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New every morning is your love, great God of light, and all day long you are working for good in the world. Stir up in us desire to serve you, to live peacefully with our neighbors and all your creation, and to devote each day to your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

"A Liturgy for Morning Prayer," Upper Room Worshipbook

Used by permission from the Book of Common Worship, © 2018 Westminster John Knox Press. All rights reserved. This prayer appears in “A Liturgy for Morning Prayer” in Upper Room Worshipbook.

 

Today’s Reflection

Our prayer is that this [book] will help you develop a justice imagination that can speak a comprehensive, hands-on word of spirituality and social transformation into this racist, economically unequal, yet deeply hungry and hopeful moment.

A justice imagination is resistance at work. In a time period when folks laugh at us for believing justice is possible, those with a justice imagination find it within their hearts to imagine anyhow. That is our hope for you, that you might come away from this devotional with a desire to imagine a better world despite the pain of the moment.

—Gabby Cudjoe-Wilkes and Andrew Wilkes, Psalms for Black Lives: Reflections for the Work of Liberation (Upper Room Books, 2022)

Today’s Question

In the past couple of years, who or what has helped you believe that justice is possible? Join the conversation.

Today’s Scripture

Happy are those
who do not follow the advice of the wicked,
or take the path that sinners tread,
or sit in the seat of scoffers;
but their delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law they meditate day and night.
—Psalm 1:1-2 (NRSV)

Prayer for the Week

Gracious God of Liberation, free us
from our enemies. And when we are the enemies, transform
us from oppressing others into removing the yoke from their
necks and practicing freedom. In Christ’s name, Amen.
—Prayer from Psalms for Black Lives by Gabby Cudjoe-Wilkes and Andrew Wilkes.

Submit your prayer to The Upper Room.

Something More

This week’s featured book, Psalms for Black Lives, is now available in audiobook. Listen, pray, and develop a justice imagination wherever you are. Learn more here.

Lectionary Readings

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

Looking for lectionary-based resources? Learn more about The Upper Room Disciplines.

2 Comments

  • Jill Posted February 7, 2023 9:20 am

    Seeing those who tirelessly fight for equality and diversity are a great encouragement. Unfortunately, they also manage to encourage those against equality and diversity to fight that much harder. Oh, how we need unity and to stand as one.
    My school is quite diverse, in races/ethnicity, in sexual preferences, in those who claim spirituality. And along with all this diversity comes too strong a dose of bias and hatred. A small microcosm of the “world out there”.
    A few busy days here…a staff meeting after school and then my god son’s basketball game.
    Continuing in prayer for the concerns shared here.

  • robert moeller Posted February 7, 2023 6:36 pm

    I do believe that God made me a person that thinks, believes things will always get better. It might be a harder to think that for those whose justice is being trampled on, but there too I expect diligent effort will OVERCOME INJUSTICE. Black lives DO MATTER, Asian/Asian-American lives DO MATTER, Native American lives DO MATTER, Hispanic lives DO MATTER, Women’s lives DO MATTER. LGBTQ lives DO MATTER. I want liberty, justice, and equality for all. America is where it can happen. it is a struggle, but success is possible. It is the American dream. Thank You, Lord.

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