by Rev. Jason Wells, prayed at the January 16, 2023 MLK Celebration. See more details about that event.
Good and gracious God, fill us with fear as we call upon, as we invoke your name today. Give us the gift of fear that we dare not come here to “build the tombs of a prophet.” Make us afraid to “decorate the graves of the righteous” while ignoring the prophet’s message (Matthew 23:29).
Give us the courage, which is only fear which has said its prayers.
Give us the courage, that as long as men fly the banners of hate and division, we ring out the power of love, of nonviolence, of building alliances and communities of resistance.
Give us the courage, that as long as the evils of poverty, militarism and racism endure, we ring out that the problems of racial injustice and economic injustice cannot be solved without a radical redistribution of political and economic power.
Give us the courage, that whenever our faith communities are silent, complacent and complicit, that we all ring out peace: not the a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice.
Loving God, bless this time we share that here you might renew our strength to get to that Beloved Community, to that Promised Land that King told us about but to which we cling dearly in our most deeply held religious, spiritual, moral and ethical values. Bless this time so that we might mount up with wings like eagles; so that we might run and not be weary; so that we might walk not be faint; so that we might all get there together (Isaiah 40:31). Amen.