Lamentation words for Injustice Sunday

Prayers written by Pamela Searle, Minister of Sutton Baptist Church and Mary Taylor, Regional Minister in Yorkshire Baptist Association - both members of our Racial Justice Hub

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The God of Love open our eyes to see the suffering of all our brothers and sisters.
Help me to see and hear.

Silence is not an option!

A time to be silent and a time to speak
As Brothers and Sisters in Christ when we see an injustice we must pray,
lose our shame and speak up and be proactive.
Father equip me to have the words to pray out loud when I see my fellow brother or sister beaten mercilessly. Father equip me to speak against the murder.

Kneeling to you

Father I thank you that you are a Just God.
I praise you Lord for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; as my soul knows it very well. Lord I thank you that you knitted me together you grew the beginning of my spin within my mother’s womb. and that I am made in your own image. Father I cannot begin to know the pain and the suffering that my Brother endured as his neck was being knelt on, as he called Momma and breathed his last breath after nine minutes!
I can cry out to you Lord, help me speak against injustice, that we should never see this evil act occur again. I thank you lord that Justice is foundational to your throne.
Amen

Lord Have mercy!

Prayers as a Black woman

Help me Lord to celebrate my difference in the country I live in.
Hear my prayer

Help me Lord to speak up when I feel the silence is against me.
Hear my prayer

Help me Lord to grow past the privileges I have been denied.
Hear my prayer

Help me Lord to feel accepted in a country a world that is not my own.
Hear my prayer

Help me Lord to show the richness of my culture and not to feel defensive when asked.
Hear my prayer

Help me Lord to not feel ashamed when I am under pressure from my employers when I see my brothers and sisters speaking out against injustice.
Hear my prayer

Help me Lord For the times when I have been too consumed by my own pain or distracted by the tasks of life to see and respond to the deaths of those You hold dear.
Hear my prayer

Help me Lord never to tire to be hard working and persistent in my commitment to justice.
Hear my prayer

Help me Lord to see past the indifference of others who do not share Yours and my commitment for justice.
Hear my prayer

Help me Lord to open my ears and eyes to hear and see those who cry out!
Hear my prayer

Help me Lord to seek you and to get rid of all resentment, bitterness, rage and anger, that I hold towards people who have hurt me and to continue to step forward with compassion and forgiveness in my protest for an invisible unity.
Amen

Lament is not despair. It is not whining. It is not a cry into a void. Lament is a cry directed to God. It is the cry of those who see the truth of the world's deep wounds and the cost of seeking peace. It is the prayer of those who are deeply disturbed by the way things are...

Lord have mercy!
The prayer of a white woman

Help me to open my heart when I would rather stay un-moved. Lord have mercy.

Help me to be silent and listen when I feel defensive. Lord have mercy.

Help me to examine myself for sin when I start to be the judge of others. Lord have mercy.

Help me to admit that I benefit from privilege even when I have not actively sought it. Lord have mercy.

Help me look hard and see with fresh eyes the different lives of others, when I would rather stay immersed in my own. Lord have mercy.

Lord help me to speak out and act when I would rather stay comfortably on the fence. Lord have mercy

Help me to be hard-working and persistent in my commitment to justice, especially when I become weary. Lord have mercy.

Lord, help me to anoint your body with the costly ointment of love and protest, even when others are criticising my foolishness. Amen