June 1, 2020
A daily prayer during this COVID-19 crisis
The church just celebrated Pentecost when God’s breath is poured out afresh on all people. A week ago we watched footage of a white police officer pinning a black man to the ground until he breathed his last breath.
Today, we must be the church reborn in the power of the Holy Spirit, God’s holy breath. As we continue to wrestle with the global coronavirus pandemic, we must also confront the pandemic of racism and white supremacy that kills black and brown people — those who cry “I can’t breathe.”
Today we deviate from our individual daily prayers during COVID-19 and offer this collective prayer from the entire Extended Cabinet:
Today’s prayer
It's me, it's me, it's me, O Lord, Standin' in the need of prayer. It's me, it's me, it's me, O Lord, Standin' in the need of prayer.
We stand before you, O Lord, hurting, confused, angry, fearful, and ashamed. We stand in the need of prayer, for we have sinned.
Today we pause to recognize especially our shame and to seek your forgiveness so that we can forgive one another. We come before you to seek the grace and wisdom that will empower us to be justice-seekers.
Forgive us for the sin of racism and for failing to make justice the way of life for all people.
Forgive us for permitting the differences that make us special to become stumbling blocks of division.
Forgive us for not using our power responsibly.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded us that “a riot is the language of the unheard.”
Forgive us for not listening to the voices crying out for freedom, for mercy, for justice.
Forgive us for tuning out stories of those whose lives have been needlessly lost and the voices of those who live in fear, anger, and despair.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called out our complacency, observing: “our nation's summers of riots are caused by our nation's winters of delay.”
Forgive us for waiting for a riot to pay attention to the anger and the hurt.
Forgive us for caring more about our own comforts than the full humanity of your beloved children.
Forgive us for our satisfaction with racist systems, policies, laws, and institutions.
Forgive us for thinking “if things are fine for me, they are fine for everyone.”
Through growing wisdom and penitent spirits for our own provincialism, enable us to make a difference, and to demonstrate the way of love.
Show us the way to justice! Show us the way to mutual respect and trust! Enable us to see value in those different from us, and to celebrate your Beloved Community.
It's me, it's me, it's me, O Lord, Standin' in the need of prayer. It's me, it's me, it's me, O Lord, Standin' in the need of prayer.
We are all standing in the need of prayer.
In the precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Bishop Sudarshana Devadhar
Jacquelyn Brannen
Bill Burnside
David Calhoun
We Hyun Chang
Jill Colley Robinson
Ted Crass
Beth DiCocco
Andrew L. Foster III
Taesung Kang
Rick McKinley
Karen Munson
Erica Robinson-Johnson
Megan Stowe
Rene Wilbur
Dr. King quotes excerpted from 1967 "The Other America" speech at Stanford University, full text found here: https://www.crmvet.org/docs/otheram.htm