“Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.” ~ Isaiah 64:8 “The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them.” ~ Isaiah 9:2 “Either […]
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 […]
We Thirst for You: Advent Prayers After the Colombia Plane Crash and Tropical Storm Otto (December 28, 2016)
O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will […]
Risen One, You Are Here: Prayers for the Chibok Girls, Child Soldiers, and Attawapiskat (April 14, 2016)
“While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.” –Luke 24:15-16 Risen one, you are here. Here, as we look at the video released this week by the Boko Haram group in Nigeria, that appears to show some of the 276 girls […]
He Comes to Us as One Unknown: A Prayer for Refugees, the Sick, and All Who Cry for Justice (April 7, 2016)
He comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lakeside, He came to those men who knew Him not. He speaks to us the same words: ‘Follow thou me!’ and sets us to the tasks which He has to fulfill for our time. –Albert Schweitzer You come to us, […]
Lord, Hear Our Lament: Prayers for Fiji’s Cyclone and Acid Attack Survivors in India (February 25, 2016)
Lord, as your cherished people we adore you for your unfailing love toward all creation. Your thoughts are not ours; we recognize that your thinking is on a far greater scale than our mere time and place even when we do not understand. Your ways not ours, yet you call us into new ways […]
Prayers of Contrast: Bombings in Istanbul and Jakarta, and Flint’s Poisoned Water (January 14, 2016)
Your love is steadfast, O Lord, but how fickle we are. We are never satisfied. In our dissatisfaction we destroy that which we do not understand and devastate that which satisfies as if there is never enough. Our prayers are prayers of contrast as we recognize political, financial and economic pressures are very different across […]
Give Us Wisdom to Discern: Prayers After the China Warehouse Blast and a Baghdad Truck Bomb (August 13, 2015)
God, in the trouble of this world, in the confusion of rumor and news, in the anxiety of daily life, we pray that you will give us wisdom, that we may discern between good and evil. Give us wisdom in selecting our leaders. We pray for Sri Lanka as they prepare for their Parliamentary […]
Give Us the Patience to Listen: Prayers for Greece, Charleston, and Pakistan’s Heatwave (June 25, 2015)
Lord of the past, present and future, sometimes I have this view of you pushing your hair back, in exasperation, and wondering when will we return to you and listen. Just once in our lives – really listen, then do something. It must be so vexing to you when we do something then complain – […]
We Doubt and We Believe: A Prayer After the Korean Ferry Disaster and the Nigerian Kidnappings (April 24, 2014)
O Lord, we doubt and we believe. Help us to hold both our doubt and our belief lightly so we may be astonished and overjoyed when we see you, wounded and whole, living in our world. We doubt we will see peace: in Syria, in Ukraine, between Israelis and Palestinians, even sometimes within our own […]