World in Prayer

Sharing in God’s loving compassion for all

O Great Guide, Light a Way Forward: Prayers for Gaza, Ukraine, and Congo (December 14, 2023)

O Great Guide, who led shepherds and kings by the light of a star, when we feel most lost, we pray you light a way forward. We are bombarded with news of war and death, like bombs blasting open our hearts. We pray for all areas around the globe that are experiencing war, including: Israel […]

Comfort, Comfort My People: Prayers for Gaza, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Indonesia (December 7, 2023)

“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.”  –Isaiah 40:1 Comforting God of us all, Oh, how we need your abiding peace.  A peace that only you can give as we navigate this season in our homes, our relationships, our jobs, our neighborhoods, and our world. God, you say “comfort, comfort,” and yet we feel the […]

This Blessing Calls You Home: A Christmas Blessing and Prayer for Every Nation on Earth (December 22, 2022)

A CHRISTMAS BLESSING by Christine Valters Paintner online Abbess at AbbeyoftheArts.com Reproduced with permission This blessing dances at the doorway of light and dark, knows both as sacred: fertile womb space, miracle of blooming. This blessing breathes through those moments of labor when you too birth the holy into this fragile, luminous, hurting world as Mary […]

Prince of Peace: An Advent Prayer for Journalists Killed and Oregon’s Death Row (December 15, 2022)

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6 God of Advent, The words of Isaiah come to us spoken over 2,300 years ago. They arrive in Christmas cards […]

God With Us: A Christmas Blessing for Every Person and Every Nation on Earth (December 23, 2021)

When the child was born – that child, you know – God blessed the world with light, with joy, with gladness. It wasn’t the first time God had proclaimed the goodness of creation. That happened right from the beginning. And over and over again, through many peoples and cultures and religious traditions. Nor will it […]

The Light of Your Presence: Advent Prayers for Kentucky’s Tornadoes, Typhoon Rai, and Haiti (December 16, 2021)

The anticipation is growing, O God. As Christmas draws near, the longing for redemption, for salvation, for the coming of Christ swells within us. Yet, even as the hope, peace, joy, and love grow in anticipation of the birth of Christ, we are reminded of the rugged realities of life. In the midst of our […]

Our Hearts and Hands: Advent Prayers for South Sudan’s Floods, Mount Semeru, and India’s Helicopter Crash (December 9, 2021)

God of love, During this season of Advent, as we wait with anticipation for the coming light of the Christ-child, your Love made flesh in the world, we remember that you are a living God, creating with us anew each and every day. For many of us, this is a season of rededicating ourselves to […]

O Come, O Come Emmanuel: Prayers for Migrants, the Michigan School Shooting, and Yemen (December 2, 2021)

O Come, O Come Emmanuel God with us, We are so grateful that you are with us. In every moment of our being. The moments when we feel You beating in echo with our hearts and the moments when we feel completely alone.  We do not have to ask, You are already and always with […]

This Does Not Feel Like Christmas: A Pandemic Christmas Prayer for Every Nation (December 24, 2020)

Christmas 2020 This does not feel like Christmas. Sorry, God, but we have to say it bluntly. It doesn’t feel like Christmas. Most of our treasured Christmas traditions – off limits due to the pandemic.  Worship services severely curtailed, or moved to online only. Businesses closed or in danger of closing permanently. Too many ill, […]