This has almost become a sarcastic term. Innocent children are massacred and people respond with thoughts and prayers. Earthquakes, floods, political turmoil, hundreds of thousands of refugees with no place to go, and churches respond with thoughts and prayers.
Yes, of course we think about all those people. Of course we pray for them. And we believe that God will hear our prayers and something will happen. But many now are saying, thoughts and prayers are not enough. We need to do more. And people are starting to. High school students are speaking up and calling out those in power. Consumers are boycotting businesses whose practices they don't agree with. Plans for school walk-outs and marches are underway.
We are in the midst of the season of Lent, the time when we focus on Jesus' innocent suffering and death on the cross. Jesus didn't fight back. He was making a statement. He believed this was God's will, that he die. He prayed that God would deliver him but he didn't fight his enemies. He gave his life into God's hands. Some believe his death was a sacrificial death for our sins. Others, that he died to show us God was stronger than death. And still others, that he died to show the absurdity of violence. To show that it leads nowhere, only to death. Personally, I focus on the latter two. I don't believe God needed to see innocent blood shed before God could forgive us. I believe this is how some people interpreted Jesus' death, and I give them every freedom and respect to do so. But for me, Jesus' death means that God knows what suffering feels like. God knows physical and emotional pain. God knows weakness, fear, loneliness. That's the kind of God that I need. I believe God hates suffering and God hates violence.
And this is why I will march on March 24. I will march for the lives that ended much too soon, I will march for the lost souls who pick up weapons of mass destruction to feel heard and seen, and I will march for the many lives that we cannot afford to lose.
I'm not saying: Don't pray. Please, pray! But also, march. Speak. Boycott. Write postcards. Call your representatives. Organize. If not for this cause, then for any other that is important for you. It's time God's people stood up for what they believe in.
Psalm 13
Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies
1 How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I bear pain in my soul,
and have sorrow in my heart all day long?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God!
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
4 and my enemy will say, “I have prevailed”;
my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.
5 But I trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the Lord,
because he has dealt bountifully with me.
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