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A Prayer for George Floyd’s death, the protests, the racial, social, and economic unrest in America

A prayer for the racial turmoil and general unrest in our world:

My God, I pray for a change of heart, an absolute 180º, a world that wakes up for the plight of our Black American brothers and sisters.

Mon seigneur, je prie pour un changement du coeur, un revirement absolu, un monde qui se reveille à la situation déplorable de nos soeurs et frères noire américaine.

하나님, 이 세계에 모든 아픔을 감싸주세요, 정부에게 보호를 못받는 제 흑인 형제들과 자매들을 대신 하나님이 보호해 주세요. 온 세상의 완악한 마음을 가진 인류들… 그들의 마음을 재발 변화시켜주세요.

예수님 이름으로 기도합니다.

Lament, grieve, feel disappointment. Then turn to hope. We must continue to breathe [fresh air] so we can help others to breathe who cannot.//

“new every morning”

 

 

This was my earlier prayer of disappointment, fear, and help:

Dear God,

In this season of crazy grief, pain, anger, lament, fear, anxiety, and tension, I remain steadfast and faithful in your promises. I will stand on the faith of this firm foundation, the firm foundation I believe my community hit hard by the Coronavirus have access to, and the firm foundation my Black American brothers and sisters stand on too.

I pray to a God that I believe can do the things I cannot do, that for us as humankind seem so insurmountable.

 

“I will crush every disappointment

turn all of my fear into praise,

I will crush every disappointment and break every chain”

– Anything is Possible by Bethel Worship ft. Dante Bowe

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On Respecting Authority or Differences in Opinions and Considering the Harm Done If We Choose Otherwise

"I met those of our society who had votes in the ensuing election, and advised them:
1. To vote... for the person they judged more worthy.
2. Speak no evil of the person they voted against, and
3. To take care their spirits were not sharpened against those that voted on the other side." 
- John Wesley, English cleric, theologian, and philanthropist
The following are questions I entertain and often, given the current climate of our country:
  • What does it mean to really respect instituted authority, respect entities, and respect individuals despite encountering drastically differing opinions, values, or personalities?
  • What does it mean for our mental and emotional states when we choose to do the opposite?
Surely the thoughts we express can be of potent criticality without adding to toxicity.
I wake up this morning desiring to understand how to do this better and authentically in all circumstance… how about you?

My Faith Grounded Musings:

Romans 13:1 on Submission to Governing Authorities

“Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”

As a Christian, I can rationalize the validity of this command or “rule”. When one considers the grounding tenets that define Christianity, a quick survey will reveal some very constant albeit complicated narratives that frame our faith: an everpresent dance and balancing act between the subject of God’s sovereignty, having free will and its impact, and the concept of time that is not linear or as we see it according to modern physics. Following God is not about always having the answers and the whys to everything from the start (I would say I struggled with this question as a believer my whole life until maybe about last year!). Sometimes a situation requires obedience before we are able to see and understand 20/20, even with a controversial verse and command such as this that many Christians either outrightly ignore or struggle with (including myself!)

The fact of the matter though is that God’s word is God’s word. When we say we give our life over to him, we are surrendering our right to picking and parsing things we like and dislike, accept or reject, and that includes where we stand on the merits of the Bible’s commands. When one accepts the truth of the Gospel, the only requirement for being “Christian,” this implies a full and total acceptance of the Bible as the living word (Hebrews 4:12: “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”).

*For context, the word of God referred to the written or spoken word of God, and the Bible is accepted as the word of God.

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Victorious

Psalms 3: 2-6

 “Many are saying of me, ‘God will not deliver him,’ But you are a shield around me, O Lord; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head. To the lord, I cry aloud and he answers me from his holy will. I lie down. and sleep; I wake up again, because the Lord sustains me. I will not fear the tens of thousands.”

I will not fear because God said he’ll deliver me.

I will sleep and rest well, because God is the ONLY one that can sustain me in the literal and figurative sense. Not through the works or studies or efforts of our hand alone.

I am protected and shielded in the actions I take [so long as they are made in the character of Jesus Christ] and the opportunities I step into that are provided or opened for me, because in fact, they’ve been provided as a part of God’s will.

I will stay humble and low, because I will remember that as God’s child I am a part of his will and plan. For any glory bestowed onto *me* by the world, I will relinquish any claim to glory independent of God. As a true child of God, however, I will gladly receive with thanks the glory bestowed on me through his grace, his abundant provision, his protection, and his blessings on my life.

I believe.

Now I will go out victorious today, and achieve glory and redemption and beauty for my father.

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Renouncing Morning Anxiety: Acts of Giving Thanks

“I receive your mercy”

I woke up with a heart of anxiety today, and that quickly led to dread.

Dread for all the things that could happen, dread as I replayed and overthought speculations and events whose residues laid like weights on my heart over and over again in the span of an hour.

That’s how I started my morning, until I decided I don’t want any more of my day to be wasted in worry: for things that haven’t even happened, for the things I did or how I was , but couldn’t have done or been any more better.

In this moment, I decided to lay that all down to God. I said some prayers inside, asking God in my internal dialogue, “help me turn this around.

I then continued to go about my morning to dos before settling down for the day’s start: making a plant based smoothie, boiling water for a cup of green tea, and taking my medication and supplements.

A lyric line from a song, “I’ll Give Thanks” by Housefires popped up in my head: “God’s not worried so why do I worry?” Posed as a question, but sung like a battle cry– an anthem of sorts.

"In the morning you sing over me, I receive your mercy.

Your faithfulness is clear to see, 

constant every day."

You know just what I need.

Also, here’s some savvy words with similar premise from Marcus Aurelius in Meditations, should anyone reading this prefer a secular text:

“that there is but a certain limit of time appointed unto thee, which if thou shalt not make use of to calm and allay the many distempers of thy soul, it will pass away and thou with it, and never after return.”

 

 

P.S. I am increasingly growing to understand that the praise and worship songs we were called to sing to adore you was made to really just preserve us. *chuckle* how little minded we are to think you need our praise, to think we do more things in service for your glory. I cannot help, but still and marvel.
"Every breath I breathe is an invitation to believe 
that you are creating something good." 
- Housefires, I'll Give Thanks