This week we’re praying for justice, using guidance from the Psalms and Jesus’s parables. So far we learned about praying for our leaders to do justice, lamenting injustice, petitioning for protection, pouring out our anger, and praising God when justice is done, while not giving up praying for justice and avoiding self-righteousness.
Today we’ll learn how to use these Psalms in the original way they were intended – in community and with music.
First, a personal story:
I co-led a prayer meeting over Zoom where we gave to God our hopes for justice. We prayed for the war in Ethiopia and Ukraine, the police shooting of Patrick Lyoya in Grand Rapids Michigan, and the mass shooting of mostly Black shoppers at a Buffalo grocery store.
I’d been praying on my own, using the Psalms we looked at in day 1 through 6 of Prayer Week. However, I felt blocked.
During the prayer meeting I was asked to pray for protection using Psalm 71. I struggled at first, feeling blocked once again.
But then the dam broke, and my pain poured out. I was afraid, and frustrated, and confused, and tired. I hadn’t admitted it to myself, or my friends, or God until that moment.
My face went wet with tears on that Zoom call. I was embarrassed, but it was exactly what I needed. Later some folks gave me feedback that it was what they needed too.
I’ve prompted you to add these Psalms, these prayers for justice to your personal worship. On this last day I want to urge you to add it to your collective worship. Pray these Psalms with your family, with your circle of friends, your small groups at church and with the bigger congregation.
But how? Through Music.
My second recommendation is to find music, spiritual or secular that helps you to “pray for justice” with other people. I think singing with others brings us back to the original usage of the Psalms, and helps us to express hopes and pain that can’t be formed with simple words.
My go-to music recently has been “We Are” by Jon Batiste. In my review, I called it “The Modern Soundtrack for Justice“.
The album won the Grammy for Album of the Year, and I think Batiste slipped a gospel album past everyone disguised as a folk-pop record.
On one song he hums:
Cry, cry, cry For the loss of the innocence For the struggle of the immigrants For the wrongful imprisonment Cry, cry "Cry", track 3 on "We Are"
On another song Batiste samples other voices:
"Neither angel or a king could break this thing" "We gotta get our soul in order" "Get that inner peace, you know" "Ain't nothing... man cannot give you that!" "We Are", track 1 on "We Are"
The music of “We Are” has filled my house and car rides this year, as I worked out different emotions and experiences before God, alongside my family.
Here’s how some of Jon Batiste’s songs line up to the Psalms we learned:
- Petition: “Tell the Truth”
- Lament: “Sing”
- Protection: “Adulthood”
- Praise: “Freedom”, “We Are”
- Anger: “Cry”
Thank you for praying with me this week. I’ll leave you with these words from the “We Are” album”
I'm a praying child, period That's where I get my freedom, I'll tell you Freedom to me is the ability for men and women All created equal To speak, think and do or not do what you want “Mavis” track 9 on “We Are”
Amen.