“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.
Prayer prompts:
For areas experiencing excessive heat and for access to cooling stations for vulnerable individuals…
For relief and recovery in areas experiencing wildfires, including the northeastern Greece; Maui, Hawaii; the Canadian Province of British Columbia, and the city of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories…
For communities in Southern California as they recover from both an earthquake and Tropical Storm Hilary…
For all in the path of Tropical Storms Franklin and Harold…
For feeding ministries in congregations that provide meals and food to their local communities…
For those who feel lonely or alone…
For victims of gun violence and their families…
For those experiencing strained marital relationships and couples going through separation and divorce….
For migrants and refugees seeking better employment opportunities, for safe travel and a warm welcome…
For peace in areas of war or conflict, especially in Ukraine, Libya, Syria, and Palestine…
Events and observances:
Monthly Observances in August: National Black Business Month, World Cancer Support Month
International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition (August 23)
Bartholomew, Apostle (August 24)
National Park Service Day – August 25
Women’s Equity Day – August 26
60th Anniversary of the March on Washington – August 28
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, died 430 (August 28)
Moses the Black, monk, martyr, died around 400 (August 28)
Mother Teresa’s birthday (August 29)
Prayers from ELCA resources:
A prayer of Mother Teresa of Calcutta (ELW p. 87)
Make us worthy, Lord, to serve our fellow human beings throughout the world who live and die in poverty and hunger. Give them through our hands this day their daily bread, and by our understanding love, give peace and joy. Amen.
A prayer for faith and science (ACS p. 48)
Mysterious God, whose imagination and desire embrace all: We seek to discern you in the interplay of forces, in the order and the chaos of the universe, and in the complexities of every living system. Give us grace to honor your goodness in what we know and in what we do not know, in the world’s harmonies and turbulence, and in its promise and change. For you are in, through, and beyond all that is: one God, made known to us in Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit, our inspiration and guide. Amen.
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ELW = Evangelical Lutheran Worship
ACS = All Creation Sings: Evangelical Lutheran Worship Supplement
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. Further assistance for composing prayers of intercession can be found here: Resources for Crafting Prayers of Intercession
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.
