May we come to live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For Those who are Angry and Outraged, and Those who Work for the Common Good

Gracious God, you created us in your image: give us the grace to turn our anger and outrage to justice and compassion. Transform our pain so that we may transmit love. Strengthen our bodies and our minds and our hearts for the long, hard, holy work of reconciliation and justice. Enable us, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to bring about the Reign of God; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

12-Hour Virtual Prayer Vigil for Justice, Reconciliation, and Peace
offered by the Diocese of Virginia

Praying for Change

God of Justice and of Mercy,

Your servant Paul warned us that as we sow, so shall we reap. Your prophet Hosea warned us that if we sow the wind, we shall reap the whirlwind. So now, as we bow our heads into the force of the whirlwind, we must know deep down that this is not a momentary aberration or accident of the changing of the wind. As we gaze upon the strange fruit that we have produced we must know in our hearts and souls that this is not random mutation of our planting, but the result of years of sowing in blood and hate. And your church is complicit in sowing a system of injustice, our hands are not free of the blood and our hearts are not free of the hate.

Lord, have mercy on us. Christ have mercy on us.

Confessing our sinful natures, we pray for your Spirit to begin the long hard work of repentance within and between us, and tear down the dividing walls of hostility so that we may begin to sow to the Spirit of reconciliation and begin the long, hard journey to forgiveness and peace. May those of us who have benefited from systems of injustice seek forgiveness from those of us who have broken by those systems. So that together we might glimpse, if only from a distance for now, the possibility of the Kin-dom of God where all are seen to reveal the image of God as we live in God’s justice and peace.

In the Name of the first strange fruit hanging from the tree, the crucified Christ, we pray. Amen.

Derek C. Weber, May 2020
Praying for Change: Daily Prayers for Anti-Racism from the UMC

For Economic Justice

O Christ who fills the hungry with good things and sends the rich away empty, melt down and reshape our economy. Conquer the powers of exploitation, privilege and resentment which rule us now, and as righteous victor plunder the stolen and hoarded wealth of corporations, Wall Street, the rich, and the systems that prop them up. Pour all of it into reparations, fair trade, workers’ rights, healthcare, education, housing, infrastructure, and other social programs determined by our communities themselves. For thou art the Way out of economic death into abundant life, reigning with our Father and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. Amen.

Terry Stokes (@prayersfromterry)

For Social Justice

Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart [and especially the hearts of the people of this land], that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Book of Common Prayer, page 823