Prayers for the Week of April 19, 2026

Photo credit: Sergey Shmidt, used with permission via Unsplash

Please feel free to join us in the prayers prayed in worship Sunday, April 19, 2026:

Loving God,

you have created us

for life lived out in relationship and in community.

In Jesus Christ,

you companion us, in the whole of life –

always beside us along the way,

behind us in where we have been,

ahead of us, in the dawn of each new day –

you abide within us, and within the life we live together.

For your constant companionship,

we give you thanks and praise.

We come together this morning,

gathering in a world at war,

and so we pray for peace.

We pray for peace with justice in Palestine and Gaza.

We pray for an end to this nation’s war with Iran.

We pray for peace in Ukraine.

Cure our warring madness;

stop the powers that wreak violence in the world;

end our complicity in all matter of harm.

We pray for all who are harmed by systems that oppress,

particularly systems of American racism.

Help us listen to those who have been harmed the most,

dismantle systems that have for too long oppressed,

and rebuild together a new world

where all children can thrive and live free.

We pray healing for the planet –

help us mend the damage we have done,

and learn to live faithfully and sustainably

in the new realities we have created.

Teach us healthier relationship

as an integrated part of your beloved creation.

We pray for all those who suffer harm

for the hungry, food enough and more,

for the unhoused, safe shelter,

for our immigrant neighbors, home, welcome, and freedom from fear,

for those ailing in body or spirit, healing

for those who are grieving, comfort,

for all who are lonely, and for everyone,

companions on the way.

Help us to see all the ways that you are alive in the world,

and all the ways that we might be even more alive in you.

Connected  and in community with all who have ever called on you,

down through the generations,

in every time and place,

we pray the prayer that Jesus taught, saying:

Our Father/Mother, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.