Our Christian principles charge us to be a community of prayer and action. We are to live in the tension of piety and work. Worldwide, we continue to experience racial, ethnic, and tribal injustices that dehumanize God’s people. We are called to work towards liberation — as a spiritual and actionable practice. For this reason, the General Commission on Religion and Race (GCORR) invites you to participate in the Racial Justice Prayer & Action Challenge. Beginning on Juneteenth (Sunday, June 19, 2022) daily prayers will be posted on social media for six weeks. Weekly challenges to help you put your prayers into action will also be included.
The challenge is to join by doing each of the following:
- Pray with us each day. Share the prayer on your social media and ask your friends to pray too.
- Take action. Each week we will suggest anti-racist actions, pick one and do it.
- Incorporate the liturgy in worship. We will offer liturgies for each Sunday during the challenge.
- Host a community prayer service for racial justice. Use the litanies, scriptures, and prayers below and invite other faith communities to participate.
Prayers in a downloadable form for use in worship services, small group settings, or as a prayer book for personal prayer time are available. In addition, weekly litanies and a prayer service outline are provided.
The prayers have been written by siblings in Christ across the globe. May we be blessed by the words of the global church as we lament, repent, experience healing and reconciliation, claim the hope, and work towards liberation. Please know that the prayers will also be available in French, Tagalog, Spanish, and Korean.
Each week will have a featured theme and scripture:
- June 19 – 25 | Lamentation: Psalm 13
- June 26 – July 2 | Repentance: Isaiah 1:16-17
- July 3 – 9 | Healing: Isaiah 58:12
- July 10 – 16 | Reconciliation: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21
- July 17 – 23 | Hope: Job 14:7-9
- July 24 – 30 | Liberation: Luke 4:18-19
While the challenge postings can be shared from social media, we invite you to share your own posts as well and tag @gcorrumc on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter and use the hashtag #prayforracialjustice.
