A Prayer For Martin Luther King Jr. Day

A Prayer for Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Third Monday of January

O God of justice, God of truth,

We come to You on this day

To honor the life and legacy

Of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

And to commit our hearts

To building the beloved community

He dreamed about.

O Lord, through Dr. King,

You taught us, and are still teaching us,

What it is to stand with our oppressed

Brothers and sisters.

For whatever affects one directly

Affects all indirectly.

Lord, we thank You for Dr. King’s leadership

Against the scourge of racism

And for the ways his nonviolent teachings

Reverberate through our hearts today.

We lament the ways

We have taken his quotes out of context

And ignored the greater picture

Of his mission and ministry of social change.

We walk in the paths Dr. King

Cleared out for us,

And yet we know many weeds

Still need to be pulled.

Help us yank the violence of racism

By the root from our hearts

And our systems.

He had a dream for his children, Lord,

And we lament the ways the dream

Is yet to be fulfilled.

Help us teach our children about Dr. King

As a man whose work was propelled

By his love for You, Lord.

And help our children know

That this work is not over.

May our children know the cost

Of speaking out for justice and mercy—

Friends, status, even nights in jail—

Because being obedient to Your Spirit

May scare the powerful.

Lord, help our kids know that

Speaking up against racism

And working for justice

May cost them lots of somethings,

But it will never cost their souls.

If the moral arc of the universe

Is bent toward justice,

May You ignite in our children

Flexibility and prophetic imagination

To see Your Kingdom come.

May it be so, that our earth

Reflects how it is in heaven.

Lord, the fight against racism

Starts at home.

Help our family live in mutuality,

Knowing that the good of all—

Black, indigenous, people of color—

Is tied up in our well-being,

That nobody is free

Until we all are free.

May we honor the work of Dr. King

And countless other women and men

Fighting for civil rights,

Yesterday and today,

By not shying away from the contact burns

It takes to keep the fires of freedom

Burning in our hearts.

For many, many tomorrows,

Lord, we pray that our parenting

And the nonviolent choices our family makes

With our speech, our money, our votes

Would honor our neighbor.

Protect us, Lord, from the lure of traps,

What Dr. King warned of—spiritual doom.

Help us remember dawn will come.

As Dr. King reminded us from the psalmist,

Sorrow and despair are born at night,

But morning always follows.

Let us not lose hope.

Help us do what we can

With the tools we have

To cultivate paths of peace and righteousness.

We honor the committed, courageous work

Of not only MLK

But the advocates and activists

Working tirelessly today

For a more just world for all people

In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Let justice roll down like water

And righteousness like a mighty stream.

May we live as parents and children

Who enter this work with You

With urgency and sustenance from the Living Water,

From a well that won’t run dry.

O Lord, as we honor this day,

The day of Dr. King’s birth,

We lament that this nonviolent minister

Was murdered as he lived out a gospel of love.

May we remember and not forget

That our actions as colaborers with Christ, rooted in love,

Will be a threat to those who want to do it the old way,

Who love power and money over justice and humanity.

When given the choice, may our children

Know to choose community.

May they choose the love of neighbor

That flows out of the love of God—

A love that overcomes.

A love that, as Dr. King said,

Is the most durable power in the world.6

Amos 5:24; Ephesians 3:17; Micah 6:8