Words Found in the Rubble after the Final War Yes, we lived in a time of darkness and did nothing. Yes, we looked up and we saw the sky on fire and we knew that we had made the flames with our own hands. Yes, we wasted every breath on rage. Children, if any of […]
Like Trees Planted by Streams of Water: Prayers for Israel, Ukraine, and a Fragile Planet (October 12, 2023)
Psalm 1 (NRSVUE) 1 Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked or take the path that sinners tread or sit in the seat of scoffers, 2 but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night. Holy One, as we look […]
To Bask in Easter a While Longer: Prayers for Khartoum and Cyclone Ilsa (April 20, 2023)
Holy and Redeeming God, I want to bask in the glow of Easter Sunday a while longer. I want to believe that things are miraculously better in this world you created. I want, long for, and hope for your presence to rain down and water my weary soul. I look around and find there are […]
You Keep My Lamp Burning: For a Kenyan Shelter and a Russian Protest Artist (January 19, 2023)
You, Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light. ~Psalm 18:28 (NIV) Great bearer of light, there is so much beauty that partners with darkness where the undercurrents of sadness and tragedy dwell. May we find beauty in darkness and honor the lessons offered to us. We thank you for the […]
The Season of Waiting: An Advent Prayer After the Ischia Mudslide (December 1, 2022)
Those who wait for you know how the mark of a true blessing is that it will take you where you did not think to go. Once through this door there will be more: more doors more blessings more who watch and wait for you but here at this door of beginning the blessings cannot […]
Seeing and Blessing: A Body Prayer for Ukraine, Migrants Who Died in a Texas Truck, and Bangladesh’s Floods (June 30, 2022)
Body Prayer Stand with your feet rooted into the earth. Bring your hands together in a prayer position at your heart. Bow bending at your waist. A bow of reverence, of gratitude, of praise, of seeing. From the bow take your arms wide open, hands open like to receive another in a hug. […]
Mourning Buffalo and Lifting Our Eyes: Prayers After a Racist Massacre, and for Iraq’s Sandstorms (May 19, 2022)
Loving and ever-present God, we come before you this week bringing all that we are seeking your presence, your love, your wisdom, and your grace. We do not have to look far to see the brokenness and pain in the world, from health struggles to concerns about our finances, many of us bring fears and […]
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 […]
Prayers of Thanksgiving and Lament: Mars Rovers, Madagascar’s Famine, and Haiti (August 26, 2021)
The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it; for he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the rivers. (Psalm 24:1) Holy One, you have created a magnificent universe. We raise up prayers of thanksgiving for your manifold blessings. Especially we […]
We Are God’s Poem: Prayers for Cuba’s Protests, Haiti, and an Iraq Hospital Fire (July 16, 2021)
“For we are God’s handiwork [trans. poiema, poem], created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do.” – New International Version “We are God’s works of art, created in Christ Jesus to live the good life as from the beginning he meant us to live.” – […]