A Prayer of Lament and Repentance

God, we come before You in awe of the fact that You hold the whole world in Your hands. You spoke creation into existence with mere words and You uphold the universe by the word of Your power. You are not just powerful, but You are good and in control. Every moment passes according to the council of Your will and all things are working for the good of those who trust in You. There’s no clearer place where You evidenced all of this than at the cross, where Jesus took on the punishment we deserved for our sins. At the cross, God you took the worst evil the universe has ever seen and turned it into greatest good we could ever imagine. At the cross, You took the needless killing of a colored man and changed the world. We’re praying that you could do the same in our midst right now. You are good and in control and that’s why we trust You and are coming before You this evening.

God, as a gathering of primarily white Christians who all desire to see a change, we recognize that before we can real change, there must be lament and repentance. That’s the biblical model. So I’ve come to do that tonight on behalf of those here tonight.

We lament that we often don’t treat those different from us as fellow image-bearers, whether personally or systemically and we repent of that sin.

We lament subconscious thoughts of racism that can often be hidden from us for years without recognition and repent of that sin.

We lament the ways that the white church, rather than being a change agent against the evils of racism and systemic injustice, has often been last to speak out. We repent of that lethargy and lament for how that has hurt our witness for You.

We lament the fact that in this nation, black men and women often have to fear for their well-being when they go for a run or a drive. We repent for the ways we haven’t worked hard enough to change that horrifying fact.

We lament that often our first response to racial injustice is to say, “Yeah, but…” rather than grappling with the real issues at hand. We lament that we struggle to clearly name the sins at play, namely racism and injustice against people of color, and instead hide behind the vague language of sin instead of skin problems. Help us name those sins Lord. We repent when we have struggled to do so.

We lament when we have justified inaction and not speaking out with calls for so-called unity and peace. We lament how these calls for unity have led to unified sin. We repent of civil and systemic sin which is still sin.

We lament for the times we have bowed more to politicians and political parties instead of bowing to King Jesus. We repent of this.

God, we lament the destruction of rioting and looting. Help our world not return evil with evil. Yet, help us not to miss the cry for help that is trying to be heard. Bring peace and safety to our nation in this time. Be with business owners and communities as they seek to recover from the destruction.

We lament the evils being committed against our law enforcement officers and pray for their safety. We pray for their families and we pray for the wisdom of the officers. God, we thank you for the ways the vast majority of officers bring profound justice and safety to our community. Keep them safe and sane in this time. Be with the leaders of our communities and nation and help them make wise decisions in these days.

Finally, God, we lament any hopelessness and despair we might have felt in these days. Yes there is turmoil, but You are still at the helm. You are ruling and reigning and will bring perfect and complete justice in the end. You have shown us Your infinite goodness and love and ask that you would help us lean into that in this time. We pray that the glorious Gospel of grace would transform the hearts and minds of people from every tribe, tongue, and nation as we wait for your ultimate peace in the end. We pray that those who don’t know you would turn from their sin and place their faith on Jesus as one who is mighty to save. We ask for Your help to bring real and lasting change in our land. As we strive for greater unity across all tribes, tongues, nations, and colors we pray that we would have a greater foretaste of Heaven until that days that we will get to praise you forevermore in glory. Until that day, be with us and help us strive for justice and healing. We need your help. It’s in your Son’s name, by the power of your Spirit we pray…Amen.