Prayer for the US Congress

Editor's note: This is the prayer that Bishop William Barber II, Minister Jonathan Hartgrove, Steve Swayne and others were praying in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda when they were arrested for praying in that public space. It is reprinted from their Substack, "Our Moral Moment w/ Bishop William Barber & Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove." The faith leaders and United Methodist Insight recommend you pray it with your church and faith groups. Subscribe.

God, we are gathered beneath this dome of political power to pray that Your mercy which sustains us all will prevail to save us from an immoral budget that would destroy millions of lives.

Against the conspiracy of cruelty, we plead the power of Your mercy.

We have read the text of the prophet Isaiah which says, “Woe unto those who legislate evil and rob the poor of their right, making women and children their prey.” We have also read the budget resolution of this Congress, which calls for $1.5 trillion in cuts to life-saving and life-sustaining programs in order to give a tax break to billionaires. To keep faith with our moral commitments, we must stand together and cry out to You:

Against the conspiracy of cruelty, we plead the power of Your mercy.

We have made promises to You and to our communities; among them is a promise to tell the truth, even when it is difficult. We have taught our communities that a lie destroys the fabric of trust which knits us all together. When we hear the Speaker of this House parrot a regime he aims to please by calling this ugly and immoral budget “one big, beautiful bill,” we recall the prophet Isaiah’s woe against those who call what is good, evil and what is evil, good. And we pray for the leadership of this body.

Against the conspiracy of cruelty, we plead the power of Your mercy.

All of our religious traditions affirm care for the sick and the dying, but this budget proposes an $880 billion cut to Medicaid, which could result in 36 million Americans losing access to healthcare. As people who bury the dead in our communities, we refuse to go along with policy murder and say, “God called them home.” We cry out now and ask You to spare the lives of those this budget would kill.

Against the conspiracy of cruelty, we plead the power of Your mercy.

In the Christian tradition, You have said that nations will be judged by how we treat You in the hungry among us. But the proposed budget of this Congress threatens to take SNAP benefits away from tens of millions of our most vulnerable neighbors.

Against the conspiracy of cruelty, we plead the power of Your mercy.

We are here, O God, because we have heard the cries of your people who are already hard pressed and unable to meet their basic needs. We have also heard the confessions of people who suffer from the alienation that greed plants in the human soul. Deliver us, Lord, from the deceptive lie that says our nation will be better off if those who have little get less and those who have too much get more.

Against the conspiracy of cruelty, we plead the power of Your mercy.

God, we have too often confused ill-gotten gain with your blessings. We have praised success that came at a cost to the vulnerable and worshipped wealth built by taking from poor and working people. We have come to confess the ways we have been too quiet for too long while far too many suffered, and we repent of the ways we’ve allowed the language of symbols of our faiths to prop up abuses of power.

Against the conspiracy of cruelty, we plead the power of Your mercy.

In the mystery of Your might, interrupt us in this moment to re-order our priorities. More than half a century ago, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called for a radical revolution of values in our common life that would turn our attention toward Your concern for the least of these, the poor and downtrodden, the forgotten and rejected of our society. But we did not listen to Your prophet, God. We killed him. And we allowed people to use Your name and Your sacred gifts to us as justification for a religious nationalism that has pitted us against one another.

Against the conspiracy of cruelty, we plead the power of Your mercy.

Unite us, O God, in a movement focused on Your love, truth, and justice. Grant us wisdom to touch the pain of each and every American, and courage to embrace the bold policies that could genuinely address the inequalities in our society. Order our steps, O Lord. Order our steps with Your love, Your truth, and Your justice.

Against the conspiracy of cruelty, we plead the power of Your mercy.

We are here, crying out to you, O God, because we have heard the cries of Your people. We are also here because we know that You have heard their cries and called us to stand with the downtrodden, defend the oppressed, and care for the widow, the stranger, and the orphan. We have stood with Your people and we have seen the salvation that you can bring when the stones that the builder rejected become the chief cornerstones of Reconstruction.

Against the conspiracy of cruelty, we plead the power of Your mercy.

We come, God, as prisoners of hope, bound by the belief that You can make a way out of no way. As long as the details are still being worked out in committees, You can soften the hearts of representatives who refuse to hear from their constituents. As long as the final vote has not been cast, You can spare us from wholescale devastation by legislation. As long as the Constitution still exists, You can move us, the people, to work to establish justice and promote the general welfare. As long as you are on the throne, O God, You can super-rule over those who hold earthly authority.

Against the conspiracy of cruelty, we plead the power of Your mercy.

We pray this not only for the sake of those who will suffer most, but also for those who wrongfully believe that this immoral budget will benefit them. Teach us again, O God, how we are “from many, one” and that we cannot become the more perfect union You’ve called us to be unless we lift from the bottom so everyone can rise.

Amen.