Asian Heritage Month has been celebrated
in Canada in May since 2002.

~ from a post dated May 1, 2026 on The United Church of Canada Facebook page

May is Asian Heritage Month in Canada, an opportunity to honour and celebrate the important contributions of people of Asian descent in the life of The United Church of Canada, and to prayerfully reflect on the legacy of Asian Canadians to Canadian society.

The following prayer was written by Rev. MiYeon Kim for a worship service celebrating Asian Heritage Month.

O Living God,
We give you thanks to celebrate this month as Asian Heritage Month,
to remember the contribution of Asian people to the mosaic of your world.

You blessed the continent with glorious civilizations in their long history,
the birthplace of agriculture, built up by its fertile lands and life-giving waters:
the Tigris and Euphrates, the Indus and Ganges, the Yangtze and Mekong, the Han and the Jordan, in which your child Jesus was baptized.

From the northern steppes to the mighty Himalayas,
from the Mediterranean to the Pacific Ocean,
Asia is a land rich with diversity.

We think of our own heritage, and the ways it has shaped us in becoming the people we are today. We give thanks that all of us may offer that part of ourselves to one another, and to see one another as God does, as one human family.

We pray for those who have come to our country from Asia as immigrants,
seeking new opportunities for a better life.
We give thanks for the entrepreneurial spirit many Asians bring with them to Canada.
As they grow and flourish along with us, we pray that Asian-Canadians born in Canada would remember the struggles of the generations who came before them and that they would value their Asian heritage, as we also value each of our own forebears and the cultural heritage we inherited from them.

May the hostilities of our former nations be forgotten. Open us to one another to create harmony between us, whether we are Indigenous, White, Black, or Asian.

We pray for those who serve in ministry in the United Church who are Asian.
May they breathe new vitality into the United Church from their various experiences and cultures. Give them wisdom when they serve both Canadian and Asian immigrant congregations.

O God, we pray for those who have come to Canada as Temporary Foreign Workers. We pray also for those who are migrant workers in Asia who face even more brutal exploitation.

We pray for women and children in Asia and around the world, who work in oppressive conditions to produce the goods we enjoy in Canada.

We pray for anyone who is held back from reaching their fullest potential.

In its recent history, many of Asia’s nations have experienced war and dictatorship.
O God, you were present with the oppressed and became their hope.
They joined together in solidarity and shouted for justice and peace.
We pray for those who still struggle to achieve justice and peace in their land.

We pray, O God, for those we know who are sick, those who are in need of the healing touch of your Holy Spirit. We remember those battling depression or addictions.

We pray for our own selves, our own hidden hurts that only you know. Give peace to our troubled hearts and strength to face the coming days. We gather these and all our prayers as one in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

For more information about Asian Heritage Month, see this page on The United Church of Canada’s website.