I was asked to conduct a prayers of the people for my church. This is what I said that Sunday.
This prayer is said responsively. When I say “Lord in your Mercy”, reply with “Guide us to wisdom”.
LORD IN YOUR MERCY – Guide us to wisdom.
LORD, in a country with more empty homes than homeless, may we do what is right, not just uphold the status quo.
LORD IN YOUR MERCY – Guide us to wisdom.
LORD, in a country with a fifth of the world’s freshwater, 80 First Nations communities are denied clean water while predominantly white cities have access to the best water in the world. May we do what is right, not just uphold the status quo.
LORD IN YOUR MERCY – Guide us to wisdom.
LORD, in a city with more than 130 overdoses a month, safe injection sites continue to face great opposition. May we do what is right, not just uphold the status quo.
LORD IN YOUR MERCY – Guide us to wisdom.
LORD, in a country with over 500,000 sexual assaults on women a year, where women are 87% of all sexual assault victims, we still blame victims and say boys will be boys. May we do what is right, not just uphold the status quo.
LORD IN YOUR MERCY – Guide us to wisdom.
LORD, in a country where over 75,000 people have HIV, we still criminalize and stigmatize those who have it in a way we don’t any other treatable condition. May we do what is right, not just uphold the status quo.
LORD IN YOUR MERCY – Guide us to wisdom.
LORD, in a city where half of its street youth are LGBT; in a city where 50% of its trans people have contemplated or attempted suicide in the past year, our non-LGBT residents choose comfort over acceptance, silence over disturbing perpetrators. May we do what is right, not just uphold the status quo.
LORD IN YOUR MERCY – Guide us to wisdom.
LORD, in a country where so many do sex work, the very politicians who call these individuals vulnerable legislate their best source of income away, and embolden abusive clients by making the police an enforcer of these laws. May we do what is right, not just uphold the status quo.
LORD IN YOUR MERCY – Guide us to wisdom.
LORD, we pray for the activists and community leaders all working to better the world in the face of a complex machinery of people, policies, and structures that favour the status quo. We pray for patience with the temporary discomfort their actions cause, understanding that changes are almost never given, but fought for.
LORD, we pray for this church and congregation, for peace in us and to all, that we embody the change we want to see. We pray for Mark, Allie, Ken, Annie, our parish council, and all others who help spiritually nourish our community.
Amen.