Thursday, January 1, 2026

SojoMail - Our prayers for you in the new year

In this week’s SojoMail: We ring in the new year with a collection of prayers for our readers and four stories that remind us to look towards the future with hope.

Our Prayers for You in the New Year

Happy New Year! 2025 was a doozy. For 2026, Adam Russell Taylor rounded up the prayers of Sojourners staff for readers like you:

As we say goodbye (maybe even good riddance) to 2025, I’m reminded just how much prayer has served as an essential balm, refuge, and strong tower in the midst of such a trying and tumultuous year.

Whatever 2026 has in store, I’m confident that we will need to flex our prayer muscles. Prayer centers us in God’s presence. Prayer prepares and equips us for courageous action. Prayer empowers us when we feel weak and encourages us when we feel demoralized.

I’m deeply grateful that we have a staff team that believes in the necessity of prayer, evidenced through the many short ones that they have shared in the article below. May the prayers we've collected guide and embolden us to advance God’s reign of justice, peace, and steadfast love with greater urgency and courage.

Read the full article

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Stories That Gave Us Hope This Year

‘We Are Full of Fear, but We Are Not Helpless’ (by Ken Chitwood)

Across the country, immigrant churches are standing in sacred resistance against the Trump administration’s “shock and awe” immigration policies.

Palestinian Christians Have a Warning for the American Church (by Josiah R. Daniels)

The Church at the Crossroads conference showed how the American church has reached a crossroads in Gaza.

Billionaires Are a National Disaster (by Julie Polter)

Former one-percenter Chuck Collins on why we should all re-evaluate our relationship with wealth.

This Is What Democracy Sings Like (by Betsy Shirley)

Want to fight fascism? Start a choir. Peter Burkholder told Sojourners how he hopes singing brought joy to protests in 2025.

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Shop for New Books with Bookshop

Looking for your next great read? Check out Sojourners' Bookshop page for curated selections of books on social justice and living your faith. When you buy through our Bookshop link, part of the proceeds support Sojourners and independent bookstores throughout the country.

Engage and Adapt Free Webinar

SojoAction invites you to register for another installation of their ongoing “Engage and Adapt” training series on January 13, 2026, at 7 p.m. EST. This webinar will focus on “A Justice-Centered Look at Federal Health Funding,” featuring special guest Lauren Reliford, MSW, Policy Director for the Children’s Defense Fund.

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