Dear God of all the people who live on the earth, our weeks hold both joys and tragedies that are sometimes near us and sometimes what seems like a world away. We all live and move and have our being alongside our neighbors – those who share our time zones, even the schools for our […]
Groanings Too Deep for Words: Winter Storms and a Ferry Sinking in the Philippines (January 29, 2026)
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. – Romans 8:26, ESV Everlasting Comforter, Prince of Peace, Today we come to you not knowing how to pray. Our world often […]
Let Us Be the Hope: Prayers for the Middle East, Fires in Brazil and Greece, and Measles (June 26, 2025)
Gracious God, As we sit in this time of turmoil and strife, let our eyes fix on you. Let our hearts be open to your mercy and hope. We are bombarded on all sides by news of war, famine, and illness. We are overcome with feelings of sorrow, worry, and grief. Come to us, be […]
Even the Stones Would Shout: A Holy Week Prayer for Sudan, Myanmar, and Ukraine (April 10, 2025)
“You will never feel proud of your work if you find no joy within it; your best work is always joyful work.” Stevie Wonder Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.” Luke […]
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 […]
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel: Prayers for the Israel Lebanon Ceasefire and Aid to Gaza (November 28, 2024)
Will you come to our world, God? And will you come with hope? For we see too many situations we can only lament, too few that lift our spirits; too much despair, too little resilience and respect; too many longings and laments and limited visions, too few steps forward. O come, O come, Emmanuel. And […]
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 […]
Prayers Like Seeds: For Sudan’s Ceasefire, Gang Violence, and Earthquake Survivors (April 27, 2023)
God of Life, These prayers, like seeds that we tuck into the soil of You. We trust You hold them all — our yearning, worry, agonies, hidden longings, and celebrations — in the fertile cocoon of Love. Each winter as we come out of long dark into the time of bud and bloom we marvel […]
Twenty Years of PEPFAR: Prayers for an End to AIDS and Health Injustice (February 3, 2023)
As the world marked January 28th, 2023, the 20th anniversary of President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), an initiative in the United States that has saved 20 million lives by providing more that 100 billion dollars for AIDS prevention and treatment, we pray that people of good will will not take their feet off […]
We Need You Now: A Prayer After the Uvalde School Shooting and the Buffalo Supermarket Massacre (May 26, 2022)
God, We need you now. We needed you yesterday. We need you today. We need you tomorrow. We need you now. We need you to do something. To stop the brutal unfathomable violence that is surfacing in every part of our world. We need you to change the hearts of lawmakers. We need you to […]