Prayers of the People -  Resurrection Season 

Friday Evening, May 29. Pause at the end of each day. Enjoy communion with the living God: Creator, Redeemer, Holy Spirit. Listen for the voice of God in the scriptures. 

Read 

Psalm 48 - God will be our guide forever.

Proverbs 1 - The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Acts 1.1-14 - Jesus’ ascension witnessed by the disciples, who then stay in an upper room together and pray.

Meditate 

The words of the Lord are spirit and life, a light to the wise path. Sit with your questions, write down your observations and tensions. Repeat this phrase as you pay attention to your breathing.

I pause to consider what God has made. I pause to consider what God has done. I pause to consider who God is. (Canyon Road: A Book of Prayer)

Pray 

Bring your meditations to this time of prayer and let them guide you, or use the prayer we’ve offered here: Lord, hear the prayers of your people.

O Lord our God, be our Guide forever. In this another era of Revolution, we desire to walk in your wisdom. Your word has warned us away from the people who lie in wait to ambush the innocent. Let your truth march on and set us free. 

We are watching and walking with the organizers whose work has become essential. We need your Spirit to keep us alert. Keep us connected. Keep us mindful, as the enemies of your power continue to threaten us with murder, slander and false witness. 

Deliver us, O God, from the racist capitalist regime that exploits us. Protect us, Healer of old, from the sickness of pandemic that yet lingers in the air and wreaks havoc in your world. 

Will you prepare a table for us in the presence of police? Will you lead us, Thou Eternal and all Energetic, in the way of victory and liberty? Will you lift up our young ones, cause them to lead and bid us to follow without fear. 

We need your strength. We seek a word from the wisdom of your sovereignty. We need your presence in our cities, where our people are answering the beckonings of your Spirit into the streets. Will you cast down every stronghold? Will you cause sickness and poverty to cease in our day? Where free people have been trampled under the knees of the slave patrols and riot police, will you enact your justice so that we can live at peace? 

Some of us are weary, O God. We are trying to rest as we resist, we are hungry and dehydrated. We cannot see the end of these dangerous and dying days. The commander of nationalist armies is frothing with facism and supremacist sickness. Where is the citadel of the Almighty Lord who offers the people a sure defense? Face our foes, dear heavenly Advocate, for we are rendered unable. We would take hold of your mercy, we would take pride in your might. Grant us now the freedom you have promised us in light of your resurrection. Give us a new glimpse into the glory of your ascension and promise that you would not leave us without a Holy Comforter, an ever Watchful Guide.

Within this your land and these your cities, we your children are marching for the truth. We would see you O God, and join your uprising. Lead our bodies and direct our budgets for the work of liberation. Renew us, O Lord, restore! We lift up our voices in adoration for the God of freedom. Great is our God and greatly to be praised, in our city - the city of our God. 

Contemplate

In silence

Through song: “Great is the Lord”, West Angeles COGIC Mass Choir, Saints in Praise Volume 1

Seek God’s face

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. (Hebrews 13:20–21) 

Lord, hear the prayers of your people. 

Artwork:

Cecilly Brown, Paradise // Chiffon Thomas, a mother who had no mother

Resources:

To access the full prayer guide from Daily Prayer Project, join the Faith for Justice mailing list on our home page, or subscribe at dailyprayerproject.org

To share testimonies or prayer requests anonymously: Faith for Justice Prayer Share