Jesus Christ, murdered man, resurrected Lord, help us now. Make apparent your spirit as it moves in us and in the world. The sin of racism seems ready to swallow us whole. Its evil can now be seen by everyone. In the video of a police officer shooting a black man as he runs away, in the video of a police officer shooting a black child in a park, in countless other documented cases that were ignored, in even more unrecorded instances of racist violence, and now in the video of a police officer kneeling on prone George Floyd’s neck. We need the fire of Pentecost now, Lord. We need to be saved from despair. Knit us together with all your people for your name’s sake and for our own. Give us the words and the strength to speak the truth and to act. Help us to stand with our communities; to listen for your voice in the people we are near and to follow where it leads. May we be ablaze with your love. The love that calls us to suffer with those who are suffering and to confront the cause of that suffering. Help us speak the truth the world is longing to hear.
In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.