We Cant' Breathe.

God,

We don't know what to do.

Our black and brown siblings can't breathe.

Injustice has had its knee on their necks for so long now--crushing their dreams, cutting off the air of freedom, rendering them helpless and hopeless.

What would we do if we couldn't breathe?

We would fight for our lives.  We would fight for every breath.  We would struggle to survive.

We would do anything to find air, to fill our lungs with hope, to simply stay alive.

This has been our sibling's reality--one that many of us cannot possibly understand.

We are in grief.  But we don't know what to do.

All we can know is this.  When there are some of us who can't breathe... we all are fighting for air.

God, we know that to you... all lives matter, but when some of us are struggling for air, we need to pay attention to them, attend to them. 

You created this way.  You created us to breathe for one another, to stand up when some of us cannot stand... because they are being kept down... being suffocated.

To do otherwise is to deny your image within us.  To do otherwise is to deny ourselves air.

There are some who would exploit this moment----turn it into something that it isn't.  To those who would sow evil seeds in the ground that has been turned up by the struggle we all are experiencing together... that is against your will, and we condemn their actions.

We condemn the evil that leads some of us to minimize the pain of our siblings in order to shore up their own power.  We know that you stand with the oppressed, the marginalized, the poor, the outcasts... just as you have throughout all of history.  And so should we. 

Your Son Jesus taught us what we must do... he showed us the sacrifice that it takes in order to cause the powers that be to lift their knees off of the necks of those who are fighting for air.

He taught us to give up our privilege... to let go of our position... to stand with those who have been longing for freedom, longing for equality.  We will do this.  We will surrender.  

We will acknowledge that justice delayed is justice denied.

That none of us can breathe, until all of us can breathe.

Let your Spirit give us the wind of resurrection. Let your Spirit raise us from our death-like slumber.  Let your Spirit reign over this broken world.

Show us what to do.

In your name, we pray.  Amen.