This month we begin a series on the power of prayer! Each week I will offer a prayer. In honor of this nation’s 250th anniversary – receive this prayer.

O God,

From our living rooms, boardrooms, pews, and patios, we have come.

From our kitchen tables, dens, decks, and dining rooms, we have come.

We, Lord, are your children—
carefully carved by your loving hand,
carriers of your breath,
mirrors of your glory,
keepers of your hope.

 Lord, we have come.

As our nation celebrates two hundred and fifty years, we pause to remember that Black Americans have walked in freedom for only one hundred and sixty of those years.

Yet every one of those years bears witness to your faithfulness.

When history bent beneath the weight of injustice, your hand still held us.

When hope seemed distant, you planted songs in weary souls.

When the road was uncertain, you made a way where there seemed to be no way.

You have been our shelter and our strength,
our guide and our guardian,
our comfort in the night
and our courage in the morning.

And because the same hand that carried our ancestors is still carrying us,
we dare to believe our best days are not behind us but still unfolding beneath your grace.

Lord, we have come
at the beckoning of your prophets,
who call us to pray,
who call us to humble ourselves,
who call us to turn from our own wickedness
and seek your face.

So, we have come, O Lord,
to hear from heaven.
To hear from heaven over the sickness of our land.
To hear from heaven over the sickness in our government.
To hear from heaven over the sickness in our communities.
To hear from heaven over the sickness within our own hearts.

 
Speak, Lord.

Quiet every competing voice.
Silence every fear.
Steady every anxious heart.

 
For your children are listening.

In the strong and saving name of Jesus Christ, we pray.

Amen.

Rev. Dr. Ronald Bell, II