Interfaith Day of Prayer – Prayer from Traci Blackmon

Holy One,

 

Here we are, called by your many names in many languages, to humble ourselves and pray. Here we are God, called together from diverse places and spaces to seek your face, to look upon the sickness that has infected our world, to acknowledge the wickedness of both our compliance and our complicity, and to lament the consequences of our actions aloud. Here we are to wail. Here we are to sound the alarm. Here we are to groan. Here we are, to cry out on behalf of Your creation. And to turn. 

 

For the voices gathered here as a cacophony of lament on this National Day of Prayer, I honor your power. For the congregations and communities, both near and far, seen and unseen, heard and ignored, we represent, I honor your presence. For creation wounded and trying to heal, I give you praise. For the voices all around this world that never cease to call upon you for the strength to rise, for the courage to confront, and for the hope to sustain, we join our voices to theirs and offer these prayers. We are crying out to you. 

 

And we are listening. We are listening for you in the wind. We are listening for you in the quaking of the earth. We are listening for you in the fire. We are listening for you in cries of our people. We are listening for you. listening in the stillness of our streets. We are listening. We are waiting. Knowing that you hear our cries, we wait for your mercy as we turn our hearts toward your people and heal our land. 

 

We pray in many names. 

I pray in the name of Jesus. 

Amen

The Rev. Traci Blackmon
Associate General Minister, United Church of Christ, Justice and Local Church Ministries, and Senior Pastor of Christ The King, UCC, Florissant, Mo.