God of all times and places, as we look out into your world we see so many different things: sun snow rain chaos silence hope fear peace violence justice faith oppression … The list goes on, and on, and on. As I gaze out my window today, I am reminded that what I see what […]
One Ecosystem: Prayers for a Calving Antarctic Glacier, Locust Swarms, and Syria’s Displaced (February 13, 2020)
Ah, Lord God, our creator, our father. The world is changing. Again. It’s difficult to realize, as I write when the sky is wall to wall blue and a plane suddenly adds a tracery of white, that that interesting line is part of what is changing our world. As another huge iceberg calves from […]
Nurture Them, Shelter Them, Love Them: Prayers for 70 Million Displaced People and Juneteenth (June 20, 2019)
Holy One, Our hands reach out, our voices call forth, our hearts lift up, and in the act of praying, once again, we discover you. Our words are but a small measure of the world’s great need, yet as we draw close to you, you draw close to us. We pray to you, O Lord. […]
Open Our Senses: Prayers After Cyclone Idai, Midwest Floods, and the Christchurch Massacre (March 21, 2019)
Loving God, We know you as a trusted source of direction and purpose. Sometimes we think our thoughts are your thoughts. Sometimes we pray that they are. But today we pray for the sensory awareness of how you feel. We hope that it will guide us and how we feel about refugees who have experienced […]
God of Tender Souls Clinging: Prayers for the Kerala Floods, Besieged Ghazni, and Wildfires (August 23, 2018)
God of compassion God of green earth and snow God of darkness And illumination God of new things And of things torn apart God of waters and maker of dry land God of tender souls clinging God in this moment and across all sunrises and the universe Help us to understand our place in this […]
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 […]
The Very Stones Would Shout Out: A Palm Sunday Prayer for Syria, South Sudan, and Silenced Voices (March 18, 2016)
Today we begin Holy Week, walking the Via Dolorosa with Jesus of Nazareth…sitting at the table at the Last Supper, watching and waiting in Gethsemane’s garden, seeing with horror and dread the arrest and torture and trials, and finally, weeping at the foot of the cross. But today, Gracious God, we begin with his arrival […]
This: A Lenten Prayer in Photographs of Refugee Children in Croatia, Serbia, and Uganda (March 4, 2016)
This. World in Prayer doesn’t post photographs. Ever. We don’t include photographs with our prayers, because: We don’t have the resources or expertise to verify that photos are authentic – unaltered, not staged, genuinely of the place/event they purport to show, really taken by the named photographer. News photos are copyrighted. They cannot be reproduced […]
Lead Us Not into Temptation: Prayers for Syria, Mexico’s Prison Riot, and Taiwan’s Earthquake (February 11, 2016)
Our Father in heaven, lead us not into temptation. Help us to recognize the temptations that surround us, the subtle snares that, on their face, seem good: The temptation to use violence and force to achieve peace and gentleness; The temptation to see our perspective as truth and others as heresy; The temptation to believe […]
Let My People Go: A Prayer Naming the Pharaohs That Drive Refugees From Home (September 10, 2015)
Go down, Moses, way down in Egypt land. Tell all Pharaohs to, “let My people go.” Oh God, our God, and God of every suffering refugee, we join in prayer to ask for the wisdom and the courage to name the pharaohs that make life intolerable for so many people in the world. We recognize that: […]