Prayer for Tonight

Oh, God, our God.

Hear our cry today.

Hear the heartbeat of our sorrow.

Hear the franticness of our minds.

Hear our cry at the hatred.

Hear our disbelief.

Hear our shock.

We stare in horror at men

walking with torches.

Carrying mace and lighter fluid.

Driving a car into a crowd.

We cannot believe that 

hatred would surround 

as it did.

Reality doesn't seem true.

And yet we know it is.

We pray for the life that was lost.

For the pain that was inflicted.

For those who were afraid,

For those who were threatened.

We pray for the ones we want 

to surround with our arms in protection.

We pray for the lives of the lost.

For the hatred they spouted.

For the fire and pain and venom.

For those that threatened.

We pray for the ones 

we find hard to forgive.

We pray for ourselves

and our neighbors.

For forgiveness as we see those

who are different than we are

as different

instead of beloved.

We ask tonight that you would

change the world.

And if you can,

use us.

On my blog in the coming week I have scheduled a series of prayers. These were planned and written weeks ago, but as I queued them up to publish, I felt something missing. Tonight needs a prayer. Alan preached today about standing up and stepping out of the boat - where is God calling you to stand up and walk tonight? How do you respond to the hatred that was shown in Charlottesville? What will you do? What will I do? Tonight, we need a prayer.