O God, you come to us wherever and however we might be. No matter how much we may not believe it, we are worthy of your love and grace. Therefore, we uplift to you all of our raggedy and incomplete prayers to you—the ones that fall from our lips, the ones that remain hidden within […]
Scared to Death or Scared to Life: A Lenten Prayer After the Atlanta Shootings (March 18, 2021)
Gracious and loving God, During this season of Lent, as we journey with your Son to the cross and through the cross, we admit that we are fearful. We are scared — scared to let go, scared to join in, scared to open up. We are scared to open our hearts, our time, our homes […]
Stick with Love: Prayers for Myanmar, US Prisons, and the Philippines (February 18, 2021)
I have decided to stick with love… Hate is too great a burden to bear. Martin Luther King Oh Lord, your house is built with understanding and compassion – it is our quiet center. If only we could grasp its power. In small agitations and overwhelming calamities, during times of lament and great injustices help […]
Your Peace in Place of Our Violence: Prayers for Walter Wallace Jr, EndSARS, and Syria (October 29, 2020)
We meet you in prayer this day, asking for hope and guidance during these times of great uncertainty. We lift our hearts in prayer for all those protesting police brutality: In Philadelphia, PA, U.S., where Walter Wallace, Jr., a black man experiencing a mental health crisis, was shot and killed by police. In Nigeria amid […]
Be Strong and Courageous: Prayers for Nigeria’s Protests and Western Wildfires (October 22, 2020)
“I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 Dear God, Our world is changing in ways that we never imagined. We are in need of your unwavering love. We live in a world which holds so […]
Lord Have Mercy: A Prayer for Dijon Kizzee, Health Care Cut Short, and Words That Wound (September 3, 2020)
We pray Lord, We pray some of us on our knees, some hands folded, palms to heart, forehead to ground, some raising a sign in protest, some gritting their teeth and eyes tight shut and others lighting a candle. We pray for your mercy in these tumultuous times, in these times where every shooting raises […]
Help Us to Breathe: Prayers for Jacob Blake, Kenosha, Beirut, and Hurricane Laura (August 27, 2020)
Holy One, As we center ourselves for prayer, remind us that you are as close to us as our very breath, even in these times when you may feel so far away to so many of us; in these times when many of us find it so hard to breathe. You are there with us. […]
Jesus, Light of the World: A Prayer Against Racism and Injustice, from London to Navajo Nation (June 18, 2020)
What does the Lord ask of us? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God.~ Micah 6 : 8 “My thoughts are not like your thoughts. And your ways are not like my ways,” announces the Lord. “The heavens are higher than the earth. And my ways are higher than your […]
Crack Our Hearts Open: Prayers for Brazil’s Pandemic, a Qom Family in Argentina, and New Delhi (June 11, 2020)
Christ, Jesus our friend and companion in the streets, in police stations, on curbsides, at take out restaurants, in hospital waiting rooms, in public health offices that are conducting contact tracing phone calls, in hallways of governments, and with those who listen to testimony. You, Lord, who wait for us to open the door, to […]
From Babel to Pentecost: A Prayer for Places of Racial, Political, and Religious Discord (May 28, 2020)
A reading from the Book of Genesis, chapter 11: [In ancient times] the whole earth had one language and the same words. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad […]