Just in Time! Pastoral Prayers for the Hospital Visit

Offering prayer is one of the most important parts of a pastor's hospital ministry. These prayers connect persons with the power of God, remind persons who they are as children of God, and sometimes put into words deep experiences of suffering, grief, and pain. These prayers are offered especially for difficult times when you may not be sure how to pray or what to pray for. Also related Bible verses are printed in full.

The Just in Time! Series offers brief, practical resources of immediate help for pastors at an affordable price.

Included are prayers related to illness or surgery.

Prayers for persons facing surgery, post surgery that was successful, post surgery that was not successful, anticipating bad news, diagnosed with a serious progressive illness, recovering from heart surgery, suffering from a stroke, dealing with cancer, coping with breast cancer, undergoing chemotherapy, suffering from addiction, unable to be diagnosed with the source of illness, needing a transplant and waiting for an organ, in chronic pain

Prayers related to children and youth: Celebrating the birth of a child, mourning a miscarriage, grieving the loss of a baby near birth, mother choosing adoption for her newborn, adoptive parents receiving their child, pre-mature infant, baby who is hospitalized, child who is hospitalized, youth hospitalized for drug treatment afraid to face parents, youth who most likely will not recover

Prayers related to dying and death: For someone longing to die, prognosis that is not positive, does not have long to live, when death is imminent, prayer over a stillborn infant, for family members who were unable to say goodbye to loved, one before death, for surviving family who lost loved ones in the same accident, for family whose loss was due to suicide

Prayers related to accident or violence: Injured due to street violence, injured due to natural disaster, rape victim, victim of domestic violence, injury due to war

Prayers related to: New immigrant who has fallen ill, recent refugee, college student, suffering depression, patient who also has Alzheimer’s, enduring painful rehabilitation, facing a long recovery, farmer anxious about crops and/or animals, hospitalized while incarcerated, someone unconscious, developmentally disabled patient, attempted suicide (prayer with family present), psychotic patient, worrying over child deployed in the military, worried about paying for the hospital bill, wanting to go home but cannot, wanting prayer for family members, feels guilty about surviving an accident, grieving friends who died in the same accident

Sara Webb Phillips is a United Methodist Pastor and Editor of Homily Service. She currently resides in Durham, North Carolina.