Oh God our help in ages past,
You have
knit together such a great cloud of witnesses in this space. People who have
dreamed for decades, and those who are just learning what it means to hope in
your grace. Give us the eyes to see the dreams of others, and enable them to
live out the calling on each of our lives. For prophets of the modern age, For
people like sister Rosa who had the courage to say enough is enough. For
brother Martin who caught the attention of his time by marching to the sound of
equality, and the countless other people sung and unsung of the Civil Rights
movement:
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
For people
today who still languish under the weight of oppression and prejudice even here
in our county and beyond, for children who have never felt the warm embrace of
a loving parent. For those who struggle with addiction, for those whose jail
cells are their minds, and for those whose jail cells are because of a court
system. For the people who walk our streets that are homeless, for the people
who turn their heads so they don’t have to notice:
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
We are
especially mindful of the needs of this community of faith, the realities that
we all are facing. For those who know death’s dark greeting all too well, for
those who are bringing life into this world. For those who have begun school,
and for those who go about their daily lives, today we name:
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
God
we have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and
mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the
crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be
revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. For this is our hope. With this
faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.
With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our
nation [and world] into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we
will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to stand
up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day1:
Lord,
in your mercy, hear our prayer.
God for your revelation of yourself in the person of Jesus
of Nazareth, for the hope he gave us as he taught us that freedom is coming and is an important part of the dichotomy of the Kingdom of God. The Jesus who gave inspiration to the
spirituals and hymns we still sing today, who taught us to pray with our
hearts, and minds, and feet and hands, we still pray the prayer he taught his
disciples when said pray this way,
Our Father, who art in Heaven,
Hallowed be thy name. Thy
Kingdom come,
Thy will be done, on earth as
it is in heaven.
Give us this day, our daily
bread
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive
Those who trespassed against
us, and lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil. For
thine is the kingdom,
And the power, and the glory,
forever and ever. Amen.
1 I am forever indebted to the words of the Reverend Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. and the commemoration of the 50th anniversary
of the March on Washington. His words (slightly edited to be a prayer )from his
‘I have a Dream’ Speech are included here.
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