Tag Archive for "healing racism"

Posts Tagged ‘healing racism’

Strangled by Police: Psalm of Protest 17

Posted on: May 29th, 2020 by Alden

This Psalm of Protest is in memory of George Floyd, killed by police in Minneapolis. With a knee on his neck, the officer pinned the unarmed and handcuffed Floyd to the ground as he pleaded for help. This is a prayer against brutality, abuse of power and racism. I’m not anti-police, and have written several prayers for police and first responders. But be clear: no one should die in police custody. And systemic racism must end. Period. See also “For George Floyd’s Family.” Here are all of my Psalms of Protest.

Strangled by Police: Psalm of Protest 17
A psalm of protest,
In memory of George Floyd,
Sung at the gates of justice,
When black men are strangled in the streets,
When power is abused and jails overflow,
When the voiceless are forgotten and minorities misused.
Open, you gates!
Open to the cries of those murdered, jailed or harassed
For being black,
For being a person of color,
For being homeless, indigent, destitute or unwanted,
The detained, the hounded,
The pursued and the persecuted,
Those who are killed while being restrained.
Open, you gates!
Let righteousness flow forth as living waters,
And truth flow forth as healing balm,
To still the hand of violence and hatred,
To cure the heart of bigotry and racism,
To herald fairness and equality,
And bring justice to this land.

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Postscript: See also: “For George Floyd’s Family,” “O Freedom: Psalm of Protest 14,” “A Dream of Columbine: Psalm of Protest 13,” and “Sing with Liberty: Psalm of Protest 15 .” All of my Psalms of Protest can be found here.

Please check out my ELItalk video, “Falling in Love with Prayer,” and my two CCAR Press books: This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings and This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day. For reprint permissions and usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” To receive my latest prayers via email, please subscribe (on the home page). You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo Source: The New York Times

For the Christians of Egypt

Posted on: May 27th, 2017 by Alden

Today we grieve with the Coptic Christians of Egypt after gunmen attacked a bus of pilgrims headed to St. Samuel the Confessor monastery. The New York Times called the attack “a coldblooded escalation of sectarian violence targeting minority Christians that has left more than 100 dead since December.”

For the Christians of Egypt
Oh people of conscience,
Cry out.
For G-d calls us to stand
With our Christian brothers and sisters.

Source and Creator,
Grant a perfect rest under your tabernacle of peace
To the victims of the ongoing attacks
Against Christians in Egypt.
Remember, too, those murdered
Throughout the Christian world.

Today we remember with sorrow the recent
Attack on pilgrims to St. Samuel the Confessor.
Their lives were cut off
In acts of aggression and hate.
May their souls be bound up in the bond of life,
A living blessing in our midst.
May they rest in peace.

Remember the survivors of this horror.
Grant them comfort and consolation.
Bless them with endurance to survive,
Strength to rebuild,
Faith to mourn,
Courage to heal,
And devotion to each other.

Oh G-d,
We implore You,
Look down upon the suffering
Of the Christians of Egypt.
Hold them close with Your mercy.

G-d of All,
With Your gentle and loving hand
Unite Your children
Under a canopy of peace.
Bring the light of salvation and healing
To the four corners of the earth.

Postscript: On April 9, suicide bombings killed 44 at two Coptic churches in Egypt. This prayer is based on for “Racist Violence against Houses of Worship” and my “Liturgy after Terror Attacks.”

Please check out my ELItalk video, “Falling in Love with Prayer,” and This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day. For reprint permissions and usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” To receive my latest prayers via email, please subscribe (on the home page). You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo Source: The New York Times

Racist Violence against Houses of Worship

Posted on: July 5th, 2015 by Alden

Today witnessed a deadly racist attack at Quebec City’s Islamic Cultural Center. Racist violence against houses of worship is far too common. Here’s an update of two prayers I wrote after a deadly shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, Charleston, S.C., and an arson attack at the Church of the Multiplication in Israel. Optional language appears in [brackets]. May there come a time when this prayer is no longer needed.

ADDENDUM, April 9, 2017: Today we grieve with the Coptic community of Egypt.

ADDENDUM, June 19, 2017: Today we grieve with the Muslim Welfare House, London.

ADDENDUM, October 27, 2018: Today we grieve with Tree of Life Synagogue, Pittsburgh.

ADDENDUM, April 28, 2019: The last month has seen attacks against Muslims in New Zeland, Christians in Sri Lanka and Jews in California.

Racist Violence against Houses of Worship
Oh people of conscience,
Cry out.
Cry out against arrogance.
Cry out against hatred and anger.
Cry out against violence and oppression.
For G-d requires us to stand
In the name of justice and freedom,
For G-d requires us to oppose terror,
To muster our power and energy
Against racist aggression
And to protect all houses of prayer.

Oh G-d,
We implore You,
Look down upon the suffering
Perpetrated against churches, mosques and synagogues,
Against houses of worship in so many lands,
By the hand of wickedness,
By the hand of malevolence,
By the hand of ignorance and sin.
Today we remember with sadness the attacks on ________________
[Add names of religious institutions, such as “Islamic Cultural Center, Quebec City,” “Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal AME Church,” “Church of the Multiplication of Loaves and Fish,” “Kehillat Bnai Torah Yeshiva Synagogue,” “Kano Central Mosque” or Sikh Temple of Wisconsin.]
[And the loss of precious life.]
[We remember: ________________. (Add names of individual victims.)]

With Your gentle and loving hand,
G-d of Shelter,
Unite all of your children
Under Your canopy of hope and love.
Bring the light of salvation and healing
To the four corners of the earth.

Postscript: There have been more than 90 documented attacks on historically black churches in the U.S. since 1956. On Wikipedia, there are 52 pages listing attacks on synagogues and Jewish communal organizations throughout the world; some of those pages include multiple incidents. Wikipedia also lists 21 pages of attacks on mosques. This prayer is an adaptation of my prayer “For the Yazidi People.” The introduction and the illustration for this prayer were updated on Jan. 30, 2017, in response to the shooting in Quebec City.

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Photo Source: Montreal Gazette (bullet hole in the window of a prayer room at a mosque in the Sablons neighborhood of Le Mans)

For Mother Emanuel / Church of the Multiplication: Racist Violence against Houses of Worship

Posted on: June 18th, 2015 by Alden

On Wednesday night, nine people were killed during a shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, an historic black church in Charleston, S.C. The oldest AME church in the south, it’s referred to as “Mother Emanuel.” Across continents Thursday morning, arsonists set fire to the Church of the Multiplication of Loaves and Fish on the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee). Most of the damage occurred roof; two people suffered smoke inhalation. Given the time zone differences, these acts of violence and cowardice — the preparations, the police responses — were quite possibly playing out at the same time. Here are two prayers in response.

For Mother Emanuel: A Memorial and Healing Prayer
Author of life
Source and Creator,
Grant a perfect rest under your tabernacle of peace
To those who lost their lives the attack on Mother Emanuel,
Whose lives were cut off by violence,
An act of witless aggression.
Put an end to anger, hatred and fear
And lead us to a time when no one will suffer at the hand of another.
May their souls be bound up in the bond of life,
A living blessing in our midst.

G-d of justice and mercy,
Remember the survivors of this attack,
And the victims of any disaster,
Any violence, suffering or despair.
Grant them shelter and solace,
Comfort and consolation,
Blessing and renewal.
Grant them endurance to survive,
Strength to rebuild,
Faith to mourn,
Courage to heal,
And devotion to each other.

Heavenly Guide,
Hand of love and shelter,
Grant the people of Mother Emanuel Your protection,
Your wholeness and healing,
And Your peace.

With Your gentle and loving hand,
G-d of Shelter,
Unite all of your children
Under Your canopy of hope and love.
Bring the light of salvation and healing
To the four corners of the earth.

Postscript: The prayer “For Mother Emanuel” is an adaptation of “Violence in Mumbai.” The prayer “Racist Violence against Houses of Worship” is an adaptation of “For the Yazidi People.”

Photo Source: Wikipedia

Another Boy Lost: A Jewish Yizkor for an Arab Son

Posted on: July 8th, 2014 by Alden

This is prayer in memory of Muhammad Abu Khdeir, the 16-year-old Arab boy burned to death at the hands of Jewish extremists. It’s part lament — that some of our own Jewish people could commit such a heinous act — and part a prayer to honor his memory. As such, it is explicitly written to be said by Jews. To emphasize the theme that the murder of any child is intolerable, it borrows from my prayer “They Were Boys: A Yizkor Prayer,” written in memory of Gil-ad z”l, Iyal z”l and Naftali z”l. The last line is from Ṣalāt al-Janāzah — the Islamic funeral prayer, as it appears on Wikipedia — and is shown in italics. I hope that I’ve used it in a way that is respectful of the Moslem tradition.

Another Boy Lost
Oh my nation,
In this grievous hour of pain and loss,
Another boy is dead,
This time by our own hand.
Oh my people,
That some of our own could
Commit such an atrocity!
An atrocity by fire.
He was a boy.
Stolen from his family,
Stolen from his people,
Stolen from life itself.
A boy.

G-d of All,
Grant a perfect rest under Your tabernacle of peace
To Muhammad Abu Khdeir
Whose life was cut off by violence
In an act of witless anger and hatred.
A boy.

Blood is blood.
Breath is breath.
Life is life.
May his memory become a source of
Courage to our nation and our people
To reject racism and hate.

G-d whose name is Peace,
In this hour of grief,
Remember Muhammad.
A boy.
Bless his family with consolation and strength.
Grant them endurance, hope and courage.
Let him find peace in the cradle of heaven.

Oh G-d,
Admit him to Paradise
And protect him from the torment of the grave.
Make his grave spacious and fill it with light.

Postscript: In writing this, I selected one line from the Ṣalāt al-Janāzah and removed some language. The line reads in full:

“Oh G-d, admit him to Paradise and protect him from the torment of the grave and the torment of Hell-fire; make his grave spacious and fill it with light.”

I removed the reference to Hell-fire for two reasons: first, because of my discomfort with the language. Second, to avoid a potential misinterpretation by those outside Islam. The original name for this prayer was “Blood is Blood,” also to emphasize that all life is sacred, but after thinking about the prayer, it seemed too harsh of a name for a memorial prayer. Thanks to Rabbi Bob Carroll of Interfaith Encounter here in Israel and Rabbi Ruth Abusch-Magder of Be’chol Lashon in the U.S. for your review and comments. Here’s a link to “They Were Boys: A Yizkor Prayer,” and other prayers for Israel. Please check out my new book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

Photo Source: Times of Israel

Posts Tagged ‘healing racism’

Strangled by Police: Psalm of Protest 17

For the Christians of Egypt

Racist Violence against Houses of Worship

For Mother Emanuel / Church of the Multiplication: Racist Violence against Houses of Worship

Another Boy Lost: A Jewish Yizkor for an Arab Son

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