Prayer Offered for January 20, 2015

     As we come to the end of the formal celebration of the life and witness of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., let us resolve to continue to search deep in our hearts for the motivation, will, and creativity to bring his dream to fruition in our time-now. Not to brag, but my congregation, the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, has been engaged in an anti-racism program for the past several years in order to “deepen our response to the unrecognized and unreconciled racism past and present within our religious community.” It is a very humbling (and ultimately freeing) reality to recognize how we (I) benefit from white privilege, and how, regardless of our good intentions, racism prevails as long as we do not take steps to dismantle the structures within our institutions and systems that keep some in and others out.
     God of infinite patience and mercy, we ask You to help us seek out and acknowledge the reasons for our slow progress in dismantling racism. Help us to face our fears, resistance, pride, shame, whatever conscious or unconscious motives hold us back from valuing an anti-racist, multicultural society. Guide our civic and religious decisions to uphold and promote the rights of all persons, especially those experiencing marginalization, injustice, bigotry, and prejudice. Continue to remind us that diversity is the hallmark of Your creation, the manifestation of Your presence in myriad sparks of Your divine life on earth. We ask this in Your holy name.─AMEN