Dear Lord, help us to hear these voices. I pray today that my knees and back hold up. I pray that my mom and children are ok in our two-bedroom apartment while I work at a hotel and clean 15 rooms each day. I pray that my paycheck will be enough, that my car holds […]
More Than Conquerors: A Prayer After the Kabul Maternity Ward Attack and the Visakhapatnam Gas Leak (May 14, 2020)
Dear God, We take so much for granted. We want things to go a certain way, our way: Forgive us our narrow-mindedness. Help us to see beyond our small spot on the planet, beyond our place in this moment of time. Move us out of our heads and into our hearts. Shake us loose from […]
Teach Our Eyes to Smile: Prayers for Chernobyl’s Wildfires, Front Line Workers, and Nations in Crisis (April 30, 2020)
Dear Lord, Sometimes we feel so alone and unprepared and exhausted. Sometimes we feel forgotten and stepped upon. Lord, remind us to breathe, to look outward and to look inward. Lord, remind us that in praying we are doing your will. Help us to examine ourselves and to prepare for each day, knowing you are […]
A Holy Week Prayer: Food Sharing in Italy, Ventilators in Nigeria, a Gang Truce in Cape Town (April 9, 2020)
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ~ Lamentations 3: 21b – 23 [Early on the first day of the week] Mary Magdalene […]
From a Distance: A Prayer for a Connected World in Lockdown (March 19, 2020)
From a distance the world looks blue and green And the snow capped mountains white From a distance the ocean meets the stream And the eagle takes to flight* Holy One, during this time of social distancing and lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic, remind us that we are still connected to one another. We […]
Like Grasses Showing Tender Faces: A Prayer as the Pandemic Circles the Globe (March 12, 2020)
Every little thing is sent for something, and in that thing there should be happiness and the power to make happy. Like the grasses showing tender faces to each other, thus we should do, for this was the wish of the Grandfathers of the World. Black Elk, (1863-1950) Oh God, we read these words […]
Kindle a Flame to Lighten the Dark: Prayers for Hurricane Dorian, Yemen, and Refugees (September 5, 2019)
Kindle a flame to lighten the dark and take all fear away. ~ John L Bell and Graham Maule* When nations are being riven by fear, lies, lack of trust in political, business and so many seeming to seek leadership positions for their own aggrandisement rather than the common good: Kindle a flame to lighten […]
Awaken in Us Compassion: Prayers for Midwest Floods, Cyclone Fani, and Ebola Health Workers (May 9, 2019)
Oh God, you who are always listening to us; you who hear the bird singing in the topmost branch against the blue, blue sky; you who know of the sobbing deep in the rubble after a bombing or the utterings of the newly-born. You, who are the heart of compassion, who gave your son Jesus […]
A Miracle of More Than Enough: A Thanksgiving Prayer for the Migrant Caravan and California Fires (November 15, 2018)
Thanksgiving Prayer “Oh, may this bounteous God through all our life be near us, With ever joyful hearts and blessed peace to cheer us; And keep us in His grace, and guide us when perplexed; And guard us through all ills in this world, till the next!” (verse 2, “Now Thank We All Our God,” […]
On God Alone I Wait Silently: Prayers for Wildfires, Water Shortages and Refugees (August 2, 2018)
On God alone I wait silently; God my deliverer, God my strong tower. Paraphrase from Ps. 62, John L. Bell* When all efforts have been made to cope with natural disasters: the earthquake in Lombok, Indonesia; the wildfires in California, USA, Sweden, Siberia, Russian Federation, Greece, water shortages in Yemen, the UK, Syria, Kenya; On God alone I wait silently; God my deliverer, God […]