Lord, in the strength of grace With a glad heart and free … Charles Wesley Today, in the grace of being Easter people, we pray for those who are supported by your grace alone in the turmoil and oppression of war, terror, famine, drought, prejudice, bigotry. We pray for all in Guantanamo Bay military prison […]
God, Forgive Me for Good Friday: An Easter Prayer After the Lahore Park Bombing (March 27, 2016)
Today, it is Easter. Today, this day, every day, Christ is risen, the world is made new, and we celebrate God’s triumph over evil and death. Today, at least 60 people were killed and many more injured–most of them women and children–in an apparent suicide bombing at a park in Lahore, Pakistan. Today, remembering that the […]
My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me: A Good Friday Prayer After the Brussels Bombings (March 24, 2016)
The weight of pain, brokenness, despair and grief is profound after yet more bombings and killings in Brussels, Belgium, the almost obscenely routine massacres in Syria, Iraq, Sudan, the murders and kidnaps in Columbia, Mexico, the corruption and destruction of trust and order in too many countries to name on most continents of our shared, […]
The Very Stones Would Shout Out: A Palm Sunday Prayer for Syria, South Sudan, and Silenced Voices (March 18, 2016)
Today we begin Holy Week, walking the Via Dolorosa with Jesus of Nazareth…sitting at the table at the Last Supper, watching and waiting in Gethsemane’s garden, seeing with horror and dread the arrest and torture and trials, and finally, weeping at the foot of the cross. But today, Gracious God, we begin with his arrival […]
This: A Lenten Prayer in Photographs of Refugee Children in Croatia, Serbia, and Uganda (March 4, 2016)
This. World in Prayer doesn’t post photographs. Ever. We don’t include photographs with our prayers, because: We don’t have the resources or expertise to verify that photos are authentic – unaltered, not staged, genuinely of the place/event they purport to show, really taken by the named photographer. News photos are copyrighted. They cannot be reproduced […]
Even Today Light Is Still Being Created: After the Garissa University Attack (April 9, 2015)
Loving God, we pray for the opportunity to join you in the work of creation. The Bible declares that creation occurred first with light, when the world was full of emptiness and disorder. We look around and see disorder of our own time: in the United States, we are shocked by the cell phone recording […]
We Live in the In-Between Times: An Easter Prayer After Garissa and for a Thirsty Planet (April 3, 2015)
It is the in-between time. At my church, we have just ended the Maundy Thursday service, remembered Jesus’ institution of the first Eucharist, been commanded to love as he loves us, washed one another’s feet, then stripped the altar. Tonight, Jesus will spend in agonizing prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, and we, his disciples, will try […]
For God So Loved the World: A Lenten Prayer of Wonder and Hope (March 12, 2015)
World News in Prayer for March 12, 2015 For God so loved the world… Gracious and holy one, God of all creation, God of all people everywhere, it is so easy, as we journey through this season of Lent, to get lost in the wilderness of pain and sorrow we see in the world […]
Expanding the Borders of Our Prayers: For Central African Republic, Ukraine, and a Post-Easter World (May 1, 2014)
God of Easter and beyond, You have dared us to take Your story “from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the ends of the earth.” You have asked us to lay claim to the world in the name of Love, and You are Love. It is with Your call that we expand the borders of […]
A Good Friday Vigil: Prayers for the Korean Ferry, South Sudan, Forgiveness, and New Beginnings (April 17, 2014)
I write this during the long vigil between Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. The time when those who follow the ancient traditions of the Christian church year stay up and keep watch with Jesus, as he prays in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. We have, once again, been present as he washes the disciples’ […]