{"id":52831,"date":"2020-04-26T17:10:36","date_gmt":"2020-04-26T17:10:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/campusministry\/?p=52831"},"modified":"2023-01-17T20:15:31","modified_gmt":"2023-01-17T20:15:31","slug":"a-prayer-for-liberation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/campusministry\/2020\/04\/26\/a-prayer-for-liberation\/","title":{"rendered":"A Prayer for Liberation"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this time of crisis as a result of the Covid-19 Pandemic people all over the world are experiencing unprecedented social, economic and spiritual challenges. These measures of social distancing and stay-in-hope are proving to be working.\u00a0 The Apostle Paul wrote in Roman\u2019s 7:21 \u201c<\/span>I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand<\/span>.\u201d<\/span> Last weekend, thousands gathered in Washington, Michigan, Texas, Maryland, Minnesota and California to protest lockdown orders resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. Some marched with rifles and handguns, wrapped themselves in Confederate flags, carrying posters saying, \u201cGive Me Liberty or Give Me Corvid-19\u201d, \u201cNo Liberty, No Life\u201d. These public gatherings are all in direct violation of the social distancing orders.\u00a0 Even as President Donald J Trump via social media tweeted to protesters, \u201cliberate\u201d states where they protested the restrictions and \u201csave your great 2<\/span>nd<\/span> amendment\u201d. However difficult sheltering-in-place and social-distancing maybe, it is necessary to save lives especially in the most vulnerable populations.\u00a0 As many are captive to the hardship caused by Covid-19, today we offer these scriptures and A PRAYER FOR\u2026 LIBERATION<\/span><\/p>\n

John 8:34-36\u00a0(NRSV)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Jesus answered them, \u201cVery truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.\u00a0<\/span>35\u00a0<\/span>The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever.\u00a0<\/span>36\u00a0<\/span>So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.<\/span><\/p>\n

2 Corinthians 3:17\u00a0(NRSV)<\/span><\/p>\n

17\u00a0<\/span>Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom<\/span><\/p>\n

Let us pray:<\/span><\/p>\n

Good and gracious God, you are our liberator. We come humbly before you now, El-Shaddai almighty God on behalf of those suffering as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. We cry out for freedom.\u00a0 All- encompassing God, you sent your Son Jesus to proclaim liberty to the captives and recover sight to the blind. We thank you for the insights you give to doctors and researchers who are working tirelessly to combat this disease.\u00a0 You sent Jesus to set at liberty those who are oppressed.\u00a0 We pray that those who are in captivity to the sin of racism, ignorance, privilege, greed, anti-blackness, anti-immigrant and imperialism experience true liberation. Compassionate and loving God, thank you that your answer to our loss of freedom has always been your Son and who your Son Jesus sets free is free indeed. For freedom in Christ has set us free. We pray that those in positions of power and influence who confess to be in Christ, provide resources and set at liberty those populations most vulnerable to the coronavirus, Africa-American communities, families and children detained in cages at the U.S. borders and those in the prison compounds.\u00a0 Lord we pray for an outpouring of your Holy Spirit for where the Spirit is there is freedom. Liberate now oh God your people, who are called by Your Name, to stand firm and to not submit to a yoke of sin. Free us from all the ways that life as we knew it was not beneficial to all people. God of the Resurrected, may we learn to genuinely love and care for one other as you Holy Trinity has genuinely loved us. It is in Jesus the Christ name we pray. Amen<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rev. Babette Chatman<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this time of crisis as a result of the Covid-19 Pandemic people all over the world are experiencing unprecedented social, economic and spiritual challenges. These measures of social distancing and stay-in-hope are proving to be working.\u00a0 The Apostle Paul wrote in Roman\u2019s 7:21 \u201cI find it to be a law that when I want …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":326,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/campusministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/campusministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/campusministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/campusministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/326"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/campusministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52831"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/campusministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52831\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53230,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/campusministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52831\/revisions\/53230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/campusministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/campusministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/campusministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}