Yesterday’s Pentecost service was recorded days before many of the tragic events in Minneapolis and across our nation, events that once again highlight systemic racism present in our society.  Below is a prayer I wrote to share with my congregation.  I invite you to use it for your personal prayers or pray for justice and peace using your own words.

Loving God, our country is in deep pain and in need of healing.
We long for a society where all people are treated with equality, dignity, and respect. 
And this week that longing seems just that—a longing, and not a reality for too many of your children.
We pray for the family and friends of George Floyd who mourn his tragic death, a death that should never have happened.
We pray for changed hearts, that we will acknowledge the legacy of white supremacy and how destructive that legacy continues to be.
I pray for white people like me to have the eyes to see and ears to hear the pain that is being expressed by people of color throughout our nation.  For minds open enough to learn how to be truly antiracist.
We pray for peace and the cessation of violence, that no more lives will be lost.
Loving God, help us, your people, to love one another as your Son and our brother Jesus, commanded.  All this we ask in his name, Amen. 
~Rev. Lauren Lorincz

Photo by Rev. Lauren Lorincz.