James Harris, Common Grace's Justice for People Seeking Asylum Coordinator, shares a prayer this Refugee Week for everyone seeking safety, welcome and a home.
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God of Shalom,
In the beginning, when all was formless and void,
you breathed shalom—wholeness—into the chaos.
You placed your image in every person,
and called it all “very good.”
But we confess:
we have unmade your peace.
We have drawn borders across your garden,
built walls where you walked with us in the cool of the day,
and turned away from the stranger who bears your breath.
Yet you are the One
who stops on the roadside,
binds the wounds of the broken,
pays the cost,
and calls such mercy worship.
You did not stay distant.
In Jesus, you took on flesh—
fleeing Herod as a child,
wandering without a place to lay your head,
carrying the weight of our exile.
You came to where we are
so we could know you as the God who is with us.
So today, we pray for all who are displaced—
those who have fled war, persecution, and disaster;
those separated from family, homeland, and safety.
We remember especially the thousands of asylum seekers
still trapped in limbo here in our own land,
with no clear path, no settled future,
and dignity denied.
Be their refuge.
Be their hope.
Strengthen those who wait in uncertainty.
Comfort those who grieve what they’ve lost.
And raise up your Church to be your hands and feet—
offering welcome, not fear;
solidarity, not silence.
And in your rising,
you broke every chain—
not only the chains of death,
but the ones forged by fear,
by silence,
and by systems that discard the least of these.
This Refugee Week,
rekindle our hope,
disrupt our comfort,
and stir in us a resurrection imagination—
one that sees your face in every displaced person,
and joins your Spirit in building a new world
where everyone has a place to call home.
Amen.
If you are using please acknowledge James Harris as the author/writer.
James Harris is Common Grace’s Justice for People Seeking Asylum Coordinator and Director of Strategic Projects with NAYBA, where he leads The Welcome Home Project, supporting churches to engage in community refugee sponsorship. He has served in many roles globally, including being based in Jordan with World Vision and Nauru with Save the Children. James is a co-founder of the global Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimage movement.