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Liberating God,
as you once freed Israel from captivity, we call upon
your liberating love to ransom us from our many
layers of imprisonment. Systemic racism holds us
captive while fear, addiction, complacency and
despair constrain us.
We remember especially sisters and brothers bound by
prison walls; we remember the anguish of their victims.
We do not understand so many things;
structures of sentencing, a disproportionate number
of inmates of color, the suffering of their children in now
single-parent families, our collective fear of released
prisoners as illustrated by their inability to find housing,
jobs, respect, or a second chance.
We ask, O God, for the wisdom of compassion and the humility of forgiveness.
In the healing liberation of your love we pray
free us from fear; free us to action,
free us from revenge; free us to reconciliation.
We make this our prayer in the name of Brother Jesus, that,
like him, we may become instruments of peace, healing
and true freedom for each sister and brother created
in Your image. Amen.
by Cathy Heying and Marilaurice Hemlock
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