Justice for Grieving: A Prayer
This prayer was offered by Dr. Heather Ohaneson as part of our June 5 Faith and Politics Prayer Call. You can sign up for future calls at the bottom of this page.
Lord God, Faithful One, we come before you united in your Son Jesus Christ.
Lord, we thank and praise you for your great sacrifice—for all of the ways that you emptied yourself and suffered in order that you may know our human condition and be with us in times of loss and pain.
Even though you are God, you have been subject to the cruelties and uncertainties of human existence, from being under an oppressive foreign power to being vulnerable as the baby of parents forced to go to Egypt to find refuge to knowing unjust persecution, being wrongfully executed by the Romans.
Lord, we praise you that you do more than identify with us in our grief, you give us the hope of redemption and justice. You are so compassionate. O Lord, how we love your compassion!
Forgive us for the ways we are hard-hearted to the suffering around us, for the ways we have turned our backs to people whose burdens we may not recognize. In leaving people to deal with their losses on their own, we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves—we have not treated them as we would want to be treated, if we ever found ourselves in their shoes. Forgive us, Lord, for being so hostile to and judgmental of people, and for sinfully failing to carry their burdens as you have commanded us.
Jesus, I think of your ministry in Capernaum, that “village of consolation,” how you came to dwell there (Matthew 4:13). Lord Jesus, we ask you to dwell in us, in our homes and workplaces and neighborhoods, and most of all in our churches. We ask that your presence among us would transform wherever we are into places of consolation.
Your Holy Spirit is the Comforter, the Renewer of Life. Pour out your Holy Spirit on our congregations, on our pastors, on our lay leaders, and on all those who desire you. Filled with your life-giving, sanctifying breath, we will be transformed. We will be safe to express our feelings and to name our losses in your loving presence. We will be courageous to acknowledge where we have been at fault, where our action or inaction has been the cause of pain to others. And we will be united by the bond of your love, able to pursue reconciliation in Christ and for Christ.
God, we take a moment of silence now to ask you to reveal to us an area of unprocessed loss in our own lives. Where do we need your healing, assuring, secure presence?
Finally, God, we acknowledge some of the many losses that individuals and Christian churches in America are facing:
We bring before you now the loss of life through gun violence, and the fear that accompanies people in public spaces, including children in schools.
God, we bring before you the loss of influence and identity, especially the ways in which that change has left people feeling threatened.
God, we lift up into your eternal presence our loss of homes and material goods through floods and hurricanes and tornadoes and fires.
God, we especially bring before you rifts in relationships, the loss of friendships, the people missing in our pews due to political division.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Amen.
Dr. Heather Ohaneson is a pastor, scholar and teacher. She received her Bachelor’s degree in philosophy and religion from Barnard College and her Master’s and Ph.D. in the philosophy of religion from Columbia University. She also completed additional study at Yale Divinity School, Princeton Theological Seminary and Union Theological Seminary. She has had extensive experience as a teacher, serving as a professor and currently serves as bridge pastor at Armenian Martyrs’ Congregational Church in Havertown, Pennsylvania.
Throughout the 2024 election season, the Center for Christian Civics will be leading twice-monthly prayer calls, featuring guided prayer for the complex relationship between faith and politics in a polarized era. To get reminder emails and login links about these calls, fill out the form below!