Justice, Pt 12: Justice & Prayer
Read this Teaching Recap
A popular 1970s Latin American song translates,
“It is not enough to pray.
People pray with good faith and from the heart,
but the pilots also prayed getting into their planes
to go and bomb the children of Vietnam.”
Karl Marx wrote that prayer is “the sigh of the oppressed creature…the opium of the people.”
Is it possible that prayer might prevent us from doing right—reconciling us to “the way things are”—making it less likely for us to work to change things? Might prayer actually work against justice?
It is possible. But there is a type of prayer that is essential to life with God and will never numb us to injustice—this prayer is called lament.
Lament is a kind of prayer that affirms, with Abraham (Gen 18:23-25), that questions of justice belong in God’s throne room.
According to Walter Brueggemann, lament insists on four things:
that things are not right in the present arrangement,
that they need not stay this way but can be changed,
that the speaker will not accept them in this way, and
that it is God's obligation to change things.
In the story of the Exodus, it is the groans and cries for help that initiate God’s work of justice (Ex 2:23-25). Would he have saved them if they had not cried out for help? Probably. God doesn’t need us after all. But he wants us to join with him; to play a role in history. Are we willing to do that?
Lament is not the sigh of someone giving up, it is not the language of despair. It is the language of hope—insisting that the way things are is not the way things should be. Trusting that God can remember and do justice even when we don’t have the power.
Do this Practice Tonight
Reflection.
Take a moment to consider the following questions. This time is less for discussion and more for sharing words or phrases that surface, listening to one another, and sparking our imaginations.
Consider the relationship between justice and prayer. What statements or questions come to mind or have been staying with you?
Is there a particular question of justice you have been asking God about? Or a situation you have been lamenting to God about that would be helpful to give voice to and for others in your group to hear?
Discussion.
Spend sometime with one or more of the statements of invitation—discussing, sharing, asking each other follow-up questions to go deeper:
Is it possible that prayer is not only not enough, but that prayer might prevent us from doing right?
“Shall not the judge of all the Earth do what is just?” (Genesis 18:23-25)
Questions of justice belong in God’s throne room.
Lament is not just allowed, it’s invited (Consider losing the language of lament and what lament insists)
Prayer.
Share with one another requests and areas of lament you are facing. Are there any areas of lamenting God might be inviting you to begin praying?
Consider using Psalm 13 as a guide to your time together in prayer.
Practice of the Week
Spend some time this week slowly reading through Exodus 2:23-25. Notice what initiates the exodus—the groans and cries for help.
What might God be showing you about justice and the action of lament in your own life?
How might God be calling you to respond?
If possible, share a walk or coffee conversation with a companion wondering together “How do we keep the justice question present in our lives and in our prayers?”
