World in Prayer

Sharing in God’s loving compassion for all

Prayers for Yemen

Yemen is prayed for here mainly through war, hunger and a health system stretched past its limits, with cholera, water shortages and cuts to aid named plainly. Refugees living within its borders are remembered as well. These prayers return often to the concern that Yemen is slipping from the world's attention.

After Notre Dame Burned: A Holy Week Prayer for Sacred Places Under Threat (April 18, 2019)

Holy One, As Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France burned this week, so many millions of us were bound together in heartbreak. As Notre Dame emerged damaged but not fully destroyed, so many millions were bound together in hope. As we consider Paris and Notre Dame, we pray for fulfilling and fruitful work of healing and […]

Tears Become Our Prayers: For Cyclone Idai’s Survivors and the Christchurch Mosques (March 28, 2019)

Holy One, In the dark of the night when tears become our prayers, we believe the Spirit intercedes for us, breathing through our lament. In the light of the day when fears hushes our voice, we believe that Christ listens to all that we carry in deep within our hearts. In the midst of life’s […]

Count the Stars: Prayers After Christchurch, the Ethiopia Crash, and the Lagos Collapse (March 14, 2019)

[God] brought [Abram] outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” ~ Genesis 15:5 God of abundance, we know that you are able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine, and yet our […]

Touch the Earth Lightly: Prayers for Tasmania’s Fires and Aid Stalled in Yemen (February 14, 2019)

Creator God, It doesn’t seem enough to say we thank you for the beauty of your creation.  When we think of all that happened from the growth of our planet, its place in the solar system and the most we can say is “thanks”.  You know the gratitude of our hearts, the deep meaning we want to […]

Like a Refiner’s Fire: A Prayer of Repentance for a Freezing and Burning World (January 31, 2019)

But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present […]

Thirsty for Good News: Prayers for Refugees, Disputed Elections, and Welcomed Students (January 10, 2019)

And a voice came from above, “You are my beloved child; I love you.” – Luke 3:22 Baptized in water, sealed by the Spirit, marked with the sign of Christ our king: Born of the Spirit, we are God’s children; joyfully now God’s praise we sing.                                                     Michael Saward, tune: BUNESSAN  Holy One, you who love […]

Renew Our Strength: A New Year Prayer for Yemen, Separated Families, and Indonesia’s Tsunami Dead (January 3, 2019)

Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:30-31 Heavenly God, How can we ever thank you? How can […]

Grief, Fear and Strength: Prayers for California Wildfires, Yemen and the Rohingya (November 29, 2018)

Holy One, When what we have is yours and what we receive is a gift from you, we offer up our words of prayer in the knowledge that you are the Word from whom all our prayers flow. We pray with grief for the things that have broken your heart; we pray with joy for […]

How Majestic Is Your Name: A Psalm 8 Prayer for Peacekeepers, Asylum Seekers and the Earth (November 22, 2018)

Note: Words in italics are from Ps 8 (NRSV) O Lord, our Sovereign,     how majestic is your name in all the earth! As cosmologists view a “ghost galaxy” hidden in sight… You have set your glory above the heavens. As the UN tries to recruit more women to be Blue Helmets peacekeepers, Mali has the […]