End racism
How long before we see your commandment
as more than an aspiration, or suggestion,
or a good intention that we should hold
for some day in the future that we sense
we will never live to see?
The enemy that triumphs over us is
the long and tenacious root of racism
that continues to invade our society.
We confess that we have never fully committed
to removing it fully.
We have laid aside our spade and shovel
when the day got hot and the work felt
too hard or too long.
We pray for those who have lost life
and those they love.
We pray for those who experience fear
that is based on facts.
Stir up in us a desire to serve you,
to live peacefully with our neighbors,
to be their allies and friends.
As we devote each day to your Son,
our Savior, Jesus Christ,
we pray that his Lordship would lead us
to move beyond acceptance
to the work of transformation,
so that all would know the goodness
of life that is free from fear and death.
Help us to love our neighbor
in ways that bring your kingdom
to earth
as it is in heaven.
Amen.
Bishop Tom Berlin
(Courtesy Photo 2022)
Excerpted from Bishop Tom Berlin, Florida Annual Conference, a prayer in response to the shootings in Jacksonville, Florida.
“United Methodists Stand Against Racism” is not simply a slogan for our church. It is a call to radical change in practice and structures and ways of seeing, in the church and in the world.