World in Prayer

Sharing in God’s loving compassion for all

My Help Comes From the Lord: A New Year Prayer for a Dangerous Journey (January 4, 2018)

1 “I look up to the mountains— does my help come from there? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth! 3 He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber. 4 Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps. 5 The Lord […]

Never Will I Leave You: A Remembrance Day Prayer After the Texas Church Shooting (November 9, 2017)

Heavenly Father, as another week passes more tragedy and disaster have befallen your creation earth: A deadly mass shooting in Texas, US; a toxic smog blanketing Delhi, India; and a poverty-lead gambling crisis in Venezuela. Help us, please Lord. Our hearts break as we ask you to help and bless everyone affected by these disastrous […]

Once Again: A Prayer After the New York City Terror Attack and a Year of Grief (November 2, 2017)

Once again, dear God, once again we come to you in grief and anger. Once again terror has struck at the heart of New York City, U.S. Once again, we know the weeping of Rachel that is heard across Your creation. Once again, what You declared to be good has fallen short of Your glory. […]

Jesus Wept: A Prayer From the Earthquake Ruins of Mexico and the Storm-Battered Caribbean (September 21, 2017)

“Jesus Wept” Oh, Lord… Oh, Lord.  Every bone in our body, every tear in our eye, every drop of blood in our heart, cries to You. We are not fools, O Lord.  We are certain that others despaired in their time.  But this is our time, O Lord. So hear, and forgive, the desperation of […]

God of Grace and God of Glory: A Prayer After the Manchester and London Bridge Attacks (June 8, 2017)

Holy God, I am empty.  I wake up to Manchester, England, I go to bed to London Bridge falling down, and I feel empty, lost.  I apologize, you expect more from me. To be in good company doesn’t let me off the hook.  The terrors that pursued Elijah made him want to lie down and […]

Seek the Peace of the City: Prayers for the Colombia Ceasefire and Italy’s Earthquake Dead (September 1, 2016)

In an ancient time, our spiritual forebears were conquered and exiled. And the prophet Jeremiah wrote them a letter about how to deal with their calamities. In the various spirits with which those banished people listened to his letter read out, we open ourselves to you in prayer, O God. Jeremiah, speaking for you, told […]

Teach Us to Listen: A Prayer After the Attack in Nice and a Week of Violence (July 14, 2016)

There is a terrifying passage in ‘I and Thou’ by the Jewish mystic Martin Buber in which God says ‘I have sunk my hearing in the deafness of mortals’.  If this should be even partly true what a tremendous responsibility it places upon us to listen, to listen to each other with our whole attention, […]

Never Think We Do Not Care: A Prayer After the Orlando Nightclub Shooting and the Death of Jo Cox (June 17, 2016)

Prayers in response to Orlando, Florida, US – where a gunman shot and killed 49, with 53 more injured, at a gay nightclub, before he himself was killed Mosul, Iraq – after 19 Yazidi girls were burnt alive by their Islamic State captors, in front of a crowd of hundreds, for refusing to have sex […]

Where Are You: A Prayer for a Capsized Boat off Libya and for the One Life That Matters (May 26, 2016)

Hello? God? Are you there? Like Thomas before me, I believe. But, I need you to help my unbelief. I spend so much of my time looking forward to completing the task at hand. Yet, when it’s done the joy is short-lived. Swallowed up by the pressure of the next task to be completed; lost […]