Maundy Thursday: This is the fifth prayer in a Holston Conference series for racial justice.
GOD OUR CREATOR, you understand everything about creation, but creation is limited in understanding everything about the Creator. Only through revelation of the Holy Trinity is creation allowed knowledge of you. One God, in Three Persons, that is coequal and coeternal, but distinct and diverse.
The whole creation reflects your love for diversity. You make every snowflake different, every tree different, and every person different. These differences are not designed to conflict, but to complement one another. Each person you have created and redeemed, as your people, have inherent value and worth.
As we gather in community, a greater understanding of you in diversity is revealed. It is in our relationships with others that we gain greater appreciation of you, our Creator. This blesses us with the ability to eliminate the risk of creating a god in our own image. Sadly, Lord, not all lives have been treated equally. Racial injustices in our county’s past are not yet in the past. Vicious racism continues to rear its ugly head. Tragically, Lord, this is our greatest sin. Justice demands a new creation, a new heaven, and a new earth.
Forgive us, Lord. Many of us choose to close our eyes and pretend there’s no problem. We insult your diverse creation with statements of being color blind in regards to your people. But, in reality, we are not. Immersed in our selfishness of neutrality and privilege, we have empowered the oppression of racism. By taking no side, we have aligned with the spiritual forces of wickedness that holds many in bondage.
Help us to cast out our racial prejudices embedded within us, and work towards transformation, so all can fully experience abundant life within your kingdom on earth. Heal your people, God our Father, that we can be one with each other, one with our Lord Jesus Christ, and one empowered by the Holy Spirit. Amen!
GOD OUR CREATOR, you understand everything about creation, but creation is limited in understanding everything about the Creator. Only through revelation of the Holy Trinity is creation allowed knowledge of you. One God, in Three Persons, that is coequal and coeternal, but distinct and diverse.
The whole creation reflects your love for diversity. You make every snowflake different, every tree different, and every person different. These differences are not designed to conflict, but to complement one another. Each person you have created and redeemed, as your people, have inherent value and worth.
As we gather in community, a greater understanding of you in diversity is revealed. It is in our relationships with others that we gain greater appreciation of you, our Creator. This blesses us with the ability to eliminate the risk of creating a god in our own image. Sadly, Lord, not all lives have been treated equally. Racial injustices in our county’s past are not yet in the past. Vicious racism continues to rear its ugly head. Tragically, Lord, this is our greatest sin. Justice demands a new creation, a new heaven, and a new earth.
Forgive us, Lord. Many of us choose to close our eyes and pretend there’s no problem. We insult your diverse creation with statements of being color blind in regards to your people. But, in reality, we are not. Immersed in our selfishness of neutrality and privilege, we have empowered the oppression of racism. By taking no side, we have aligned with the spiritual forces of wickedness that holds many in bondage.
Help us to cast out our racial prejudices embedded within us, and work towards transformation, so all can fully experience abundant life within your kingdom on earth. Heal your people, God our Father, that we can be one with each other, one with our Lord Jesus Christ, and one empowered by the Holy Spirit. Amen!
Author
Scott Spence
The Rev. Scott Spence is senior pastor at Reynolds Memorial United Methodist Church in Bristol, Virginia, and a graduate of Hood Theological Seminary, a seminary of the A.M.E. Zion Church.
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