Attentive Nervous Thoughtful Incarnation Concerned Immanuel Preparing Awaiting Testify Expecting The season of Advent, literally “the coming,” holds special significance for many anticipating justice. The United Nations reports that 117.3 million people are currently displaced from their homes due to war, environmental disasters, and political instability. People from Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, […]
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 […]
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 […]
A Deep Thirst: Prayers for Drought, Desertification and Flooding Around the World (June 14, 2018)
The United Nations’ World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought is observed every year on June 17. This year’s observance will be hosted in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the Lord will answer them, I the God […]
Amen, May It Be So: Prayers for Venezuela’s Protests and Arkansas Executions (April 27, 2017)
Amen. Yes. So be it. It will certainly be like this. May it be so. This is the truth. On this we can depend. Amen! Compassionate and loving God, as we watch events unfold across our world, our emotions often cannot be translated into words. So we call out to You with a word You […]
This Is the Day the Lord Has Made: Prayers After the Egypt Church Bombings and Stockholm Attack (April 13, 2017)
This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24 We are stumbling on our way toward the day of Resurrection, gracious God. Stumbling and falling, sometimes crawling on our knees toward the cross, hoping that when we lift our tear-filled eyes, it will be empty, […]
Renewing the Rainbow Covenant: Prayers for Malawi’s Floods and a Warming World (February 5, 2015)
The story has it, God, that only a few generations after you created the world and pronounced it “Good”, you looked down and saw that it was filled with wickedness. So much so, that you decided to wipe out every living creature. Except for the family of one righteous man – Noah – and a […]
Humility and Perseverance: A Prayer for Negotiations, Climate Change, and an End to Executions (January 30, 2014)
God, on whom we rely, hear this prayer for humility and perseverance. You know that we are ever tempted to reject the better for the perfect. Help us embrace the possibilities unfolding in negotiations between the United States and Syria, in disputes in Ukraine, wherever progress, even modest progress, is being made. Free of implementation […]