Prayer for Today (3/6/20)

Holy Word of God, be our breathing.
Rock of ages, be our anchor point.
May mercy infuse us,
Grace reclaim us,
And may justice flow like a mighty river.

Teach us to listen to you, and to one another.
Open our ears to the stories of the least,
And the tears of the exhausted,
And the whispers of the fearful.
Open our eyes and our hearts, and teach our hands to do righteousness;
And may your cross point out to us the road to peace.

I will sit and listen

I will sit and listen

You do not need my words to speak your pain.

Who am I to commandeer

A place I have not been?

Who am I to appropriate

A path I have not walked?

Who am I to presume

To make this about me?

Your words are strong words

Etched deep by the acid of corroding grief,

Scored upon hearts and bodies

By wounds with too-long history.

Let me listen

Let me learn

Till I can earn the right to weep with you,

Acknowledging my privilege

Even as I claim equality

(A claim you have rights to scoff.)

Let me learn from your anger,

Born of too-long patience,

Needing a Samson

To topple down the pillars

Of all that imprisons you.

Show me where I take away your power.

And,

As I sit and learn,

Let us breathe together

The promises of justice.