World in Prayer

Sharing in God’s loving compassion for all

A Prayer for the Lonely: Nicaragua’s Election, the Texas Crowd Surge, and the Belarus Border (November 11, 2021)

Heavenly God, You are the God of our hearts. The God whose love fills our hearts even when they feel empty. You are the God who seeks us out when we have no one and are in the loneliest of places. We are so grateful, God. Grateful when you hold us when we cannot hold […]

Shine Your Light: A Diwali Prayer Against Child Marriage and for COP26 in Glasgow (November 4, 2021)

May these prayers and meditations be received by You, O Lord. Take them and bind them to your will. This is the time of Diwali or Deepawali, a Hindu festival of lights celebrated by Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, and some Buddhists in the northern hemisphere in the fall. We meditate on the spiritual nature of the victory of […]

How Shall I Pray Today: Prayers for Drought and Floods, Afghanistan’s Girls, and David Amess (October 21, 2021)

How shall I pray, today, Lord? So many topics, situations, peoples, needs, joys, and problems all clamoring for attention and my thoughts are whirling and screaming. Calm us, Lord, as you calmed the storm on Galilee for your disciples. “The world and all that is in it belong to the Lord; the earth and all who live […]

An Alphabet of Prayer: From Aged Adults to Zoom Fatigue in a Pandemic Year (August 5, 2021)

Sustaining God, we offer an alphabetical litany to You. Please shine Your light on: Aged adults who feel isolated in a pandemic… Birthing persons… Cancelations… Delta and other variants of COVID-19 which are highly transmissible and more virulent than the original… Ethiopia, where a civil war rages… Food pantries… Grocery store employees and all other […]

Lord, What Is Happening: Prayers for India’s Pandemic, Global Famine, and Mount Meron (May 6, 2021)

Lord, we thought the human world had turned a corner in the pandemic, so we watch and listen with despair at the news from India and pray and hope the same will not happen in Papua New Guinea. Lord, mighty and marvelous, what is happening? We name especially Yemen, Haiti, Syria, South Sudan and Tigray, […]

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 […]

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 […]

No Hands but Yours: Prayers for the West Coast Wildfires, Hurricane Season, and Yemen’s Hunger (September 17, 2020)

“No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you […]

We Cannot Go Back to Normal: A Prayer on Inequality, Hong Kong, and Rising Hate Crimes (July 30, 2020)

I never anticipated that now, in the midst of an abundant summer following a beautiful spring, we would still be living out a winter spirituality. But the Covid-19 Pandemic has brought this upon us.  But…We’re All in This Together, Right?….except….  Lowering of pollution that first month—the air so crisp and clear and breathable. Everything stood […]