Welcome to Responding with Prayer,
An opportunity to respond to the complex everyday experiences that lift us up and bring us down.
My name is Jess,
And I've struggled with attending to prayer,
So I hope this little offering brings you closer to the Creator.
Today's meditation is on fighting the system.
Let's start by just taking five big breaths together.
Big breathing has been scientifically studied and found to change how we engage stress and situations.
This is good for slowing down,
Preparing for prayer,
But also a good practice for all kinds of situations we find ourselves in.
So let's just pause as we begin and take just one minute to feel our bodies breathe.
Ov That was literally 60 seconds.
If your mind went to other places just now or your mind wanders throughout this time,
That's okay.
It's natural.
And you're still here,
So let's move on.
Take a moment and identify one person or situation that you are grateful for as you do this today.
Take a moment and out loud or in your head,
Express gratitude towards God for that person or situation.
The Christian faith has always had heroines and heroes who have fought to the powers and principalities of this world.
Those who Howard Thurman indicated have their backs against the wall.
Layers of structures keep the rich rich and the powerful powerful at the expense of the vulnerable.
Jesus didn't mince words on the subject and holy is the call to confront,
Disrupt,
Live prophetic and labor for the destruction of these layers of structures.
If you're able,
Put your arms out and turn your palms up in a posture of release towards the creator.
Our bodies are an important part of prayer.
The Christian scriptures tell us of a very practical opportunity.
Cast your cares towards the divine.
So imagine you wrote on the palm of your hands the systems that oppress and anger that brings to you.
And as an act of submission,
What words would you write on your hands?
God,
We place into your hands these things on our hands.
We give to you these systems that we fight and their impact on the communities that we love.
A lot of meditation teaches the necessary ability to release.
Let's also focus on what things we put into the spaces of that release.
If we're leasing the cares of these oppressive systems,
What do we need to take on to continue the fight?
As you close your hands and bring them back to your body,
Think about what accompanying things do you need God to give you as you deal with this fight?
How about assurance,
Power,
Longevity,
Integrity,
Strength,
And perseverance?
These structures can keep us from our purpose because they can suck away our hope.
However,
In prayer we slow down and make commitments to our core foundations.
Spend a minute expressing to God how fighting the system is impacting your life and what freedoms you want to live in.
I want to Differentpton schools and I just had oneoxy Viktoria module.
God,
We accept the freedom that comes with putting this fight before you.
We often struggle with the very abundant life that you have for us.
So we accept the grace of your perseverance in the struggle,
Your heart for the world,
Your call for perseverance,
And the power that you give us.
Taking this time today did not change the struggle against unjust systems that are oppressive.
Perhaps it may have changed your orientation towards the struggle.
There is always more work to do.
So the great spiritual writers in the Christian tradition,
They maintain that prayer's greatest gift is not that it suddenly changes situations,
But that often it changes us.
God,
We accept the freedom that comes with the very abundant life that you have for us.
God,
We accept the freedom that comes with the struggle.
God,
We accept the freedom that comes with the struggle.
God,
We accept the freedom that comes with the struggle.
God,
We accept the freedom that comes with the struggle.
God,
We accept the freedom that comes with the struggle.
God,
We accept the freedom that comes with the struggle.
God,
We accept the freedom that comes with the struggle.
