World in Prayer

Sharing in God’s loving compassion for all

Do You Believe This: Prayers for Christian Unity, Gaza, the Uyghurs and a Warming World (January 23, 2025)

Writer’s Note:  Every year, the northern hemisphere recognizes a Week of Prayer for Christian Unity between 18 January and 25 January.  This focus on Christian unity recognizes Jesus’ prayer in John chapter 17 that the church “may all be one … so that the world may believe.”  For 2025, Christians around the world were encouraged […]

Be Still and Know: A Prayer for the Gaza Ceasefire, California Fires and a World in Whirl (January 16, 2025)

Writer’s note: Unexpectedly, I am to write this week, with my mind in a whirl of clamoring news and imminent events. If the eminent theologian, Rowan Williams, uses the prayer method of ‘I turn up, and shut up’, it will more than suffice for my need and hopefully yours. Let us journey together under the […]

Our World Is Broken: Prayers After the Haiti Massacre, the Fall of Assad, and for the Hibakusha (December 12, 2024)

Dear God, Our world is broken in ways that pain us: Our hearts break with those who are grieving, especially those in Haiti after the massacre that left over 180 people dead. We pray that this situation will not escalate with retaliation, but will be ended by justice and reconciliation that prevails. Our minds whirl […]

So Precious in Your Eyes: A Prayer for COP29 in Baku, Hurricane Rafael in Cuba, and the Valencia Floods (November 14, 2024)

God of all Creation, This week marks the start of the twelve day United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties or COP29 (29th year). Baku, Azerbaijan is the host country for the 2024 talks.  It is a fossil fuel producing country on the Caspian Sea, the largest inland sea in the world. It sits […]

Glimmers of Grace: Prayers for Elections, Gaza, the Spanish Floods and Sudan’s Women (October 31, 2024)

Loving God, We know that our world is often uncertain. Many nations have recently faced elections, such as British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and New Brunswick in Canada, and Japan, where the Liberal Democratic Party, which has held power almost continually since 1955, lost its single-party majority at Sunday’s election. We also know that in some places, elections […]

Lord, Hear Our Prayers: World Communion Sunday, Hurricane Milton, and the Headlines of War (October 10, 2024)

“All who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgment against themselves.” (1 Corinthians 11:29) “Even when our cups run dry, God’s grace overflows. Even when our plates are empty, God’s generosity overflows. And even when our hearts are barren, God’s love overflows. Friends, you have been called and claimed by the […]

In the Way of Saint Francis: Prayers for the World’s Poorest Nations and 120 Million Displaced (October 3, 2024)

We center ourselves in prayer with you O Lord. The feast day of Francis of Assisi (1182-1226) is October 4.  We pray on how he modelled humility, concern for poor people; practicing a vow of poverty, peace and nonviolence, and care for creation for generations to come. Born into a wealthy Italian merchant family, Francis […]

Co-Guardians of a Fragile Planet: A Prayer in the Season of Creation for Floods, Drought, and Hunger (September 26, 2024)

“Prayer is nothing else than a sense of God’s presence.” ~ Brother Laurence (lay brother, Paris, France 1614-1691) “Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God.” ~ Mother Theresa of Calcutta (1910-1997) “We have to pray with our eyes on God and not on the difficulties.” ~ Oswald Chambers (1874-1917) “I (Jesus) tell you, […]

A Jubilee Time for Earth: Prayers for Floods in China and Bangladesh and the Pacific Islands (August 29, 2024)

The Season of Creation – celebrated annually by many  Christian denominations from September 1 (the Day of Prayer for Creation) through October 4 (the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi) – invites us to see the divine presence in all of creation. It invites us to listen deeply to the cries of the earth and […]