A Call to Prayer for the Church, Our Country and One Another
“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.”
Micah 6:8
The events in Washington D.C. were startling as they unfolded yesterday. We watched in surprise, frustration, and perhaps even anger. We all know that this world is not as it should be. We have experienced the pain of this world not being right in God’s eyes. Our world is too often marked by division. We, as followers of Jesus, are called to join in unity by the Spirit and to be peacemakers for our world. We must remember that we are sisters and brothers who are members of one another. We hold on to all of this as we hold on to God and each other today.
Micah helps us by reminding God’s people then and all of us today (and in the days to come), that our work is justice, mercy and peace. As children look like their parents in character and characteristics, we are called, commanded and expected to look like God our Father. John tells us that if we do what is right, we belong to God; if we fail to do what is right, we are children of the devil who do not love our sisters and brothers (1 John 3:10).
Let us remember that in a world that is not as it should be, we are called to do justice as God does justice, to love as Jesus loves and to walk by the Spirit in peace with God and each other. We do God’s justice by making things right. We love how Christ has loved by taking up our cross and laying down our lives for one another. We are to be Christ’s peacemakers who, together with the Spirit, bring reconciliation and healing.
My sisters and brothers, our call to loving and active witness today is to be light that will draw others to see and glorify God. Our service and willingness to put others first will transform our “me and mine” world and our “me and mine” hearts. Our commitment to go and make peace, with the Spirit’s help, reveals our destiny as children of God. As complicated as our world is, we must always agree to love boldly and give of ourselves even more generously. All in all, though it may seem harder now than it’s ever been, relying on God will see us through.
Please join me in praying and reflecting upon these words from theologian Howard Thurman as we pray for our church, country, and one another this week:
I NEED YOU by Howard Thurman
I need Your sense of time. Always I have an underlying anxiety about things. Sometimes I am in a hurry to achieve my ends and am completely without patience. It is hard for me to realize that some growth is slow, that not all processes are swift. I cannot discriminate between what takes time to develop and what can be rushed because my sense of time is dulled. O to understand the meaning of perspective that I may do all things with a profound sense of leisure of time.
I need Your sense of order. The confusion of the details of living is sometimes overwhelming. The little things keep getting in my way, providing ready-made excuses for failure to do and be what I know I ought to do and be. Much time is spent on things that are not very important while significant things are put in an insignificant place in my scheme of order. I must unscramble my affairs so that my life will become order. O God, I need Your sense of order.
I need Your sense of the future. Teach me to know that life is ever on the side of the future. Keep alive in me the future look, the high hope. Let me not be frozen either by the past or the present. Grant me, O Patient One, Your sense of the future without which all life would sicken and die.
Amen.