Praying with the Unheard
Creator, God of Justice and Reconciliation, We cry out – How long, O Lord? How long must our communities suffer? How long will black and brown neighbors be unheard? How long will justice be delayed? Right now, a deadly virus rages among us Not just COVID-19 - But the virus of white supremacy, indifference, and division. We witness it on the streets of Minneapolis, we glimpse it in the statistics of over 100,000 lost to disease we recognize it in generations that have been denied education, access, and voice in American history. Right now, O Lord, too many of us who are white and comfortable have been infected. We are content with the status quo. We are silent in the face of discrimination, inequality, and murder of our black and brown siblings. We believe we do not have power to change the trajectory of this moment. We have bought the tempter’s lie that it is someone else’s problem. We have chosen to be comfortable, closing the window to the Holy Spirit who even now gathers Her winds in preparation for change. Your Spirit is fierce and mighty, promising not to simply rustle our hair but alter who we are and who we can be. Your Spirit offers us an alternative narrative, “to loose the bonds of injustice… to let the oppressed go free.” Trusting in your grace, trusting in your capacity to alter this broken landscape, we repent of white supremacy. Empower us afresh to reject this demonic narrative that devalues lives and erects walls between our common humanity. May their names be on our lips: Ahmaud Arbery Breonna Taylor George Floyd and so so many more: (Silence.) May their deaths not be in vain as we seek justice and transformation. May those in power in our communities, lawmakers, law enforcement, and policy makers, know who we are and what we demand. May we take ownership of how we have contributed in our complacency and complicity to where we are today - and may we, enabled by the Spirit, work for change with boldness. Spirit, equip us afresh to imagine a just future for our families, our neighborhoods, our cities, our nation, and our world, one where no one is unheard. In the name of the Risen One, Jesus, Amen.