May our liberation come as we seek
to bring liberation to others, realizing
that our freedoms are bound together
in our common humanity.
May our pain expand our capacity
for joy, our brokenness lead to
realizations of beauty within, our
despair challenge us to cling to hope,
and our suffering invite us to love.
May we realize that God's presence
is found in the voices of the
oppressed among us.
May we learn to love ourselves as
we love the oppressed in our world,
inviting us into an experience of
liberation that is nearer to us
than ever before.
CREDIT: Nikole Lim
Lim, Nikole. 2020. Liberation is Here: Women Uncovering Hope in a Broken World. IVP.
Gracious God, we pray for courage.
We feel so small in the face of injustice.
All around us we see and endure the destruction of the earth and human lives
through racial injustice, climate injustice, and gender injustice.
We pray for those most vulnerable to this suffering.
We pray for women.
We pray for the women who have been pushed aside, silenced and made secondary.
We pray for the women of the Church who have been subordinated and oppressed, even while nourishing its foundation and people.
We pray for the Church which has participated and strengthened gender injustice throughout much of history, while women have been exploited, abused, mutilated, raped and destroyed.
We pray for all the women’s lives cut short and forgotten.
We pray in remembrance to their lives and spirits.
Yet, despite such suffering and death, we remember that women are the bearers of life.
Women are the rearers of humanity.
In the midst of gender injustice, we feel that we are not enough:
that there is no action we could take to right these wrongs;
that there is no word we could speak to change the course.
Yet, we are reminded of our unbounded promise through the miracle of our lives.
We are reminded of the unbounded courage when the Spirit enters our lives.
We ask for your Spirit to come into our lives:
That the Spirit may embrace us with love, grace and courage,
so that we might continue to walk the faithful journey,
love one another, and live into your light
as we act and speak against gender injustice.
We pray for your Spirit to fill us with courage.
Amen.
Credit: Rev. Dr. Grace Ji-Sun Kim
Holy, Holy, Holy God, God of power and might, God who gathers your people
and holds them to her bosom as a hen gathers her chicks; that God: Hear our prayers.
Hear the prayers of the protesters in Portland:
As they push back against camouflaged non-police, non-military,
non-identified brutes-in-a-uniform swinging batons at Navy veterans
who simply stand at attention.
Hear the prayers of the mothers locking arms on Portland’s front lines.
They chant: "Leave our kids alone!" And every word is prayer.
Hear our prayers for the officers who actually want to do right and are caught in between;
give them courage to face down evil impulses, to subvert unjust pathologies as they join their comrades who shaped the Task Force Recommendations on 21st Century Policing
and sound the trumpet for a new day in America.
And hear our prayers God for the 4 million plus...
Elders, Mothers, Fathers and Grandfathers, Children and Grandchildren, Homeless and Homed, Rich and Poor people, the 4 million images of God for whom it has hurt to breathe:
Come close, Lord. Save them, Lord. Save us, Lord.
Remove the ones whose folly blocks justice and life, and liberty, and happiness.
And, Holy, Holy, Holy God, be with the movement makers now:
Sit with them, heal their broken hearts,
make them community to each other, beloved community;
and give them eyes to see next steps and next paths and next bends,
and the Next America! Help them see it, so all can see it!
Come close now, Brown Jesus: We need you, O we need you; Every hour we need you.
Oh, bless us now, Brown Jesus; We come to you. Amen.
Credit: Lisa Sharon Harper