This call to prayer comes from Pastor Jesse Dunigans and Pastor Samuel Voth Schrag. Pastor Jesse is the minister at Bethesda Mennonite Church in St. Louis, Mo., and Pastor Samuel is minister at St. Louis Mennonite Fellowship.
If you would like to signal your support and your commitment to join in regular prayer for Ferguson and work to undo racism, alongside the Mennonite congregations in St. Louis, we would invite you to comment below with your name and congregation (if appropriate).
We have seen the events in Ferguson, Mo., over the past few weeks make national news, and the Mennonite congregations in St. Louis – Bethesda Mennonite Church and the St. Louis Mennonite Fellowship – would like to invite all of Mennonite Church USA to join us in prayer for peace for our community.
We give thanks for the presence of Jesus Christ in our midst, who offers salvation and the gospel of peace. And in this time of conflict in our community, we lift up in prayer all those involved.
We pray for the family of Michael Brown, who have lost a son, and are grieving in the midst of protest and conflict. We pray with them for peace and for justice to be done.
We pray for police officers who are faithfully trying to exercise the public trust. We pray that they might all be held safely in the arms of God, and that they might treat all of God’s children with respect and fairness.
We pray for the protestors who are seeking justice and to undo racism in our society. For the vast majority of people who have spoken in peaceful and hopeful ways, we ask for courage and protection. And for those who have been moved in anger to looting and violence, we pray that they might channel their anger in more faithful directions in the days to come.
We pray for the leaders of Ferguson and St. Louis County, who are seeking to find next steps forward in their relationships with the community, and are discerning how to proceed after Michael Brown’s death.
And we pray for our city and our country.
We pray for right relationships between police and citizens, and a bond of trust forged by faithfulness and respect on both sides.
We pray for a transformation of the relationships between black and white in our nation, and in St. Louis in particular. We pray for an end to the segregation that has divided our neighborhoods by race and class, for a transformation of the powers and principalities that have left black people more likely to be incarcerated, more likely to be impoverished, and less likely to be served by strong schools, find good jobs, or reach adulthood than their white brothers and sisters.
May we all follow God’s calling to break down the dividing walls between people, and to stand for justice with those who are oppressed.
We close with a prayer from the Mennonite Hymnal: A Worship Book:
“We pray for those who are overcome by violence,
for victims of injustice or oppression,
and for those in poverty or pain.
We pray for all who need healing and peace. Amen.”
If you would like to signal your support and your commitment to join in regular prayer for Ferguson and work to undo racism, alongside the Mennonite congregations in St. Louis, we would invite you to comment below with your name and congregation (if appropriate).