I have been doing a lot of praying as the U.S. Federal government resumes its use of state-sanctioned murder this summer, and as police continue to freely execute black people on the street. As someone who believes in alternative justices and as a person of faith, I work to transform our world and end the death penalty not through the lens of saving those who are different than myself, but because there, but for the grace of God, go I. Those who have been sentenced to die at the hands of our government, or any government, are not lesser people I need to save, but my equals, or in fact, the very people that may save me. I hope that this prayer offers us all renewed strength in our struggle for a more just world.

Dear God,

Let me remember that I am the outcast and the broken, that those who have been accused of harm are no different from myself. Remind us God that we have all committed acts of harm and that we have all felt the pain of being harmed. Let us find strength in this unity, let us find power in this unity, and let us use this unity to end not only the death penalty but all unjust practices that divide us. May we act always as people united by your unending love for us all.

Amen