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.

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 […]

Enough: A Prayer After the Peshawar School Massacre (December 18, 2014)

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. – John 13:34 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. – Matthew 11:29 I have come into the […]

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 […]

Go and Do Likewise: Prayers for West Africa’s Ebola Outbreak and a Divided America (November 6, 2014)

Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers? He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “Go, and do likewise.” (Luke 10:36-37) Heavenly Father, few parables are as easy to understand as the story of the good Samaritan. And […]

Let There Be Light: Prayers on Secret Trade Deals and Mexico’s Disappeared (October 9, 2014)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines […]

We Have No Words to Say: Prayers for Ebola, California’s Drought, and Mount Ontake (October 2, 2014)

The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of […]

Thy Will Be Done: Prayers for Ferguson, Ukraine, and Kashmir’s Floods (September 4, 2014)

O God of every tradition, we pray thy will be done. We are assaulted second by second throughout the 24-hour news cycle by words and images that describe so many ways in which it is not done: Nation and would-be nation bargain over beheaded journalists in the Middle East Nation and nation rattle sabers over […]