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Praying for Peace and Justice on March 10, 2024

Holy one, we know that there is no peace without justice.  We ask: hear your people’s prayer. 

Inspire a spirit of cooperation among all people that we may restore a desire for promoting the common good, along with non-violence, justice and peace. We pray for unity and civility within governments, organizations and within the human family as we seek to implement changes that lead to diversity, equity and inclusion. May we demonstrate compassion that incorporates the seeing, hearing, and honoring others and using that compassion to spread healing energy and to show empathy to people that are in pain, no matter the cause of the pain and being open to examine our role.

Background

March is Women’s History Month, a celebration of women’s accomplishments and contributions to all aspects of society. It’s also a time to reflect on the challenges for women moving forward.

The National Women’s History Alliance (NWHA) chooses and publishes the themes every year. In 2024, the theme is “Women Who Advocate for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.” The NWHA notes that the elimination of discrimination is an important goal, and those who work to accomplish that face a tough battle.

In recent years we’ve seen tremendous growth in diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives but there have also been many who have critized and resisted them.  People tend to resist these initiatives because they experience at least one of three forms of threat: status threat –  my organizational status may change – if you benefit then I lose; merit threat – you don’t have the same skills and talents and are getting preferential treatment; and moral threat – if I acknowledge my privelge then I may not be as good or moral as I think I am. Depending on the kinds of threat they perceive, they may then engage in three kinds of resistance: defending or justifying the status quo because changes are perceived as harmful to their group; denying – we don’t have a problem –; and distancing, acknowledging there’s a problem but I’m not the problem, I’m not discriminating against anyone. 

As we at Seekers seek to promote Racial & Ethnic Justice we have long realized that an uneven playing field will never bring equality or justice and we need to establish firmer safeguards, practices and legislation reflecting these values

Praying for Peace and Justice on April 7, 2024

Holy One, we come before you today with hearts heavy from the injustices and acts of violence all over the earth that you created for all of us. Virtually every conflict arises from an issue of racism. You sent Jesus, and other prophets and leaders to teach all people the ways you would have us follow. Some of us gathered here are carrying a particular burden of fear and heartbreak because of the horrific violence in Israel and Gaza. Some of us have friends and family on one side or the other, or both. And our church is committed to New Story leadership for the Middle East. It is devastating to think that this violence started because those in power of these groups wish to annihilate the “other”. I am complicit as my tax dollars pay for the weapons of destruction that the U.S. supplies to Israel. I gasp when I recall that Jews, my ancestors, and Palestinians are cousins that used to live side by side on the same land, perhaps not in perfect peace, but rooted together. Many were neighbors and friends. They shared food, a measure of the hospitality that both groups hold as fundamental to their faith. But now, dehumanization, fear and hatred pervade those who seem to relish this war, regardless of the originating reason. So many are helpless with factions on both sides determined to prevail at all costs. People are being held hostage, people are dying from famine, infrastructures are destroyed, and worse. Too many of your precious people are dead. And so I pray, we pray, Holy One, that you give those around the world the wisdom and strength to practice justice and peace, to love their neighbors as themselves, and keep hope alive for the future. May it be so. Amen and amen.

Praying for Peace and Justice on May 7, 2023

Let us pray.

Holy One, we learn from the Bible that we are made in your image and so when we look around, we have to notice that you have many images including those that defy gender specification. 

Our trans brothers and sisters need your help and we need your help in making our voices heard on their behalf, in seeing them, in respecting them, in loving them.  May it be so.  Amen.

Background

In 1997, Pat Conover preached a sermon at Seekers coming out as a transgender person.  Pat received a warm reception for the sermon, with people noting the honesty, the courage, the vulnerability.  Pat was dressed as a man.

When Pat began to come to Seekers dressed as a woman, Seekers struggled mightily to embrace the experience of transgender that Pat then embodied.

Many years later, Denise Leclair arrived at Seekers, a fully transitioned trans woman.  Denise was warmly welcomed into the community and continues to be an important part of it, even though she no longer worships with us on Sundays.

Some in the community have children who have transitioned or who are experimenting with gender fluidity.  My five-year old grandchild openly discusses which pronouns they want to use each day and what clothes they want to wear.  Cynthia Dahlin lobbies in Richmond for trans rights and against trans-denying legislation. 

I think we as a community have come a long way.  I hope so.

I hope so because trans people need us –  They need us to see them. To respect them for who they are and how they present themselves.  To love them.  And to protect them.

Between 2017 and 2021, the murder rate for trans people doubled, with a hugely disproportionate share of those murders being of black trans people.  An AMA report from 2019 said that trans people are 2.5 times more likely to experience violence than cisgender people.  A 2015 report stated that 40% of trans people attempt suicide.

While a few states have passed or are considering laws protecting trans people (Maryland is one of them), according to the Trans Legislation Tracker, 525 anti-trans bills have been introduced in 49 states this year, mostly targeting young trans people.  This number is up from 174 in 2022.  These bills focus primarily on restricting access to gender-affirming medical care, banning trans girls participation in school sports, requiring children to use the school bathroom of their birth-assigned gender and limiting how teachers and counselors can interact with trans youth.  Both Maryland and Virginia are represented in the 49.

Medical associations oppose these legislative attempts to interfere with medical care; the North Carolina high school athletic association, with its own thoughtfully developed policies on trans participation in sports, opposes North Carolina’s anti-trans sports legislation.  These bills are solutions in search of a problem and their very existence is a threat to the safety of trans people.

Peace and Justice Prayer for March 3, 2024

Let us pray.

Holy One,

I am scared. The women of America are scared.

We are slowly losing hard won rights to decide for ourselves what we want to happen to our bodies. We are once again becoming the second class citizens we were some fifty years ago.

With a pen stroke our rights were stripped from us by the Supreme Court, our ability to get IVF treatments was destroyed in Alabama, in Florida and Texas and other places we are prevented from getting reproductive medical care to save our own lives.

I am angry, Holy One. The women of America are angry.

Save us, Holy One, for our lives are being destroyed.

Help us find a way forward.

Help us restore our rights and correct this injustice.

Help me, help us, Holy One, to find the next small step to save ourselves.

Amen.

Praying for Peace and Justice on March 17, 2024

The Call of Seekers Church says that we see ourselves as “called into Christ’s ministry
of deliverance from bondage to freedom in every personal and corporate expression.
We recognize the value of each individual and seek to heal any wounds of
discrimination inflicted by our society and church.”

As I take seriously this season’s reflection about the Church’s responsibility to address
White supremacy, I cannot help feeling that while it is essential, it is also insufficient.
Almost from its very beginnings, what eventually came to be known as the Church,
began to differentiate itself from the Jewish people, and in so doing unleashed nearly
2000 years of hatred and lies against the very people from which it sprung. Many of the
texts that were used to create this situation are the very ones that we read in this holy
season of Lent.

If, as our reflection says, the body of Christ by its nature exists to be a healer, then it
bears an extraordinary responsibility to address antisemitism’s history of oppression,
expulsions, pogroms, and genocide and continues to cause Jews to be attacked when
they are at worship, at school, or just walking down the street simply because they are
Jews. Just as this country’s complicated history of White supremacy demands an
honest reckoning, so does the church’s complicated love/hate history with respect to the
Jewish people. If love is simply who we are, the church universal, including this beloved
body we call Seekers, must take seriously the work of repair.

Holy One, help us heal the wounds caused by the systematic antisemitism that is too
often unnoticed in the words and actions of your Holy Body and its individual members.
Amen.