MLK Untitled Prayer 01

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“O thou Eternal God, out of whose absolute power and infinite intelligence the whole universe has come into being. We humbly confess that we have not loved thee with our hearts, souls and minds and we have not loved our neighbors as Christ loved us.4 We have all too often lived by our own selfish impulses rather than by the life of sacrificial love as revealed by Christ. We often give in order to receive, we love our friends and hate our enimies, we go the first mile but dare not travel the second, we forgive but dare not forget.5 And so as we look within ourselves we are confronted with the appalling fact that the history of our lives is the history of an eternal revolt against thee. But thou, O God, have mercy upon us. Forgive us for what we could have been but failed to be. Give us the intelligence to know thy will. Give us the courage to do thy will. Give us the devotion to love thy will. In the name and spirit of Jesus we pray. Amen.”

  • Taken from a short collection in the King Papers simply called “Prayers” and available here.

A Litany For Weeping

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A Litany For Weeping by Kaitlin Curtice. Sojo.net. 11.08.18

We think that there are no more tears left,
that we can’t,
as a people,
possibly mourn this deeply, this often.

So we breathe and remember:
Jesus wept.

We are numb,
staggering with disbelief,
scared and wondering if shalom
still exists.

So we breathe and remember:
Jesus wept.

We try to make sense of hate,
try to trace the line
of white supremacy.

We see that though we’ve come so far,
it’s not so far that we’ve come.

So we breathe and remember:
Jesus wept.

We name those who have died
from unjust institutions
and the carrying on of hate.

We raise our fists and
beat our chests.

So we breathe and remember:
Jesus wept.

We hope to be brave,
but we are tired.
We hope for freedom,
but there are so many in shackles.

So we breathe and remember:
Jesus wept.

We fight with weapons of
peace and humility.
We fight with the power
of listening.

We breathe and remember:
Jesus wept.

And when tomorrow comes,
and the day is new,
we cannot deny reality.

We live our own belovedness,
and the belovedness of others.

So today, in all our places, we breathe and remember:
Jesus wept.
And so we breathe and weep with him.