, we gather in worship this morning seeking your presence, your grace and your wisdom. Humbly we gather to hear your words of hope and […]

Release to the Captives: Prayers for Raif Badawi and Boko Haram’s Kidnapped Girls (January 22, 2015)

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”  Mark 1:14-15   We know, Lord, that you call us to a far wider agenda than proclaiming good news and […]

That We May All Be One: A Prayer for Christian Unity and for Paris (January 15, 2015)

Throughout the world, this Sunday marks the beginning of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, and so together we pray for the church of Christ, that we may all be one. Litany of Thanksgiving Because I love you, O my people, I was born in Bethlehem. They called me Emmanuel, for I am God […]

Light in the Darkness: A Prayer After the Charlie Hebdo Attack (January 8, 2015)

There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord. Proverbs 21:30 The rich and the poor have this in common, the Lord is the Maker of them all. Proverbs 22:2 Lord, when will You tear the heavens apart to make Your will known and show Your might?   Yes, I […]

Stir Up Your Power: An Advent Prayer for Justice, Torture Victims, and the Climate (December 11, 2014)

World in Prayer, Dec. 11th   Stir up your power, Lord Christ, and come. With your abundant grace and might, free us from the sin that would obstruct your mercy, that willingly we might bear your redeeming love to all the world.   We long for this stirring, O God, as we look around our […]

Black Lives Matter: A Prayer Against Violence and Modern Slavery (December 4, 2014)

Oh. Dear. God. No.  Not again. I thought I knew what I was going to write for tonight’s prayers. And then I turned on the computer, and read that in the United States, yet another unarmed Black man had been shot, dead, by a police officer. Jesus. I am speechless, beyond shock. Everything I could […]

Praise and Thanksgiving: Gratitude Amid Ebola in Guinea and Mine Deaths in China (November 27, 2014)

“Praise and thanksgiving, Father we offer, for all things living you have made good” Hymn by Albert F.Bayly Father at the start of a new Christian year we offer our thanksgiving for all the mercies we have received over the past years. Despite the snow and difficult traveling conditions for many in Canada and the […]