A Ploughshare Prayer by Spencer Lajoye

 

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***edit/addition: hey, loves! I’m so glad this has resonated with you. For those asking if you can show the video/play the song somewhere: yep! Just credit me. No compensation, but consider joining me on Patreon if you're an individual. If you're a church, donate to your anti-racist org of choice.

And my pronouns are they/them ***

Dear blessed creator, dear mother, dear savior

Dear father, dear brother, dear holy other

Dear sibling, dear baby, dear patiently waiting

Dear sad and confused, dear stuck and abused

Dear end-of-your-rope, dear worn out and broke,

Dear go-it-alone, dear running from home

Dear righteously angry, forsaken by family

Dear jaded and quiet, dear tough and defiant

I pray that I’m heard

And I pray that this works

I pray if a prayer has been used as a sword

against you and your heart, against you and your word

I pray that this prayer is a plowshare, of sorts

that it might break you open, it might help you grow

I pray that your body gets all that it needs

and if you don’t want healing, I just pray for peace

I pray that your burden gets lighter each day

I pray the mean voice in your head goes away

I pray that you honor the grief as it comes

I pray you can feel all the life in your lungs

I pray that if you go all day being brave

that you can go home, go to bed feeling safe

I pray you’re forgiven, I pray you forgive

I pray you set boundaries and openly live

I pray that you feel you are worth never leaving

I pray that you know I will always believe you

I pray that you’re heard

and I pray that this works

Amen on behalf of the last and the least

On behalf of the anxious, depressed, and unseen

Amen for the workers, the hungry, the houseless

Amen for the lonely and recently spouseless

Amen for the queers and their closeted peers

Amen for the bullied who hold in their tears

Amen for the mothers of little Black sons

Amen for the kids who grow up scared of guns

Amen for the addicts, the ashamed and hungover

Amen for the calloused, the wisened, the sober

Amen for the ones who want life to be over

Amen for the leaders who lose their composure

Amen for the parents who just lost their baby

Amen for the chronically ill and disabled

Amen for the children down at the border

Amen for the victims of our law and order

I pray that you’re heard

and I pray that this works

I pray if a prayer has been used as a sword

against you and your heart, against you and your word

I pray that this prayer is a plowshare, of sorts