We lift this prayer, written from the ancestral home of the llini, Miami, Shawnee, Dakota Sioux, Chickasaw, Winnebago, Delaware, Kickapoo, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Huron-Wyandot, and Sac-Fox tribes with full respect for their creativity and courage. We lift this prayer that will be read within many other geographic and cultural contexts with full respect for the various ways you have inspired […]
Amen, May It Be So: Prayers for Venezuela’s Protests and Arkansas Executions (April 27, 2017)
Amen. Yes. So be it. It will certainly be like this. May it be so. This is the truth. On this we can depend. Amen! Compassionate and loving God, as we watch events unfold across our world, our emotions often cannot be translated into words. So we call out to You with a word You […]
May Your Mind Be in Us: Prayers After the Mocoa Landslide, Peru’s Floods, and Syria’s Gas Attack (April 6, 2017)
The Scottish theologian, William Barclay, suggested using ‘the mind of God’ instead of ‘the Word’ for Jesus. And so John 1:1, 2-5, 14 reads In the beginning was the mind of God,… 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was […]
The True Riches: Prayers After Storm Earl, Macedonia’s Floods, and Ethiopia’s Protests (August 11, 2016)
Loving God, Ancient of Days, so often we lift our prayers to you driven by our emotions. Frightened by the evident dangers- natural and man-made- which the world faces, we cry out clumsily like little children. Enraged by the evident injustices the world faces, we strike out verbally to establish our own opposition. Squelched by […]
Lord, Hear Our Prayer: For EgyptAir Flight MS804, Sri Lanka’s Landslides, and Venezuela’s Hunger (May 19, 2016)
Heavenly Father, we come to you with open but hurt hearts with this week’s news. May the Holy Spirit fill us with strength and compassion towards our neighbors, near and far. We pray for the millions of students who celebrate their graduations. May their learning enrich our world. Lord, hear our prayer. We pray for […]
This World Is Not Our Home: Prayers for Afghanistan’s Avalanches and Liberia After Ebola (February 26, 2015)
“In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you […]
Enough: A Prayer After the Peshawar School Massacre (December 18, 2014)
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. – John 13:34 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. – Matthew 11:29 I have come into the […]
Nothing Can Separate Us: A Prayer After the Killing of James Foley (August 21, 2014)
“I, along with St Paul, am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 8: 38, 39) In […]
In the Presence of Holy Mystery: Prayers for Chile’s Earthquake and Guinea’s Ebola (April 3, 2014)
In the presence of our Creator, we seek renewal, wisdom, and inspiration. In the presence of our Beloved, we bring our true selves, our desires, and our fears. In the presence of the Holy Mystery, let us gather our hearts in prayer. O Beautiful Presence, open our eyes to all that surrounds us so that […]
Families Who Grieve Without Bodies to Bury: A Lenten Prayer for Oso and Flight MH370 (March 27, 2014)
As we stand with Jesus in the wilderness during this Lenten period, we pray for the whole world. For those fighting cancer: may they have support and access to quality medical care. For parents: may they be confident in their childcare and schools. For pregnant women and for those who are trying to build families: […]