Scripture & Prayer
Ephesians 6:12
12 For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Reflect
We know that powers and principalities work to turn neighbor against neighbor in our “I-me mine” world. How can we unite with our neighbors against systems of oppression and the powers that uphold them?
Isaiah 11:1-9
1A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
2 The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide by what his ears hear;
4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,
and faithfulness the belt around his loins.
6 The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
9 They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
Reflect
Take some time to imagine the world that Isaiah paints. Draw, paint, or journal if you’d like. Then reflect on your imaginings. Is anyone still left out of that vision? Do the children you imagine look just like you or your own children? Now try imagining a more radically inclusive future. That is the future we must work toward, with God’s help.
Pray
You give us prophets, holy God,
To cry out for justice and mercy.
Open our ears to hear them,
and to follow the truth they speak,
lest we support injustice to secure our own well-being.
Give prophets the fire of your Word,
but love as well.
Though they speak for you,
may they know that they stand with us before you,
and have no Messiah other than your Son,
Jesus Christ, the Lord of all. Amen.
Reprinted by permission from Book of Common Worship
©1993 Westminster/John Knox Press.
Reflect
Jesus was a Prophet of Justice. Do you have any favorite Biblical stories about Jesus “doing justice” that are important to you?
Micah 6:8
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
Reflect
In order to walk humbly with God, we must walk where Christ walked. Where did Jesus’s feet take him? Where did he spend his time? Who was willing to walk with him up to the empire’s lynching tree?
Isaiah 65:17-25
For I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I am creating;
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy,
and its people as a delight.
19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,
or the cry of distress.
20 No more shall there be in it
an infant that lives but a few days,
or an old person who does not live out a lifetime;
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.
21 They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
23 They shall not labor in vain,
or bear children for calamity;
for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord—
and their descendants as well.
24 Before they call I will answer,
while they are yet speaking I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
the lion shall eat straw like the ox;
but the serpent—its food shall be dust!
They shall not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain,
says the Lord.
Reflect
God’s new heavens and new earth has no crying, pain, or inequality. When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he told them to pray for earth as it is in heaven. What steps can we take to improve the material lives of our neighbors and move toward the realization of God’s new creation?
Pray
Grant, O God,
that your holy and life-giving Spirit
may so move every human heart,
that the barriers which divide us may crumble,
suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease,
and that, with our divisions healed,
we might live in justice and peace;
through your Son, Jesus Christ out Lord. Amen.
Reprinted by permission from Book of Common Worship
©1993 Westminster/John Knox Press.
Reflect
“Doing Justice” is a central tenant of our Biblical Faith (Micah 6:8). Are there matters of Biblical Justice important to you as a disciple of Christ?
Habakkuk 1:2-4
2O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not listen?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save?
3 Why do you make me see wrongdoing
and look at trouble?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
4 So the law becomes slack
and justice never prevails.
The wicked surround the righteous—
therefore judgment comes forth perverted.
Reflect
It can be easy to look away from destruction, violence, and wrongdoing. Who do we hear crying for help? How do we join our voices with them? How can we make sure that we don’t look away?
Matthew 5:43-48
You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Psalm 146
1 Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God all my life long.
3 Do not put your trust in princes,
in mortals, in whom there is no help.
4 When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish.
5 Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord their God,
6 who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them;
who keeps faith forever;
7 who executes justice for the oppressed;
who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free;
8 the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
the Lord loves the righteous.
9 The Lord watches over the strangers;
he upholds the orphan and the widow,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
10 The Lord will reign forever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the Lord!
Reflect
In our PC(USA) Book of Confessions, the Confession of Belhar states that the Church must stand where God stands. Where does this psalm say God stands? How can we stand there too?
Pray
God of ages,
in your sight nations rise and fall,
and pass through times of peril.
Now when our land is troubled,
be near to judge and save.
May leaders be led by your wisdom;
may they search your will and see it clearly.
If we have turned from your way,
help us to reverse our ways and repent.
Give us your light and your truth to guide us;
through Jesus Christ,
who is Lord of this world, and our Savior. Amen.
Reprinted by permission from Book of Common Worship
©1993 Westminster/John Knox Press.
Reflect
What are your personal prayers for our nation in these perilous times?
Luke 1:46-55
46And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord,
47and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50 His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”
Reflect
These words of Mary foretell the work of Jesus even before his birth. Do you find them comforting or discomforting? We often identify with the protagonists when we read scripture. What happens when we read the Magnificat against ourselves?
Genesis 4:9-11
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?” And the Lord said, “What have you done? Listen; your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground! And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.
Reflect
Cain, in the eyes of the Lord, was in fact his brother's keeper. We are all called as the children of God to be the keepers of all our brothers and sisters. Regardless of whether we are the ones who do the killing, or merely allow it to happen, the blood of their lives is on our hands.
Amos 5
1Hear this word that I take up over you in lamentation
O house of Israel:
2 Fallen, no more to rise,
is maiden Israel;
forsaken on her land,
with no one to raise her up.
3 For thus says the Lord God:
The city that marched out a thousand
shall have a hundred left,
and that which marched out a hundred
shall have ten left.
4 For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel:
Seek me and live;
5 but do not seek Bethel,
and do not enter into Gilgal
or cross over to Beer-sheba;
for Gilgal shall surely go into exile,
and Bethel shall come to nothing.
6 Seek the Lord and live,
or he will break out against the house of Joseph like fire,
and it will devour Bethel, with no one to quench it.
7 Ah, you that turn justice to wormwood,
and bring righteousness to the ground!
8 The one who made the Pleiades and Orion,
and turns deep darkness into the morning,
and darkens the day into night,
who calls for the waters of the sea,
and pours them out on the surface of the earth,
the Lord is his name,9 who makes destruction
flash out against the strong,
so that destruction comes upon the fortress.
10 They hate the one who reproves in the gate,
and they abhor the one who speaks the truth.
11 Therefore because you trample on the poor
and take from them levies of grain,
you have built houses of hewn stone,
but you shall not live in them;
you have planted pleasant vineyards,
but you shall not drink their wine.
12 For I know how many are your transgressions,
and how great are your sins—
you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe,
and push aside the needy in the gate.
13 Therefore the prudent will keep silent in such a time;
for it is an evil time.
14 Seek good and not evil,
that you may live;
and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you,
just as you have said.
15 Hate evil and love good,
and establish justice in the gate;
it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts,
will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
16 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord:
In all the squares there shall be wailing;
and in all the streets they shall say, “Alas! alas!”
They shall call the farmers to mourning,
and those skilled in lamentation, to wailing;
17 in all the vineyards there shall be wailing,
for I will pass through the midst of you,
says the Lord.
18 Alas for you who desire the day of the Lord!
Why do you want the day of the Lord?
It is darkness, not light;
19 as if someone fled from a lion,
and was met by a bear;
or went into the house and rested a hand against the wall,
and was bitten by a snake.
20 Is not the day of the Lord darkness, not light,
and gloom with no brightness in it?
21 I hate, I despise your festivals,
and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals
I will not look upon.
23 Take away from me the noise of your songs;
I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
24 But let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
25 Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings the
forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
26 You shall take up Sakkuth your king, and Kaiwan
your star-god, your images,
which you made for yourselves;
27 therefore I will take you into exile beyond Damascus,
says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.
Reflect
Even though we long for the day of the Lord, Amos tells us that it is darkness, not light. Read Amos’s words again. How might the day of the Lord be different than what we expect? And how is that still the good news of the gospel?
Pray
Yes, Jesus,
I want to be on your right side
or your left,
not for any selfish reason.
I want to be on your right side or your best side,
not in terms of some political kingdom or ambition,
but I just want to be there
in love and in justice and in truth
and in commitment to others,
so we can make of this old world a new world. Amen.
—Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Reprinted by permission from Book of Common Worship
©1993 Westminster/John Knox Press.
Reflect
Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Prophet of Justice. Are there prophetic words from him that have been important to you in your journey?
Epeshians 4:31-32
Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.