Here’s
a prayer of repentance and commitment from Mark Young, the President of Denver
Seminary in Colorado.
Young
writes, “As I struggled to express my thoughts and feelings in this journey, a member of the Denver Seminary Race Relations
Working Group recommended that I write them out as if I were speaking with
God. What emerged from that advice is this prayer….”
Prayer
Have
mercy on me, O Lord.
I
have blinded my eyes. In spite of the clear evidence of deeply embedded racism
all around me, I have looked the other way. Too many have died. Too many have
suffered. Too many have been locked out and cast aside. Too many indignities.
Too many injustices. And still I looked the other way.
Have
mercy on me, O Lord.
I
have hardened my heart. Believing the lie that blacks have the same
opportunities as whites, I could not allow myself to admit that my life was
shaped as much by racism as theirs—mine to benefit and theirs to harm. But it
was and it is and it will continue to be. I have cared too little. I have
grieved too little.
Have
mercy on me, O Lord.
I
have silenced my tongue. My voice has not been raised in prophetic rebuke and
anger. My feet have not stepped out for justice alongside those who have more
courage than I. And in my silence I am an accomplice to bigotry.
Forgive
me, O Lord.
I
have sinned against you and against those who suffer the evil of racism.
Indifference has smothered my soul and snuffed out fleeting impulses for
reconciliation. I ask for your forgiveness and I will appropriately seek their
forgiveness.
Empower
me, O Lord.
I
need your strength to step beyond blindness, indifference and fear; to step
toward those whom I have sinned against. I make no grandiose promises or plans
today for I know how easily these can be made and forgotten. But this I know. I
cannot be the same. And I will not.
Amen!
~
written by Mark Young, President, Denver Seminary. Posted on the Denver
Seminary website. https://denverseminary.edu/racism-a-reflection-and-a-prayer/
