World in Prayer

Sharing in God’s loving compassion for all

Made in Your Image: Prayers for Hong Kong, India’s Drought, and Children Who Died in Custody (June 13, 2019)

Wherever you are right now, take a moment to feel God’s presence and center yourself in that presence. Holy One, our faith journeys reveal new things to us each and every day. Each journey is different, and each journey brings forth feelings of both faith and doubt, of both righteous anger and of peace. Help […]

Grant Us Wisdom, Grant Us Courage: Prayers on Tiananmen, D-Day, and Protests in Nicaragua and Sudan (June 6, 2019)

“God of grace and God of glory on thy people pour thy power… Grant us wisdom grant us courage for the living of these days.” (Hymn, Harry Emerson Fosdick) Holy God, we sing our hymn of faith with faith, sometimes in the spirit of the modern proverb to “fake it ‘till we make it”. Our […]

Love One Another: Prayers After the Burkina Faso Church Attack and for North Korea’s Drought (May 16, 2019)

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” – John 13:34-35 (NRSV) Loving God, Jesus commanded the disciples to love one another. But […]

Call to Us Now: Prayers After the Sri Lanka Easter Bombings and the Philippines Earthquake (April 25, 2019)

Holy One, Your Name is above all names, it is so high that we cannot attain it, yet still we seek it. And when we cannot find you, when we do not understand what is happening, when our hearts quake with fear and our spirits tremble with unknowing, when we stumble and search and seek […]

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 […]

We Who Believe in Freedom Cannot Rest: Prayers for Syria, Haiti, and Survivors of Abuse (February 21, 2019)

[Italics are quotes from “Ella’s Song” by Sweet Honey in the Rock.] We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes. Almighty God, we pray for all who fear for their lives around the globe, living in war-torn areas, living in fear of terrorism, and living under oppressive governments, including: the civilians in Baghuz, Syria […]

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 […]

God, It Is Hard to Be a Citizen: An Advent Prayer for Voters and Governments (December 13, 2018)

“For unto us a child is born… and the government shall be upon his shoulders.” (Isaiah 9:6) God, it’s hard to be a citizen. At each stage of creation, you looked and said, “it is good”. You established The Promised Land as a place to live out your covenant, that you will be our God […]

Lazarus, Come Out: Prayers for Nicaragua, the Laos Dam Collapse and Deadly Wildfires (July 26, 2018)

Editor’s note:  Mary, Martha, and Lazarus of Bethany were friends of Jesus.  This year, a number of christian denominations  commemorate them on July 29. Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’ Martha, the sister of the dead man, said […]