A Prayer for Los Angeles, USA

Rami Ammoun, Downtown LA at Sunrise

The lights are going out in Los Angeles, USA,

And, my God, I am afraid of what the night will bring.

May my fear be an overreaction.

May I wake to find that this past decade of bad news has all been a bad dream.

But I know that I am awake,

And I know that Los Angeles, USA is no better suited to resist empire

Than were Beijing, China — or Munich, Germany — or Nazareth, Galilee.

In tanks or on horseback,

With machine guns or swords,

Empire razes homes and hospitals.

The emperor decrees what ought to be,

And the mighty rewrite reality

To please their master.

The lights are going out in Los Angeles, USA.

O God, surely this is not Your dream for this country,

But neither was the status quo I once considered normal and good.

So give Your people the dreams You dream for us all—

Visions of justice mighty as a thundering ocean,

Of green pastures and still waters where all little ones can play

In the shelter of Almighty Love,

Of a planet that is respectfully stewarded and nurtured.

Loving God, give Your people strength and courage to love each other

As the lights flicker in Los Angeles, USA.

Steady our trembling hands,

So that we may offer bread, receive wine,

And give freely to those who ask for water.

Crack open our craven hearts,

So tortuously twisted and afraid to love and be loved.

Soothe our fears, and shake us out of our belief

That our pain is the only pain in the world.

Teach us to build bonds of solidarity and love.

Do not let us for a second forget that You are with us,

Always.

Through the night,

In the lions’ den,

In the middle of a fiery furnace,

Even in the seemingly invincible grip of empire

And of death itself—

You will never forsake us.

So may we be defiantly joyful.

May we be rebelliously creative.

May we transgressively love, again and again and again.

And when the morning dawns again on Los Angeles, USA,

May we who have been transformed by Your love

Feed

And clothe

And house

And tenderly care for

All Your beloved people

And make the City of Angels, USA

A blessing to all

For generations.

Amen.

Kelly Latimore, Christ: Swords into Plowshares