Eternal and Merciful God, we watched this week while military heroes were honored, cities burned and children and mother’s cried. We listened while ventilators hissed, bullets flew, and bones and spirits were crushed. We breathed and smelled through masks while barbeque mixed with tear gas, and smoke. And we read the names of over 100,000 Americans who have died from Covid-19 so far.
On this day where followers of Jesus Christ around the world celebrate the coming of your promised Spirit to breathe life into Your Church, we also cry out for justice for George Floyd whose breath was crushed out of him by blue clad knees.
As we witness to the birth of your Holy Church wearing symbolic red, we mourn the death of yet another unarmed Black man in America.
We pray for the people of Minneapolis, for their Mayor, City Council Members, and all who demand an end to racism and violence. We give thanks that the primary officer involved has been arrested, and pray for the judicial process to be fair and thorough. May the fires of grief, anger, and loss that rose from that city, be like the fire of your Spirit and burn away all that would divide us from one another, open us up to understand the white privilege many of us receive and benefit from, and the destructive reality that race based prejudice coupled with power has caused on the well-being and opportunity of Black people throughout America.
On my shirt are the names of other Black neighbors who have died unnecessarily because their lives, their gifts, and their humanity were not acknowledged or valued. It is time to say no more and mean it this time. The Church must declare Racism and White Supremacy, a public health emergency, even if our government leaders lack the moral courage and character to do so.
May the fire of your Holy Spirit blow across this nation, freeing us from the fantasy of innocence, cleansing us, healing us, and convicting us yet again. Save us Lord because we are your people and this is your world. We pray these things in Jesus’ name … Amen.
Pastor Aaron Hobbs
May 31, 2020