World in Prayer

Sharing in God’s loving compassion for all

Butterfly Prayers: For Haitian Migrants, La Palma’s Volcano, and Afghanistan’s Women (September 30, 2021)

God of limitless love, Thank you for creating us with expansive capacity for love. The heart is a vast landscape. What wonder this is that we can feel so many different emotions, seemingly conflicting, at the same time, that we can love so deeply. Sometimes in the face of all the suffering we see, we confuse love […]

Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying: Floods in Germany and China, and Wildfires (July 22, 2021)

Lord, listen to your children praying, Lord, send your Spirit in this place; Lord, listen to your children praying, send us love, send us pow’r, send us grace.                              Text and music- Ken Medema God of all creation, God who calls us each and all by name, hear our prayers of anguish, of contrition, of […]

Lessons from Cranes and Geese: El Salvador’s Election, Afghanistan, and Migrants (March 4, 2021)

As most of you know, World in Prayer is written by a team whose members take turns writing the prayers. And I, who am writing this week – I ran out of words a long time ago. Trapped in what seemed like near-isolation by the pandemic; anguished by its resulting ever-growing number of deaths and […]

We Long to Be Held: A Prayer After the US Capitol Attack and Uganda’s Election (January 14, 2021)

Dear God, Today we long to be held.  We long to be held, not by the hateful actions we see on our televisions.  Not by a virus that continually kills thousands upon thousands.  Not by our divisions and the things which cause us to break apart.  We long to be held by your unbreakable, unshakeable, […]

We Are Uncertain, Lord: An Advent Prayer for Joy in Venezuela, India, and Iraq (December 10, 2020)

Dear God, We know this above all things – your steadfast love endures beyond all things here on this earth and beyond this earth.  We know this, and yet we still struggle.  We know that we are your people, and we also know that you most certainly are our God. Although we know we can […]

Blessed Are the Peacemakers: Prayers for Mozambique, Ethiopia, and the Armenia Ceasefire (November 12, 2020)

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive […]

Today I Choose Love: A Prayer During the US Election Count and for Vienna, Nigeria, and Ethiopia (November 5, 2020)

Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD my God, you are very great! You are clothed with splendor and majesty, covering yourself with light as with a garment, stretching out the heavens like a tent. He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters; he makes the clouds his chariot; he rides on […]

Your Peace in Place of Our Violence: Prayers for Walter Wallace Jr, EndSARS, and Syria (October 29, 2020)

We meet you in prayer this day, asking for hope and guidance during these times of great uncertainty. We lift our hearts in prayer for all those protesting police brutality: In Philadelphia, PA, U.S., where Walter Wallace, Jr., a black man experiencing a mental health crisis, was shot and killed by police. In Nigeria amid […]

Teach Me Your Way: A World Teachers Day Prayer for Kyrgyzstan, Storm Alex, and Yemen (October 8, 2020)

Editor’s note:  World Teachers’ Day has been celebrated internationally on 5 October each year since 1994, commemorating the anniversary of the adoption of the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation Concerning the Status of Teachers, which establishes standards for teacher rights and responsibilities, as well as teacher preparation and support.  This year’s theme, “Teachers:  Leading in Crisis, Reimaging […]