Readings: Matthew 5:1–12; Isaiah 61
Today is Racial Justice Sunday, and we are also continuing to think about prayer. And so I want us to think today about how we pray in situations of injustice.
Now, we mark Racial Justice Sunday not because it’s the latest date in the calendar or as some sort of virtue signalling, or because we are ‘woke’. We do so because racism and injustice are persistent in our world, and they are not of God.
We might think a day like today is not needed, but given the most powerful president in the world shared a horendously racist meme on his socials, just this week I am pretty sure we can all agree it is needed. And on top of that…
While we gather today wars are raging across the world, and civilians, normal people, are paying the price. The majority of those who are suffering are not white.
As we gather today, refugees will be crossing borders with children in their arms and nowhere safe to go. Often because of a prejudice against their people group, their skin colour or their religion.
While we gather today whole communities are living with the daily fear that an encounter with authority could turn deadly. Again it is often those who are not white, or who are from ‘a different nation’ that are most at risk.
We are gathering while the gap between rich and poor widens, while truth is skewed by world leaders, while human dignity is discussed in some quarters as if it were optional.
So, how do we pray when injustice can feel so overwhelming? How do we pray when we feel powerless or angry, exhausted or afraid ?
Well thankfully, the Bible has plenty of guidance, and we need to be clear about something, especially on a day like today:
Firstly, we are called to love the stranger, the foreigner or alien, as various translations say:
For example in Leviticus 19:33-34 (NIV) we read,
When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not ill-treat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
how pertient…
and Jesus teaches us to love our neighbour, as much as we love God (Mark 12:31 & elsewhere)
Secondly, God’s Word is not neutral in the face of injustice.
The Bible does not hover politely above the mess of the world. It names it, it takes sides. Again and again, Scripture reminds us that God hears the cries of the oppressed. God notices whose bodies are treated as disposable.
We know God loves justice. Isaiah 51 reminds us that God’s teaching will go out to the world, that God’s justice will be a light to the peoples. (v4)
Peoples plural ie all the world. all people get to experience God’s justice.
Micah reminds us that God requires of us: to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8)
And as we heard in, Isaiah 61, Isaiah declares the very definition of justice
The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners…
Isaiah names what is not of God. Oppression. Captivity. Mourning.
And this is all echoed by Jesus in Matthew 5, the Beatitudes, as Jesus teaches us what a praying people looks like, when God’s kingdom collides with a broken world. He is not being gentle, he is confronting the kingdoms of this world.
Where dominance is seen as a skill or a gift or something to be proud of, but Jesus says, blessed are themeek – those who have humility, patience, gentleness, they are what God seeks.
In a world where whole cities are responding to grief, to losing innocent citizens to state sponsored murder, and the leaders just criticise, tear down, name call and double down on what they have done, Jesus says, blessed are those who mourn.
In a time where those who speak up, who go to the aid of another are silenced, beaten, arrested, even shot and killed, Jesus says blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness—for justice.
We should be asking ourselves are we hungry for justice? Because we should be. We cannot be quiet when we believe in THE God of justice, whose words teach us to seek for it, to uphold it.
Are we hungry for justice when people of colour are still more likely to be stopped, searched, incarcerated, or killed, receive the wrong medical care or not be believed. Did you know, research in 2024 showed that Black women across the UK in this day and age, are four times more likely to die in pregnancy and childbirth, and also more likely to experience some of the most serious birth complications. We should be shocked and appalled and angry at this.
Are we hungry for justice when entire neighborhoods lack access to healthcare, education, or clean air.
Are we hungry for justice when hate crimes rise, when antisemitism and Islamophobia spread, when migrants are spoken of as threats rather than as neighbours. Language used like cockroaches, an invasion or swarm, scroungers… These are our fellow human beings. How dare they speak of them like that.
And we are hungry for justice when bombs fall on children, when aid is blocked, when entire peoples are dehumanised in the name of security, profit, or power. Somalian people with settled status in the US were recently called garbage, by their own president.
How the hell, do we pray into all this?
Well, one of the mistakes we make about prayer is assuming it must be calm, tidy, and respectful. Sod that! Biblical prayer is often raw, just look at the Psalms.
Prayer for justice might be angry, might be welling up in deep sadness, it might be overwhelmed with love for those who are oppressed.
When we pray into situations of injustice the first thing we should do is be truthful.
We pray the truth about violence that steals lives.
We pray the truth about racism that still shapes systems and outcomes.
We pray the truth about our fear, our anger, our confusion, our grief.
Prayer that avoids truth just becomes denial. But prayer that tells the truth becomes an opening, a space for God to act.
This kind of prayer does not ask, “How do I protect myself or my comfort?” it asks, “Whose pain am I willing to carry before God?”
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.”
To hunger and thirst is not passive. It is not polite. It is desperate. It is embodied.
When we pray about injustice, we are not praying for things to calm down, we are praying for things to be made right, by God.
We pray not only, “Lord, be with those who suffer,” but also, “Lord, dismantle the sysytems and structures that cause the suffering.”
We pray for policies that protect life, for systems that honour dignity, for leaders with courage and compassion, and for the love of God, an ounce of integrity.
Isaiah says God will give “a garland, instead of ashes.” and that “They shall build up the ancient ruins.” But ashes have to be acknowledged before they can be replaced. Ruins have to be seen before they can be rebuilt.
So we pray for accountability where there has been harm. And that means reckoning with history. It means telling the truth about slavery, segregation, colonialism, and ongoing injustice, not to wallow in guilt, but to make repair possible.
And we pray knowing that God’s justice often comes first by changing us. But prayer for justice can have consequences, and we need to be brave.
Jesus ends the Beatitudes with a warning disguised as a blessing: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake.”
Because when you name injustice, someone will tell you you’re being divisive. When you talk about racism, someone will tell you you’re being political. When you stand with the oppressed, someone will tell you, you are virtue signalling.
Well you know what, if that is the worst that you are facing, then you can suck it up. When people are being prejudiced against, imprisoned and killed, then we can surely face a bit of criticism. I do get emails from people telling me I am too political, well you know what I have realised recently, I don’t care. I am called to speak truth and I will not stop doing that. Especially in the times we are living in. Look, I don’t set out to offend or annoy, but I do set out to preach what God leads me to, to have integrity, and to speak the truth of the gospel.
Love your Neighbour.
And there may come a time when we need to put our prayers into actions as we have seen in Minnesota these last few weeks, Ordinary people standing against injustice and prejudice. Protesters in Iran challenging the corrupt system and losing lives as a result. Ordinary people fighting injustice in Nigeria, or Haiti, or many other places. And inthe West we can sometimes feel like this is far away from us but it isn’t. You know, The Episcopal Bishop in New Hampshire in the US told clergy to ready their affairs and be ready to stand up for what they believe in. Maybe it’s scare mongering, maybe its prophetic, but we do not know what is coming, we can only hope and pray that it is peace and justice.
But we should be asking God for courage and an infilling of the Spirit so that whatever happens we can look back and be proud of what we did, and said, and prayed. So that we can be sure we have been led by Christ himself.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon us, or it is not.
And if it is, then we cannot be silent when human dignity is denied.
Biblical prayer forms courageous disciples, not comfortable spectators. If our prayers never disrupt our lives, perhaps we should ask what we are even praying for.
But look to finish, this is not a sermon of despair or doom and gloom, much as we might feel like that looking at the world around us.
Isaiah does not end with ashes. Jesus does not end with persecution. God promises joy instead of mourning, praise instead of faint spirits. When we pray about injustice, we are not praying into a void. We are praying to a God who is already at work. We are just joining in with that.
Prayer reminds us that injustice does not have the final word. Violence does not get the last sentence. And death defintely does not close the story.
On this Racial Justice Sunday, Jesus is still sitting on the hillside and speaking:
Blessed are those who refuse to look away. Blessed are those who pray with their eyes open. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for a world made right.
So may we be emboldened, may we pray faithfully and angrily, and may the spirit of the Lord send us out to to proclaim good news, to seek justice, and to live as if God’s kingdom is already breaking in.
Amen.
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