For What Shall We Pray? 4/18/2023
Prayer prompts:
For peace in our world, especially in Sudan, Ukraine, and Israel…
For a calming of tensions between North Korea and its neighbors…
In lament over mass shootings in our nation…
For survivors of sexual assault and abuse, especially in the Archdiocese of Baltimore…
In thanksgiving for public and private agencies that provide support and care for sexual assault and abuse survivors…
In confession of the church’s complicity in sexual abuse and its failure to protect children…
In thanksgiving for our National Parks, Forests, and Wilderness Areas; and for their continued preservation…
Events and observances:
National Arab American Heritage Month (month of April)
Sexual Assault Awareness Month (month of April)
Earth Month (month of April)
Eid al-Fitr (Islam, April 21/22)
Anselm, Bishop of Canterbury, died 1109 (April 21)
Earth Day/Day of the Creation/Día de la Creación (April 22)
Toyohiko Kagawa, renewer of society, died 1960 (April 23)
Mark, Evangelist (April 25)
Catherine of Siena, theologian, died 1380 (April 29)
Prayers from ELCA resources:
Resources for responding to gun violence and national distress:
Prayer for Lament (ACS p. 61)
Service After a Violent Event (ACS p. 64)
Prayers for Civic Life, Government, and the Nations (ACS p. 48-50)
A prayer for commemoration of Mark, Evangelist (ELW p. 55)
Almighty God, you have enriched your church with Mark’s proclamation of the gospel. Give us grace to believe firmly in the good news of salvation and to walk daily in accord with it, through Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
A prayer in time of conflict, crisis, or disaster (ACS, p. 49)
God, our healer and our refuge, we pray for all who suffer from gun violence. With your mercy, bind up their wounds, restore their bodies, and heal their hearts. Comfort the mourners and embrace the lonely. With your might, empower us to change this broken world. Make us advocates for a stable society, alive with hope in you. We ask this through the one once wounded for our transgressions and now standing with us in our sorrows, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
“For What Shall We Pray?” is a weekly post inviting individuals, groups, and congregations to lift up our world in prayer. This resource is prepared by a variety of leaders in the ELCA and includes prayer prompts, upcoming events and observances, and prayer suggestions from existing denominational worship materials. You are encouraged to use these resources as a starting point, and to adapt and add other concerns from your local context. More information about this resource can be found here.
Additional topical prayers are found in Evangelical Lutheran Worship (pp. 72–87) and All Creation Sings (pp. 46–55), as well as in other resources provided in print and online at sundaysandseasons.com.
Crafted intercessions for every Sunday and festival are provided in the Sundays and Seasons worship planning guide published in-print and online by Augsburg Fortress.
Prayer Ventures, a daily prayer resource, is a guide to prayer for the global, social and outreach ministries of the ELCA, as well as for the needs and circumstances of our neighbors, communities and world.