The following prayer opened today's meeting of the Dallas County Commissioners' Court.
God of many names and of all people, we approach you this morning with gratitude, humility and a sense of genuine privilege.
Thank you for hearing our petitions.
We honor you as the Creator and Sustainer of our lives in this community. We know that you have shaped and informed every positive human value—the values that make life work in the manner that you intended for every single person in a world that continues to grow smaller and smaller, though tragically divided by conflict and war.
Forgive us, O God, for our rejection of your values. Heal us from the disease, the illness of substituting counterfeit, comfortable, anemic values of our own making for those values that flow from your strong heart and your lively Spirit.
We know you are a God who honors freedom. Forgive us for the ways we have worked to limit the freedom that you want to give to everyone in equal measure. Make us champions of true liberty in this community.
We acknowledge that you are a God committed to justice, equity and fairness. Forgive us for all the ways we find to practice injustice and oppression, while building systems that are anything but inclusive and equal. Make us a people sold out to justice.
We honor you today as a God who works to deliver hope to your world. Forgive us for too often dashing the hopes of the precious people around us. Equip us with new resolve and extraordinary energy to offer ourselves as channels of hope and compassion to those who see no hope and feel no compassion this morning.
Open our eyes and our hearts to those who know poverty in this community of amazing abundance. Quicken our memory this morning that we might not forget our brothers and sisters—young and old—who have no place to call “home” in this city of mansions. Lead us so that we will not forget the prisoners, or those who are ill and unstable, or the unemployed, or those who are desperate in their loneliness.
Now O God, bless our leaders convened in this sacred place of decision making.
Pour out your wisdom upon each of these servants of yours that they might promote those things closest to your heart, while standing against those forces that limit and deny your people freedom, justice and the hope that’s born of compassion and genuine community.
We pray together with boldness this morning, knowing that you have brought us to this moment by your sustaining love and your amazing grace.
Amen.
11 comments:
Limit freedom?
The USA has done more to expand freedom than any country in the world.
Practice injustice and oppression?
Is that the reason hordes of people break our laws to get into this country?
Know poverty in our community?
Dallas has a booming economy, this morning there was an article talking about the sky-high demand for workers in the construction industry. They would even train them.
This sounds like a Socialist prayer to me.
chris, ever read any latin american economic/business or social history on the role of the U.S. there over the years? don't think so.
what about the children? what about health care? what about mental illness? what about homelessness and adequate housing? what about the gap between rich and poor that only grows these days in this country? what about education? how many of those construction jobs are there, really? give me a number and then let's compare to some neighborhoods in dallas and around the nation. . .
larry is more patient than i when it comes to your bromides! open your eyes!
When anyone puts equality and justice in the same sentence I think of socialism. Hugo Chavez said it best. "Everyday I become convinced, there is no doubt in my mind, and as many intellectuals have said, that it is necessary to transcend capitalism. But capitalism can't be transcended from within capitalism itself, but through socialism, true socialism, with EQUALITY AND JUSTICE."
However, socialism has never worked to any degree in the past nor will it work in the future. People need incentive.
chris--i don't think larry is arguing for socialism; but if he were, there are plenty of places he could point to where it is working--or, at least what you'd likely call "socialism" is working at least as well or better than capitalism when measured regarding social outcomes and overall quality of life: england, canada, all scandanavian nations, france, etc.
From what I can tell, Jesus was a socialist much more than a capitalist.
And he needed no "incentive" of the type that you describe.
JG
So.... did you see that Obama is calling for universal health care?
I know a number of homeless individuals who have gone to construction sites daily in this city and begged for jobs...to be told every single time that the crews were already booked. There may be a 'booming economy', but it is NOT accessible to everyone. And those who think it is are living in a dream.
Larry, did you write this prayer? Because it brought me to tears.
JG
Hugo Chavez agrees with you. He said, "If you really want to look at things through the eyes of Jesus Christ, who I think was the first socialist---only socialism can really create a genuine society."
Hugo is having a little trouble as we speak.
There is such a thing as Christian socialism, people who profess to be both christians and socialist. They usually profess the social gospel and Liberation theology.
Chris,
I agree with you here, but hear me out for a second. Being an ass is not the way to change people's minds. Believe me, I've tried.
I think what Chris is trying to point out is the incompatibility of socialism and liberty. Christian socialism and state sanctioned socialism are completely different animals. On one hand, you have a group of people who under no threat of violence, choose to hold their possessions in common with one another. Probably the best example of this is the family unit. It can also be practiced in Christian community. And in Christian socialism, when one isn't pulling their weight, whether it be fiscally, morally, etc, they are disfellowshiped from the group.
State sanctioned socialism is quite different. Love is not the motivator in the redistribution of wealth via the state. The motivator is power and control. And the main problem with that is not that people are trying to exert power and control (people will do that in any system) its that those who are in power and in control can essentially bribe their constituency (or if they are like Chavez, arrest them or take over their freedoms to promote his cause) in order to maintain power.
Can socialism "work"? For a while, sure. But the problem is that it isn't self sustaining. It will kill an economy. If you look at Europe of late, you'll see that happening. The unemployment rate here is around 4.5 percent, while the unemployment rate of the European Union is around 8 percent. There are anomolies of course, but for the most part, countries with freer markets have lower unemployment, higher wages, etc.
All that coming to this point; I have yet to read in the Bible anywhere where Jesus forced anyone to give away all they had. He called on the rich young ruler to do it, but the man walked away sad. Jesus stayed behind. Jesus never asked Zaccheus to give away anything, but the tax collector gave away a ton (but not all) of his wealth as a response to the love he was shown. Annanias and Saphira were killed, not for only giving away half of their money, but because they lied to God.
I'm not saying its not important to give, or better yet that its not imperative. What I am saying is that when you have true liberty, you have the opportunity to do things wrong. God gave us that opportunity from the beginning. As Christians, I think we should support a system that allows people to come to moral conclusions that don't affect the constitutional rights of others, let them come to those conclusions on their own. Anything else, seems to be unchristian.
Sorry-I didn't know I was being an a--. Otherwise, Justin, I agree with you.
my breath is caught in this wind,
so slow, so staggered --
what love is this that thrives on
nickels and dimes, the castaways of compassion?
there is no charity on this street,
only mild concern for visibly struggling strangers,
a desire to keep the fences firm and tall,
a yearning for no memory of pain.
JG
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