Praying for Change: Daily Prayers for Anti-Racism (April-June 2024)

APRIL 1, 2024

It is Easter Monday, God of Resurrection and New Life. We are still basking in the glow of the joy of our Easter celebrations in worship. We remember the pageantry, the brass, the drums, the processions. It was glorious. We watched the children with tears in our eyes as they sang their Resurrection song with such jubilance. We felt connected to everyone who worshiped with us, as though we truly were a community of faith, a beloved community. The doubts were chased away by the power of the music, and we are grateful. What a glorious day.

Today is April Fool’s Day as well, God of subtlety and surprise. And while we know that there is something foolish about the gospel, we wonder who is being fooled this day. Is it, like the ancient tradition has it, that Easter is the cosmic joke you have played on sin and death? Or is it that we have been fooled into thinking that Easter morning solved everything and there is no longer anything your people need to do to further the kin-dom?

It all felt right and good yesterday, and yet our world is still divided. There are still those being left out; there is still “us and them.” The community we claim to want is not evident in our neighborhoods, in our world, or even in our churches. Christ, have mercy. Help us, God, as we seek to live into the promise of Easter for unity and for justice. Amen.

Derek C Weber, March 2024

APRIL 2, 2024

God of Heaven and Earth,
you created the one human family
and endowed each person with great dignity.

Aid us, we pray, in overcoming the sin of racism.
Grant us your grace in eliminating this blight
from our hearts, our communities,
our social and civil institutions.

Fill our hearts with love for you and our neighbor
so that we may work with you
in healing our land from racial injustice.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

We have prayed and now, with changed hearts, let us move our feet to action.

Closing Prayer, Prayer Service for an End to Racism, page 4, https://www.blessed-midland.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/prayer-for-an-end-to-racism.pdf.

APRIL 3, 2024

Dear God, in our efforts to dismantle racism, we understand that we struggle not merely against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities – those institutions and systems that keep racism alive by perpetuating the lie that some members of the family are inferior and others superior.

Create in us a new mind and heart that will enable us to see brothers and sisters in the faces of those divided by racial categories.

Give us the grace and strength to rid ourselves of racial stereotypes that oppress some of us while providing entitlements to others.

Help us to create a Church and nation that embraces the hopes and fears of oppressed People of Color where we live, as well as those around the world.

Heal your family God, and make us one with you, in union with our brother Jesus, and empowered by your Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Pax Christi Anti-Racism Team, “A Prayer for Dismantling Racism,” The Catholic Association of the United States, https://www.chausa.org/prayers/cha-prayer-library/prayer/a-prayer-for-dismantling-racism.

APRIL 4, 2024

O God, who created all peoples in your image, we thank you for the wonderful diversity of races and cultures in this world. Enrich our lives by ever-widening circles of fellowship, and show us your presence in those who differ most from us, until our knowledge of your love is made perfect into our love for all your children; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Thanksgiving for the Diversity of Races and Cultures, Book of Common Prayer, page 840, cited in Anti-Racism at St. Peter’s, https://www.stpetersfreehold.org/antiracism.

APRIL 5, 2024

Lord, I am far too good at self-deception and far too poor at self-evaluation. Show me where pride, hatred, racism, and seeds of disunity have taken root within me. Expose those evils, Lord, as the evil they are, and convict me of every sin. Show me where my words have pierced, my actions marginalized and offended, and my pride hindered me from Your life-giving, church-uniting, heart-healing, and freedom-giving mission.

You, Lord Jesus, died to set captives free—from sin, including the sin of racism, and its effects. Help me to honor Your death by standing against everything and everyone that seeks to enslave and oppress Your precious children.

Jennifer Slattery, “30-Day Prayer Challenge for Ending Racism,” iBelieve, https://www.ibelieve.com/faith/day-anti-racism-prayer-challenge.html.

APRIL 8, 2024

This is our 200th week of providing prayers for Anti-racism. We are reflecting on prayers from previous weeks.

From week 25 of Daily Prayers for Anti-racism

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.

Book of Common Order of the Church of Scotland, (Edinburgh: St. Andrew Press, 1994), posted at “Prayers for Racial Harmony,” faithward website, https://www.faithward.org/prayers-for-racial-harmony/.

APRIL 9, 2024

From Week 50 of Daily Prayers for Anti-racism

O God of radiance, fascinating in your kaleidoscopic diversity: help us to love ourselves as we mirror your image to the world, as we grow tired of this struggle, Lord, and we feel alone in our weariness, strengthen us when we grow faint of heart and give us a memory for the victories of our ancestors; help us to remember a time when our forebears faced immeasurable pain with the sure knowledge that you were with them, and remind us that we are truly never alone; when we grow faint, gird us with your strength; when we doubt, fill us with confidence that the beauty of our skin, ebony, mahogany, lemon, ivory, and taupe is but a mere reflection of the richness of your glory; help us to understand the gifts we bring into this broken world – the gift of your love of color and variety; this we ask in the name of Jesus, who touched all and loved all. Amen.

Jayne Oasin, from Race and Prayer: Collected Voices Many Dreams edited by Malcolm Boyd and Chester L. Talton (Morehouse Publishing, 2003), 83.

APRIL 10, 2024

From Week 75 of Daily Prayers for Anti-racism

Help us to dissolve the barriers of race and work for a just society in which none are despised and discriminated against on the basis of false divisions of race and in which each is valued for their true humanity.

We ask this in the name of Jesus, who saw beyond all human divisions and reached out to the good within each person. Amen.

From the ecumenical service “Christians United Against Racism” at the World Conference Against Racism in 2001, cited in Prayers and Reflections on Racial Justice (compiled June 2020), the Diocese of Derby, UK, 13, pdf, https://derby.anglican.org/en/our-mission/community-engagement/download/3407_5776d33c0f6c3234add51d79c44c250a.html.

APRIL 11, 2024

From Week 100 of Daily Prayers for Anti-racism

God of justice. Open the eyes of those who wield power to the destructiveness of racism. Let justice roll like a river and move us to repentance and transformation. Convict the hearts of leaders in government, businesses, charities and the church, towards your kingdom values. May righteousness flow like a mighty stream.

God of justice, hear our prayer.

Christ who lived under occupation. Help us identify and change the systems and power structures in our countries that perpetuate racial inequality. Teach us to transform into societies that uphold the dignity of each person, made in your image. Where we need to be stirred, wake us up to take our part in praying, speaking up, and taking action.

Christ who lived under occupation, hear our prayer.

Spirit of God, our breath in this world. Let this moment in history bring about everlasting change to violence and discrimination based on the colour of someone’s skin. Breathe newness into our lands, our systems, our structures, our ways of living with one another.

Spirit of God, our breath in this world, hear our prayer.

God of restored relationships, to whom we all belong. Bring healing to all those that are suffering and have endured the pain caused by racial injustice. Restore broken relationships, bring peace; your peace and wholeness to all people in all places.

God of restored relationships, to whom we all belong, hear our prayer.

“A Prayer for Racial Justice,” Tearfund Staff Conference 2020, Black Lives Matter: A Guide to Help You Respond to Racial Injustice, https://www.tearfund.org/-/media/tearfund/files/get-involved/resource-object/2020/08/blm-guide.pdf, p. 12.

APRIL 12, 2024

For 200 weeks, God of constancy and transformation, we have been praying these prayers of antiracism. The cynics among us and often within us might argue that nothing has changed. That we are wasting our time asking for divine intervention for a very human problem. Indeed, the irony is that today is the 163rd anniversary of the start of the Civil War in the United States, a bloody battle with racism at the core. Even after all these years, there are still those who argue that some are less worthy, less valued, less human because of the color of their skin. Prayers haven’t gotten through. Maybe it is time to get up off our knees and advocate, and march, and work for justice for all.

Amen and Amen. Prayer must always be accompanied by action. Open our eyes to the work that needs to be done. Help us hear the cries of those who suffer, who are oppressed, who are hated because of who they are, and then respond to those cries. But let us also continue to pray. Because we know it is wrong to claim nothing has changed by prayer. We have changed. We are sensitized; we are alive to our neighbor, our brothers and sisters. We continue to change and to need changing. Let our prayers continue, even as our actions increase. For 200 more weeks, for another 163 years, until kin-dom comes on earth as it is in heaven. Amen and Amen.

Derek C Weber, April 2024

APRIL 15, 2024

It is grumbling day in the United States, God of all creation. Or as some call it, Tax Day. No one likes paying taxes. And we rightly have questions about how this money is spent. But is it possible to have a larger vision of what we participate in when we pay our share?

God, you call us to relationship, to live in community with you and with one another. This has responsibility as well as benefit. We have chosen to be a nation that cares for those most vulnerable. We have chosen to be a nation that works toward justice. We have chosen to be a nation that provides essential services to all. This doesn’t happen without some sacrifice, without surrender of privilege, without moving beyond the me-ness of our culture.

So, help us, God of equality and of community, see where we continue to fall short, to see who has been left out of the dream and the promise. And help us recommit to inclusion and to justice so that we can truly live up to the ideal of “all the people.” Amen and Amen.

Derek C Weber, April 2024

APRIL 16, 2024

Father, you created each one of us in your own image. Yet yours is a world made glorious by its rich diversity. This we sometimes misunderstand, sometimes fear. Give us the patience to build on what unites us, to celebrate our differences and to learn from them. Grant us the wisdom to recognise your Church, beyond the walls of a building, reaching out across all communities, countries and cultures. Give us the courage to offer refuge to those in need, to challenge prejudice and seek justice for all. Help us see that you created us in your image. Neighbour or stranger, always our brother or sister.

Amen.

Prayer by Yashoda Sutcliffe/CARJ (Catholic Association for Racial Justice), cited in Prayers for Racial Justice, Catholic Agency for Overseas Development, https://cafod.org.uk/pray/prayer-resources/prayers-for-racial-justice.

APRIL 17, 2024

God of justice, In your wisdom you create all people in your image, without exception. Through your goodness, open our eyes to see the dignity, beauty, and worth of every human being. Open our minds to understand that all your children are brothers and sisters in the same human family. Open our hearts to repent of racist attitudes, behaviors, and speech which demean others. Open our ears to hear the cries of those wounded by racial discrimination and violence and their passionate appeals for change. Strengthen our resolve to make amends for past injustices and to right the wrongs of history. And fill us with courage that we might seek to heal wounds, build bridges, forgive and be forgiven, and establish peace and equality for all in our communities. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

Prayers for Racial Justice, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Allentown, PA, https://www.standrewsbethlehem.org/welcome-home-page/prayers-for-racial-justice/.

APRIL 18, 2024

Loving and just God,
you call all peoples to live as brothers and sisters,
regardless of their culture, their language, or the color of their skin.
Forgive us for the times we have failed,
and give us your grace to overcome the evil of racism
so that our hearts may become free of all prejudice and animosity.
We ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Prayers of the Faithful Against Racism, Catholic Diocese of St. Petersburg, FL, https://www.dosp.org/racialharmony/pray/prayers-of-the-faithful-against-racism/.

APRIL 19, 2024

Merciful God,
you are righteous and love justice:
stir the hearts of your people that,
rejoicing in our diversity,
we may repent of the wrongs of the past,
and, by your grace, seek the peaceable kingdom of your Son,
our Saviour Jesus Christ,
who lives and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

All: Amen.

“A Collect for Racial Justice Sunday,” Liturgical Resources for Racial Justice Sunday, The Church of England, https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/liturgical-resources-racial-justice-sunday.

APRIL 22, 2024

Earth Day

Most might think, Creator God, that the subject of caring for this planet would be a point of unity, a common cause. Yet even here, we manage to find ways to bring division. Even here, we devalue some lives over the comfort of others. We declare that we all live on the same sphere and therefore it is in everyone’s interest to work together to preserve and protect this place we call Earth. And yet even a cursory glance shows us that we do not live in the same world at all. Some live in a world protected from the ravages of so-called natural disasters. Others live as climate victims or climate refugees, forced to flee rising waters or encroaching deserts. Some live as though resources are inexhaustible; others struggle to get by with less and less.

Open our eyes, God of all peoples, to see Earth Day as a justice issue, an equality issue, a race issue, not simply – though importantly – an environmental issue. Help us see those who are being broken by our desire for more and better as sisters and brothers, members of the one family of humanity. Let us learn to live more simply so that others can simply live, as the truthful cliché has stated. Help us be the community you created us to be. In Christ’s name, Amen.

Derek C Weber, April 2024

APRIL 23, 2024

God of branches and of roots, God of vines and of fruit,

Those of us who claim the United Methodist Church as our spiritual home call upon the Holy Spirit to work within us as we begin the ordeal we call General Conference. We have struggled throughout our history to live into your vision of what it means to be the church. Sometimes we seem to have come close; other times, our failings and shortsightedness have damaged our witness and our work. Sometimes the “fightings without and the fears within” have kept us from living out the “open hearts, open minds, and open doors” that we claim to represent.

So be with us in these days of General Conference. Help us listen to one another; help us deliberate together, to decide together, and then to minister together as we seek to put your kin-dom before our preferences. Help us tear down the barriers, the divisions, the mistrust, and stand as a multicultural, multiethnic, multilingual community of faith with a story to tell to the nations. Be in us and between us. In Christ’s name. Amen.

Derek C Weber, April 2024

APRIL 24, 2024

God of Heaven and Earth,

You created the one human family and endowed each person with great dignity. Aid us, we pray, in overcoming the sin of racism.

Grant us your grace in eliminating this blight from our hearts, our communities, our social and civil institutions. Fill our hearts with love for you and our neighbor so that we may work with you in healing our land from racial injustice.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

We have prayed and now, with changed hearts, let us move our feet to action.

Closing Prayer, A Prayer Service for Racial Healing in Our Land, US Conference of Catholic Bishops, https://www.usccb.org/resources/prayer-service-racial-healing-our-land.

APRIL 25, 2024

Spirit of Truth, grant us the grace to put ourselves and our reputations on the line, again and again. Empower us to use our voices to make room for other voices. Hold us accountable, powerful God, until we break down the last of the walls and partner with our siblings on the other side of them. Rather than objects of our pity or recipients of our goodwill, they are your capable and called servants. May we serve humbly alongside them, never assuming that we have or know what they need.

Keep us hungry, we pray, until the day when we sit beside those who were once “them,” at a shared table, a shared feast, with room enough for all. Keep us unsatisfied until there is no “they”; there is truly only “we.”

We ask this in the name of Jesus, the persecuted refugee; your beloved child who stopped at nothing to change our hardened hearts. Amen.

Excerpted from Prayer of Confession and Commitment, Migration Sunday Order of Worship, Baltimore Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church, https://www.bwcumc.org/article/migration-sunday-order-of-worship/.

APRIL 26, 2024

God of all, you rejoice in our many traditions, languages, and cultures. May we see our differences as things that bring us together in love, rather than keep us apart out of fear.

Verse and Voice, Prayer of the Day, April 9, 2024, Sojourners via email, sojo.net, https://us.engagingnetworks.app/page/email?mid=18bb961fd0c94499ac83031de2ce9b09.

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