{"id":1098,"date":"2017-10-06T15:47:30","date_gmt":"2017-10-06T19:47:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redchairblogs.wpengine.com\/holymoly\/?p=1098"},"modified":"2017-10-06T15:47:30","modified_gmt":"2017-10-06T19:47:30","slug":"sharing-a-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/2017\/10\/06\/sharing-a-prayer\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharing a Prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week Shane Claiborne, Christian activist and no-nonsense millennial offered this prayer.\u00a0 It is more overtly Christian than I usually share in this space, but it speaks to my own level of frustration and hope for where we are in our world today\u2026Stephanie<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThis morning I had the honor of offering the opening prayer for Philadelphia’s City Council. I took one of our plows made out of the metal from a gun — and prayed for God to heal our hearts, our streets, and our world (and I did confess that I have been arrested in the same room I prayed this morning…). Oh, and yes that is a homemade suit. Here’s the prayer, although I did improvise a little. Feel free to use it!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPHILADELPHIA CITY COUNCIL INVOCATION (9\/28\/17)
\nDear God\u2014
\nThank you for creating a perfect world. Forgive us for the mess we have made of it.
\nWe pray for those who are suffering today. We remember our family in Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n

We remember all those who suffer from violence. The sin that goes all the way back to Cain and Abel. Where the blood cries out to you from the ground. We remember the lives lost \u2013 the natives, the enslaved. Heal the wounds of history.<\/p>\n

We remember all the lives lost. Trayvon Martin. Michael Brown. Sandra Bland. Tamir Rice. Freddie Gray. Eric Garner. Anthony Smith. You know their names. Each a precious child of yours. Have mercy on us.<\/p>\n

We remember those seeking refuge today. You said to welcome the foreigner as if they were our own flesh and blood for we were once foreigners in the land of Egypt.
\nWe pray — For immigrants and refugees. Women, men, children.
\nFor the victims of war and persecution. For the addicted. For the homeless.<\/p>\n

For the imprisoned and the tortured. For the widows and the orphans. Give us compassion
\nWe know that when we welcome them we welcome you.<\/p>\n

Heal our hearts Lord. Forgive us\u2026 For choosing ourselves over others.
\nFor prioritizing the rich over the poor. For turning others into enemies.
\nFor trusting in the sword more than the cross. For disrespecting the earth.
\nFor creating a world where so many have so little\u2026 and so few have so much.
\nFor building prisons rather than schools and building walls instead of bridges.
\nFor forgetting the most vulnerable among us. Forgive us.<\/p>\n

Deliver us O God. Deliver us from the tyranny of greed, and pride, and power.
\nDeliver us from the contagion of fear. From the myth of redemptive violence.
\nFrom addiction to control. From the seduction of wealth.
\nDeliver us, from the idolatry of nationalism. The ugliness of racism. The cancer of hatred.
\nThe paralysis of cynicism. The violence of our silence. Deliver us.
\nFrom the ghettos of poverty. And the ghettos of wealth. Deliver us from ourselves.<\/p>\n

I pray for these leaders of our City O God. Break their hearts with the things that break yours.
\nGive them eyes to see those on the margins. Give them courage to overcome evil with good.
\nHelp them to disagree well, and look for the truth where they might least expect to find it.
\nGive them imagination that they might think outside the box.
\nGive them a vision for justice that is big enough to heal both the oppressed and the oppressors.
\nGive them compassion for our most vulnerable citizens.
\nLet them be driven by love not by fear.<\/p>\n

Give us dreams and visions\u2026 for our City. And for our world.
\nDreams of your upside down Kingdom where the last are first and the first are last,
\nWhere the mighty are cast from their thrones and the lowly are lifted up,
\nWhere the poor are blessed and the peacemakers are the children of God.
\nWhere we beat our weapons into farm tools and study violence no more. And where every person has \u201cthis day their daily bread\u201d.<\/p>\n

Make this a City of Love. Where all are welcome\u2026 no matter who they are or where they come from.<\/p>\n

I pray all this in the name of the God of infinite hospitality who welcomes us all.
\nThe God who was born a refugee in a manger and died executed on a cross, who knows our suffering and is near to those with broken hearts. Jesus. Amen.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week Shane Claiborne, Christian activist and no-nonsense millennial offered this prayer.\u00a0 It is more overtly Christian than I usually share in this space, but it speaks to my own level of frustration and hope for where we are in …<\/p>\n

Sharing a Prayer<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stephanie"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1QIf6-hI","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1098\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}