Prayer For Racial Reconciliation
Lord, Jesus Christ
who reached across the ethnic boundaries
between Samaritan, Roman and Jew
who offered fresh sight to the blind and freedom to captives,
help us to break down the barriers in our community,
enable us to see the reality of racism and bigotry,
and free us to challenge and uproot it
from ourselves, our society and our world.
O, Lord, words fail us to express the grief in our hearts over the racial unrest that has swept our country. As followers of Jesus, we long to be a people that brings you glory, and in the intentional and unintentional ways that we have contributed to this pain, we fall on your mercy and beg for the forgiveness of those we have hurt. Recent events have broken our hearts, but it is the generational wounds of invidious discrimination and suffering from which these events are sourced, that breaks our hearts the most. They demonstrate how truly heinous our sinfulness can be, and we know them to be an affront to Your holiness. All that happens under your rule and reign works together for good. Lord, use these times of rightful mourning to mold and shape us into the image of your Son. Show us the sinfulness of our ways so that our fellowship with you and one another can be restored. Give us hearts modeled after your own, for yours beats in a way that is always gentle and lowly (Matthew 11:29). May we boldly and courageously share the gospel with the words we speak, and may our actions align with these glorious truths. We subject ourselves to the gospel's transformative work with our every waking moment. May the joy of worshipping with believers of every nation, tribe, and tongue, become our regular, weekly practice. Teach us how to love more deeply, trust you more fully, and always consider the needs of others to be greater than our own. We depend on you, Lord, to change us and unite us. May your love be demonstrated in our obedience.
In Jesus' name we pray,
Amen.
You give us prophets, holy God,
to cry out for justice and mercy.
Open our ears to hear them,
and to follow the truth they speak,
lest we support injustice to secure our own well-being.
Give prophets the fire of your Word,
but love as well.
Though they speak for you,
may they know that they stand with us before you,
and have no Messiah other than your Son.
Jesus Christ, the Lord of all. Amen.
Loving God,
We come to you first to give you thanks for all you do and all that you have brought us through. In light of the world that we are living in, we call upon you in a spirit of peace and protection.
Lord, you remind us through Scripture that we have been fearfully and wonderfully made. We know that you have created us in love and to be loved. But we live in a time where some people believe that the lives of your people have no value. We call upon you to help us, to protect us, and to remind us that the life of each person is important to you.
We pray for all of the people of African descent whose lives have been taken away without a good reason and for their families, friends, and loved ones who are left to bear the hurt and the pain of that loss.
We pray for the police officers whose lives have been taken away unjustly for simply trying to do the job they were being paid to do. Bring comfort to their families as well.
Lord, we acknowledge the hurt and the pain felt by people on all sides of this issue. We pray that you will intervene and allow the love of Jesus Christ to enter into our hearts and into our society so that we can see that life is a gift from God that we have no right to take away.
We know that hatred and vengeance are never an acceptable option to resolve a situation, so we call upon you to give us the guidance we need to make things right between us and those who have been called to protect us.
Lord, this is our prayer for peace and reconciliation, the peace that we know can come if we put our trust and our faith and our hope in you.
All of this we pray in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
God and Father of all,
in your love
you made all the nations of the world
to be a family,
and your Son taught us to love one another.
Yet our world is riven apart
with prejudice, arrogance, and pride.
Help the different races
to love and understand one another better.
Increase among us sympathy,
tolerance, and goodwill,
that we may learn to appreciate the gifts
that other races bring to us,
and to see in all people
our brothers and sisters for whom Christ died.
Save us from jealousy, hatred, and fear,
and help us to live together
as members of one family at home in the world,
sons and daughters of one Father
who live in the liberty of the children of God;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Good and gracious God,Who loves and delights in all people,
we stand in awe before You,
knowing that the spark of life within each person on earth is the spark of your divine life.
Differences among cultures and races are multicolored manifestations of Your Light.
May our hearts and minds be open to celebrate similarities and differences among our sisters and brothers.
We place our hopes for racial harmony in our committed action and in Your Presence in our Neighbor.
May all peoples live in Peace.
O Lord our God, in your mercy and kindness, no thought of ours is left unnoticed, no desire or concern ignored. You have proven that blessings abound when we fall on our knees in prayer, and so we turn to you in our hour of need.
Surrounded by violence and cries for justice, we hear your voice telling us what is required, Only to do justice and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God (Mi 6:8). Fill us with your mercy so that we, in turn, may be merciful to others.
Strip away pride, suspicion, and racism so that we may seek peace and justice in our communities. Strengthen our hearts so that they beat only to the rhythm of your holy will. Flood our path with your light as we walk humbly toward a future filled with encounter and unity.
Be with us, O Lord, in our efforts, for only by the prompting of your grace can we progress toward virtue. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord.
God of the healing spirit help us. Let us always be listening for the cries of those who are
in need. Help us to hear those cries. Help us to heed the cries of those who need their
voices to be heard, those who seek your way. Help those who are the poor in body, mind
and spirit. Help us Lord to pray for all who are sick, injured and those who live with
disability and disease. We pray for all of those who are pushed to the margins of society.
We pray for those who suffer with mental illness. We give you thanks Lord for the
blessing of all those who live and work to care for other people. We pray that your
healing spirit may continue to move through them and that together we may all look to
being free from the bonds of suffering. Amen