February 9, 2017
Holy God, tonight I want to pray for the judges on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. I ask you—God of justice, mercy, and gratuitous love—to bless these persons, in that mysterious way that you do, providing what is needed even before the lack is felt.
I’ve said that I will pray every evening for people who are resisting the destructive forces at work in the United States. I am wary that I might insult these judges by including them in these nightly devotions. I do not know them. Perhaps they would prefer not to be portrayed as taking a side in our current struggle. Perhaps they are clear that they are simply following the rule of law—which transcends partisanship—and their ruling today is the logical outcome. Yet such an attitude is, in these bewildering days, revolutionary. Abiding by the rule of law, having three distinct branches of government, attending to the expressed will and concerns of the people, separating the Presidency from business—so that business relations can’t influence the president and the president can’t influence business deals—these basic tenets of American governance are all under threat, such that anyone who sustains them is a resister. Whether these judges see their actions as resistance or merely competence, I am grateful to and for them. I pray for every person who refuses to be bought or sold. We live in a world in which anything can be commoditized—even our attention—and financial transactions have become a dominant model for human interaction. I pray that our new administration is consistently denied an adequate source of people eager to be bought, eager to sell. Creator God, keep it at the forefront of our minds that we are yours in a much more grounded way. Your claim on us is not ownership, but rather creation and love. We are yours because you made us. We are yours because you love us. Unstoppable resistance can be grounded in this love. Amen37
February 10, 2017
Dear God, I give thanks for all the schools across the country, from Ivy League universities to the Jefferson County Public Schools in Kentucky, that have publicly stated their commitment to immigrant, refugee, and international students.
The current administration of the United States incites fear—fear that demands walls and divisions. Schools are not meant to house fear, but to nurture curiosity. God, you made us curious creatures. We long to know more. At our best, this is not a quest for individual self-aggrandizement, but the communal and collective longing to reach beyond ourselves toward one another and, ultimately, toward you. The educators at these schools recognize that we face global challenges that require global collaboration, challenges that are environmental, medical, scientific, economic, political, ethical, and philosophical. They know that we learn, teach, research, discover, create, and innovate better together. They acknowledge that music blows past borders; art escapes containment; literature calls across continents. Please bless the students, faculty, administration, and staff of each of these schools. Grant them the courage of their convictions, should there be need, to protect the vulnerable in their communities. In particular, I pray tonight for Todd G. May, Chenjerai Kumanyika, and Mike Sears, three professors at Clemson University. Their school has not yet publicly opposed the Muslim and Refugee ban. In order to bring attention to this issue and to encourage the administration to take a principled stand, these teachers began a six-day “Fast Against Silence” on February 6. Matthew 5:6 states, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” In order to promote justice and compassion in their school, these teachers go hungry. God, please strengthen, protect, and support these professors. Grant them physical health to endure this discipline. Gather support around them, and let their witness be fruitful in the Clemson community. Amen.38
February 11, 2017
God, please bless all the people who are showing up at town halls, rallies, and protests. It makes such a difference to show up in person. But, of course, you know that.
February 12, 2017
Dear God, please bless the musicians who give us strength to resist, who tell the truth, who cast visions of new realities, and who comfort us in times of suffering. Grant them inspiration. Amen.
February 13, 2017
Dear God, please bless the coders working in Berkeley and some twenty other places around the country to preserve all the intricate scientific data that is now vulnerable to government erasure. They are “tagging and bagging” complex information that could help us prevent still more harm to the earth. They are tracking when data goes missing—as some already has. Guard them, God, as they try to guard your creation from willful stupidity. Give them insight, creativity, brilliance, and good coffee. Let your Spirit sustain them in this work. Amen.39
February 14, 2017
Steadfast God, thank you for the elders in the struggle. I am thinking particularly of a woman at church who told me in November that we would have to take to the streets. An activist throughout the sixties, she is deeply troubled that she no longer has the physical strength to march. I am also thinking of an eighty-three-year-old man from the same congregation, who has been protesting for the first time in his life this year. He refuses to stand idly by while immigrants and refugees are targeted. God of strength and mercy, I ask you to multiply—exponentially—the power and influence of these two faithful Christians. And while you’re at it, please grant the rest of us a portion of her wise determination and a measure of his openness to new ways of living faith. Amen.
February 15, 2017
Dear God, please bless all those whose resistance cannot be publicized. I have known many wonderful administrative assistants and secretaries in my life. They know how things get done. I have been thinking since November that there are women and men behind desks who will misfile things, forget attachments, or otherwise slow down the implementation of new unjust policies. Or perhaps make information known, when not doing so would endanger our democracy. These people probably will not get to feel the life-giving solidarity that is shared at rallies, or to feel the appreciation of others who thank them for their work. Instead, I suspect, their resistance is lonely, and perhaps frightening. I suspect it stems from a sense of duty, patriotism, and an unwillingness to lose one’s self through acquiescence.
During WWII, there were several different means of protest. While some people hid Jewish families in the attic, others forged papers, and others publicly denounced the Nazis. One group of resistors, called the White Rose, was made up mostly of about five college students and one philosophy professor. They dared to have conversations on campus, and to produce a series of leaflets urging nonviolent resistance to Hitler. It must have been both tempting and maddening to think that printing some leaflets couldn’t really make a difference. Yet they did it anyway. Eventually, the members of the White Rose were caught, to be executed or imprisoned.
We don’t look back at the White Rose group today and critique their methods. Well, that might not have been the most efficient, or the most effective, or reach the widest audience, or, or, or. Instead, we look to them with honor and hold them up as examples of ordinary citizens who—in the ways available to them—tried to prevent harm and foster justice.
For those honorable people who use whatever means available to slow the implementation of unjust policies, I give thanks. For those faithful people who use the tools at hand to protect human lives and American democracy—even though no one will ever know—I pray. You know what they are up to, God. Give them guidance and strength. Grant then discernment and protect them from temptations towards power. Keep close to their hearts the principles and peoples who would be swiftly damaged by the new political realities in DC. Protect them, sustain them. Grant them determination and a strong guiding hand. And somehow give them joy. Amen.40
February 16, 2017
Dear God, please bless the writing teachers. They know the world does not need another batch of five-page essays on Moby Dick. But they believe that learning how to construct a thesis statement, and a paragraph, and to connect subject with verb in a sentence, will help students learn how to think clearly. And the world desperately needs more clear thinkers.