Interfaith Day of Prayer – Prayer from Bryan Stevenson, Esq

You have called us to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly. We now need Your guidance. 

We are living at a time when unjust inequality is causing suffering, disease and death. Your people have become unforgiving, harsh and punitive. We incarcerate the impoverished, the sick and disabled, the lost and addicted, the undocumented seeking refuge. We condemn children to die in prison. We see injustice prevail and hopelessness persist daily. Some believe that people are no more than the worst thing they’ve ever done. There is fear, anger, bigotry and hatred all around us.

Inspire us Lord to remember that Your redemptive love can restore those who have fallen and those who have suffered. Remind us that You came for the poor, the excluded and the condemned. You sought out the infirm, vulnerable and the disfavored among us and You caused us to believe in restoration.

Help us to understand that Your grace is sufficient when we are weak and weary; when we are overwhelmed by the pain of loss and the frustration of injustice.

Cause us to reckon with the sins of our past by believing in the hope of our future. Make us reflect on Your power to redeem.

Mend us Oh God with Your love until our mourning becomes dancing. Bless us so that we may never forget that we are all Your children.

Bryan Stevenson, Esq. 

Lawyer, social justice activist, educator, author, MacArthur Fellow, and founder/executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, Montgomery, Ala