William Barber II, state president of the North Carolina conference of branches of the NAACP and head of North Carolina's Moral Monday movement, delievered this prayer before the Congressional Black Caucus in 2007. It was before the rise of the Moral Monday movement. It was before the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. Barber sent this prayer to me on last night to encourage me upon hearing I have been appointed to serve as Co-Pastor at Bethel Church. The prayer reminds me of why we serve. It's a challenge to serve with integrity and passion. The prayer moved me to tears. After reading it the first time, I felt like hands had been placed upon me again to affirm my calling. I'm sharing it with my readers to symbolize my unyielding faith in the God who called my name and set me free to serve. This is my yes to the work at Bethel. This prayer is my mission statement. I will feed upon each word and use it as fuel for my faith.
I thank God for William Barber. I'm also grateful for the others who sent messages supporting this appointment: Dr. Jeremiah Wright, Dr. J. Alfred Smith, Sr., Dr. Melissa Harris-Perry and my good friend Dr. Robert C. Scott. The outpouring of support challenges me.
Read the prayer, say Amen and join me and Bethel as we move toward embracing this amazing calling. - The Rev-elution
Gracious eternal and all wise God.
Thou who formed what is out of nothing, and called us into being to
serve you. You, oh Lord, who weighs every nation in the balance of your own
standards. Today, we acknowledge how great Thou art, the marvelous mystery of
your mercy and exalt the excellence of your name.
Because your Holy
Spirit brings all things to remembrance, breathe on us now, that we might
remember how gracious you have been to this nation, we call America. As a nation, we have our faith and frailties,
strengths and shortcomings, yet you have allowed grace to be shed upon us. When
we have honored your ways and when we have fallen short you have been a
merciful God. Remind us that the history
of this nation is more about your grace than about our greatness. When we are
not where we should be, let us hear and follow what you said to Solomon, 2
Chronicles 7:14, "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble
themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then
will I hear from heaven, and will I forgive their sin, and will I heal their
land."
In our land we
need healing, for a land so blessed by grace there is too much poverty, too
much sickness, too many children dying, and too much war. We need a
healing. Michael Bell and five others in
Jena, or the three year unjust lock down of James Johnson in Wilson are but
symbols of a justice system that needs healing.
Katrina was more than a flood.
It was a failure to protect the vulnerable and a metaphor of the wave of
disenfranchise that flows in too many communities. We need a healing.
In your word you have said, he who rules the nation must be just and
if we are to please you we must learn to do justice, care for the fatherless,
support the widow, loose the bands of wickedness, pay people what they deserve,
care for the sick, the homeless, and the hungry. To please you it must be said of us, “For I
was hungry, and ye gave me meat: I was
thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked and
ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto
me.”
Trouble the soul
of this nation as you did in the days of Amos so that no one is at ease in
Zion. Use our prophetic words and our prophetic actions to remind those in the
seats of power that they are not God.
Trouble this nation with the voice of concern and the voice of
compassion. Make us mindful of the
thousands without paths to the pursuit of happiness…
Shake the foundations of our conscious until we
cannot help, but change our course. Move on us to study war no more. Cause us
to live our lives to serve others.
Teach us that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness requires
justice and hope and help and caring.
Expand our morality beyond the narrowness of personal piety into the
broadness of public policy. Give us the
strength to challenge racism, classicism, poverty, and uncheck militarism. Empower us with your Spirit that we might be
a nation unto God, not unto fear; show us again that America is only here by
your grace. Show us that grace carries
responsibility. That a nation under
grace must lead the world not merely police the world. A nation under grace must care, must remember
her past so that she will not be arrogant in her present. A nation under grace
must bring the world together and not tear it apart. A nation under grace cannot
refer to people as aliens when we all were created with one blood. A nation
under grace cannot leave cities decaying and flood victims barely surviving. Grace demands something better than that. So
Lord as you stirred up dry bones in the valley, stir up hope, and stir up
righteousness. Restore the Prophets and
the prophetic voices to the land. Revive
the spirit of Medgar, Martin, Malcolm, Corretta, Harriet, Rosa, Cinque,
Douglass, Dubois, Sojourner, Jordan, Wilkins and Bethune. Hold and sustain the Congressional Black
Caucus whose seats are dipped in the blood of martyrs and were raised to be the
conscience of this nation. Call us and challenge us again. Teach even this nation that even with all our
power and all our resources we will still have to stand before your judgment
one day. Give us leaders who understand
that the purpose of power and influence is to help someone. Grant us a citizenry determine to be yoked
together in common humanity. Let us
know the only way to a more perfect union is for our laws and policies to
reflect your kind of love. Let faith be a conviction not a convenience. Help us,
Oh God, to smooth out every wrinkle in the flag of our community life until we
are one nation under God, with one justice system for all, with living wages
for all, with quality education for all.
Finally, oh Lord we pray that the mind of the psalmist will be ours:
Psalm 66: 1-7
1 Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands:
2 Sing forth the honor of his name: make his praise
glorious.
3 Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works!
through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto
thee.
4 All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing
unto thee; they shall sing to thy name. Selah.
5 Come and see the works of God: He is terrible in
His doing toward the children of men.
6 He turned the sea into dry land: they went through
the flood on foot: there did we rejoice in Him.
7 He ruleth by His power for ever; His eyes behold
the nations: let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah.
We
thank you God that your eyes still behold the nation. We thank you God that you still see
injustice, you still see poverty and because you can still see it, these things
don't have the last word. We thank you
God that you still see America. You
still see our leadership. You know how
to bring down the high and lift up the humble.
O God we bless your name, we lift up every voice, we declare and rejoice
that you are still the God of our weary years, the God who is able to bring
life out of death. Help us to know like our foreparents sung, ‘Time is filled
with swift transition, naught of earth unmoved can stand, Build your hope on
things eternal, Hold to God’s unchanging hand.”
In the name of the Father who sticketh closer than a
brother, watches us like a mother, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. AMEN.
Additional Scripture References: Colossians 1, Daniel 5,
Isaiah 1-58, Ezekiel 37, Luke 4, Matthew 25, and
Psalm 27
In memory of all the saints of old who taught us the
words and worth of prayer.
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