Prayer for Binding

I take the words of the Christ seriously, where he is quoted in Matthew as saying “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (16:19). We are in a moment of grave evil in the USA. Ancient evils we never properly dealt with as a society - racism, xenophobia, police/law enforcement brutality, the ongoing reverberations of enslavement, internment, genocide, and jim crow - are again presenting themselves to us in real time. All echoes of greed, power-mongering, and exploitation of people and planet. And now we have concentration camps in the USA, public street executions, blatantly lying and corrupt politicians, an apocalypse of child trafficking and pedophilia they are desperate to hide. We bind them on earth and in Heaven.

I won’t mince words on this. Good people must pay attention and lend their efforts to the cause of justice, to bringing Heaven to earth. We commit to doing everything we can to oppose evil and articulate Heaven - calling congresspeople, boycotting, protesting, marching, donating, and yes, praying.
All hands on deck.

God, our hearts are breaking beneath the weight of harm and murder our government has done
And is continuing to do, without lawful justification and against reasonable morality and ethics.
We lament and grieve the grave evil that hovers over our land,
And we direct our attention toward binding this evil.

So, like the Psalmist before us we pray: May those who directly perpetrate evil, or who are complicit in perpetrating evil be bound:
Bound by divine Love,
Their wicked plans thwarted,
Their legacy of harm dissolved,
Their resources and support crumbled,
Their influence removed from this earth.

May the evils of concentration camps, executions, terror and tyranny be bound,
Their power curtailed and removed,
Their authority undone,
Their resources cut off,
All those sick, hungry, thirsty, injured, and traumatized cared for and tended.
All innocent prisoners released.

May foul lies coming from wicked mouths cease to influence the people.
May those currently under the spell of liars and evil-doers be awakened to Divine Love and Truth.
May those cheering on tyranny, terror, and grave harm have their voices silenced in the manner of Zechariah.
May those who celebrate harm come to feel profound shame for their actions, and repent of their error.

May those whose greed and exploitation have brought us to such profound inequity be relieved of their privilege,
No longer free to pull the strings of corrupt politicians.
May people of conscience and consciousness rise up, get loud,
And demand an end to lies, murder, and tyranny.

May the influence of immoral people be removed from our land, 
May the hearts of ordinary people be awakened and brought to attention.
May all who claim to follow a God of Love, be enlightened as to the rotten fruit of the actions done by powers they revere.
May the illusions and influence of evil be completely dissolved and destroyed.
And may all the “nice” people who “don’t do politics” awaken from their slumber, 
And rise to meet the tragedy before us all, before it’s too late and more harm is done.

Help us, Source of Universal Love, to resist the temptation and illusion of temporary safety and comfort,
And instead put our bodies, our reputations, our words, and our actions into alignment with highest Truth and Love,
That we may be the body of God on the 3D earth, 
Representatives of Heaven, for the good of all.

Amen 

Epiphany Seventh Sunday: Litany for Aliens and Evil-Doers

This week's Lectionary passages are PREACHING to me. Unless you read them, particularly the Leviticus combined with the Matthew 5, you probably won't connect with this litany. Those church folks who scheduled the readings really were thoughtful and thorough in their choices, because these four passages are like bells that chime in harmony.

 

God, we hear you asking us
To extend the bounds of our love,
To consider new groups of people worthy of our regard.
To cast a bigger net.

We are supposed to love widely
To forgive deeply
To share sacrificially
To give generously
Even to those we consider undeserving
Even to those we consider dangerous.

Strengthen us, Oh God,
to follow your ways:
Because loving our enemies is not for the faint of heart (Matt 5:44);
Giving to the poor decreases our profit margins (Lev 19:10);
Welcoming the alien makes for awkward cultural situations;
Caring for the differently-abled is inconvenient (Lev 19:14);
Not resisting evil-doers interrupts our self-defense mechanisms (Matt 5:39);
And grudges are our favorite burdens to bear (Lev 19:18).

We would often rather be normal, nice, politically-correct people.
And normal people don’t do the things you recommend.
But you aren’t asking us to be normal.
You’re asking us to be Kingdom-people.
You’re asking us to live by the law of love.
You’re asking us to lay down our lives

Strengthen us, Oh God, to follow your ways,
And to love neighbors, aliens, and evil-doers as ourselves (Lev 19:18).

Amen