Prayer for Comfort: I'm Tired!
Jun 02, 2020
By The Rev. Linda Bell, Member of the MNYS 50-40-10 Taskforce
“But let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream" (Amos 5:24)
Dear God our world is broken and hurting. We pray for those who have lost loved ones. Please comfort them in their grief and loss, cover them with your peace and presence as only your Spirit can do. We know that in whatever we face, you are our peace and refuge, a very present help in times of trouble.
We pray for Ahmaud Abery who was killed on February 23 by police brutality.
We pray for Breanna Taylor Dreasjon who was killed on March 12 by police brutality.
We pray for George Floyd who was killed on May 25 by police brutality.
We hear the cry of “I can't breathe” and a call for mother and “I'm done.”
The deaths of Black and Brown people are too many to name. Over and over and over we continue to suffer agony that is overwhelming. Through our pain and suffering we cry out to You. How long Lord. How long must we bear this pain.
Your children are hurting God. With hearts aching and spirits broken, with emotions overflowing, we don't know what to do. For centuries we have faced adversity, hardship and pain. False promises are made that things will change, but they don't.
My God, The Preamble of our Constitution of the United States of America promises justice, an assurance of domestic tranquility, provide for common defense, provide for general welfare and secure the liberty to ourselves and our prosperity. This has proven not to be true for Your Black and Brown children.
We are bound by the injustices of hatred and meanness. The injustice of unsanitary living conditions. The injustice of poor health care. The injustice of poor education. The injustice of lack of jobs and employment. The injustice of a bias judicial system against us. The injustice of little food to eat and lack of clean water.
How long God must we suffer. Your Word says I am in you and you are in me. Every time they kill one of your children, You die also.
During this Pentecost season we need the strong, powerful winds of Your mighty power to blow through our world to bring about a change that must change, or we will be lost.
We humbly come to you O God, where hearts are fearful and constricted, grant courage and hope. Where anxiety is infectious and widening, grant peace and reassurance. Where impossibilities close every door and window, grant imagination and resistance. Where distrust twists our thinking, grant healing and illumination. Where spirits are daunted and weakened, grant soaring wings and strengthened dreams. All these things we ask in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.