Against Poverty

Teach-Girls-End-World-PovertyThis prayer is good for your Passover Seder and daily worship. It’s from my series “Against…” including: “Against Human Trafficking” and “Against Tyranny.” The idea for this series began as I looked over a list of the titles of my prayers. There were 49, roughly a third of my work at the time, beginning with the word “For…” So I wondered, can we pray ‘against’? To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

 

Against Poverty
G-d of the hungry,
G-d of the sick and the homeless,
The voice of the forgotten echoes across the land,
Dismayed and abandoned in a world of abundance.
Our children,
Our brothers
And our sisters
Are left to beg in the streets,
To find shelter in abandoned structures,
To suffer illness without physician or medication.

Source of hope and mercy,
Rock of strength and fortitude,
You call upon us to stand in the name of healing and honor,
To witness against human life ignored,
To fight society neglecting human beings,
To muster our power and energy against this plague.

Bless those who dedicate their lives to the poor, the sick and the homeless.
Bless those who take to the streets to offer food, clothing and shelter.
Give them courage and determination.
Bless those who plead on behalf of the poor before the seats of power,
Governments and corporations.
Give them wisdom and skill.
May the work of their hands never falter
Nor despair deter them from this holy calling.

Bless those in poverty with resources.
Release them from want.
Hasten the day of their self-sufficiency and bounty.

Blessed are You, G-d of All Being,
Who summons us to oppose the tyranny of poverty.

© 2011 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

Postscript: Does the idea of praying “against” resonate with you? What else should we pray against? Please drop me a note, if you’re so moved.

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