“Praise and thanksgiving, Father we offer, for all things living you have made good” Hymn by Albert F.Bayly Father at the start of a new Christian year we offer our thanksgiving for all the mercies we have received over the past years. Despite the snow and difficult traveling conditions for many in Canada and the […]
Praise God Anyway: A Thanksgiving Prayer in a World of Warped Mirrors (November 20, 2014)
God, it’s hard to be grateful. I remember a book, “Praise God Anyway,” and I hated the idea. Yet You, Holy God, have allowed me to live enough to know the author was right. I must try to be grateful anyway. Holy and Loving God, we come to this season of Thanksgiving wanting to: “Count our […]
Go and Do Likewise: Prayers for West Africa’s Ebola Outbreak and a Divided America (November 6, 2014)
Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers? He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “Go, and do likewise.” (Luke 10:36-37) Heavenly Father, few parables are as easy to understand as the story of the good Samaritan. And […]
Where in the World Are You: A Prayer of Silence for West Africa and Canada (October 26, 2014)
World in Prayer- October 23, 2014 God of creation, God of healing, God of all people everywhere, prayer comes with difficulty this day. Words seem somehow so inadequate to express the confusion…the anger…the fear which seems to fill hearts and minds of people in all parts of your world. What comes to the surface […]
Trusting in Your Power and Grace: Prayers for Ebola’s Orphans, the Nepal Avalanches, and Kobane (October 16, 2014)
“Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” –Matthew 22:22 NRSV God of majesty, your glory and wonder fills all of creation. In all corners of your world, beauty, truth and wonder abound. Sadly, there are times when we seem to forget that you, and you alone, are the great Creator […]
We Have No Words to Say: Prayers for Ebola, California’s Drought, and Mount Ontake (October 2, 2014)
The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of […]
May There Be Peace: A Prayer for the International Day of Peace (September 18, 2014)
As the UN marks the International Day of Peace and the World Council of Churches invites us to join the International Day of Prayer for Peace this September 21st, let us pray for peace in our hearts and minds, in our families, in our communities, in our nations, and throughout the world. Our Lord Jesus […]
A Full-Course Meal of Prayer: Remembering 9/11 and Ebola’s Dead (September 11, 2014)
So. Many. Words. On this, the anniversary of 9-11, so many prayers float across my screen. I want to take a bit from this one, a bit from that, serve them up, a full-course meal of prayer for those who died and those who lived the first responders then, and now, in so many places […]
Thy Will Be Done: Prayers for Ferguson, Ukraine, and Kashmir’s Floods (September 4, 2014)
O God of every tradition, we pray thy will be done. We are assaulted second by second throughout the 24-hour news cycle by words and images that describe so many ways in which it is not done: Nation and would-be nation bargain over beheaded journalists in the Middle East Nation and nation rattle sabers over […]
Courageous Spirits and Compassionate Hearts: Prayers for Donetsk, Ebola, and Those Held Hostage (August 28, 2014)
Gathered together, surrounded by the grace of the Holy One, we enter into this time of prayer seeking Divine wisdom and courage to live faithfully and justly. Let us join together in prayer. Creator God, we feel your Spirit move among us in the gentle breeze, in the ocean waves, and in the colors of […]