About the Book

Over the years, I have belonged to various socio-economically and ethnically diverse communities desiring to live in reconciliation with one another, while seeking God’s justice and peace in our cities. It has been beautiful and painful, relationally rich and relationally devastating, momentous and ordinary, costly and priceless. Together we have entered into spaces of individual and communal suffering, desiring to see God’s light break into unjust and unrighteous “powers and principalities” that lurk in the shadows of individuals, families, systems, structures, and institutions. We want our communities to flourish and experience wholeness. We share a conviction that God’s people are called to be a faithful witness to Jesus, as we announce the kingdom of God—most especially in places where the shadows of hell appear most visible on earth.

It is not enough to describe the brokenness of the world. It is not enough to speak against injustice. It is not enough to resist evil. Yes, God’s people are called to do all these things; but if we are to truly see peace, justice, and reconciliation embodied by God’s people, we must awaken to the reality of our union with Jesus, and because of that, our intimate and holy connection to one another. If we can begin to envision and even experience what is waiting on the other side of seeking justice and righteousness, we will not only resist evil, but our motivation to do so will come from experiencing union and deep communion with God, others, and self. 

Our fractured selves cannot remain present in our own suffering—let alone the suffering of others—without an immense amount of exhaustion. Eventually, we burn out; eventually, we hurt those around us through self-righteousness, pride, and anger; or eventually, we give up and comply with the way things are—unless we take an alternative path. This alternative path invites us to remain present in suffering and resist injustice through our union with Christ and one another. Being awake to the reality of our union creates an ache for restored relationships with all mankind. 

This ache touches on the deepest parts of who we are—our desires, longings, and most significant needs. It uncovers the parts of us that need God’s healing touch and exposes the parts of our story that are still in need of hearing God’s truth. If we are to engage in God’s work with a posture that looks like Jesus, then we need God’s healing and renewal in the deepest part of us. Some of this healing is mysterious, personal, and done in secret between us and God, but not most of it. God more often chooses to heal us by dispensing his infinite love through mankind and allowing us to lavish one another with this divine love. We experience healing as we are seen and see one another through the eyes of Christ. 

All those themes are represented in three sections of this prayer book: Invitation, Repentance and Laments, and Healing Journeys.

Part One: Invitation - These prayers are an invitation to let the reality of God’s kingdom saturate our senses. If we allow our vision of “the way things are supposed to be” become indescribable and yet viscerally known within us, then our longing for Christ’s kingdom becomes almost unbearable. It is with this vision intact that we can lament the effect injustice, oppression, and individual sin has on what Rev. Martin Luther King Jr described as the beloved community, a society based on God’s justice, equality, and deep love for all humanity. 

Part Two: Repentance and Laments - This collection of prayers and meditations is designed to give language to communities that are weary of injustice. They are prayers to remain in suffering while learning to abide in Christ. They are confessions that expose the harm we do to one another while trusting in God’s forgiveness and mercy to heal us.

Part Three: Healing Journeys - Repentance and lament are intended to be the kind of prayers that allow for deeper encounters with God. When that does not happen, it is because we are living within false stories. God’s healing presence in our lives re-narrates his truth over the most painful parts of our lives. As he does this, we encounter Jesus and our longing grows for God’s kingdom to be displayed on earth as it is in heaven—no matter the cost. This is the inner work necessary to engage long term in the ministry of justice and reconciliation in ways that reflect Jesus.

 This is a book of prayers written both for myself and our community in the midst of a significant season of sorrow and loss. A global pandemic, growing economic insecurity, and the obvious disparity in health and death rates among the wealthy and poor have filled our headlines. But for those ministering in particular contexts, it has meant non-stop caring for those experiencing sickness, dying, death, and loss. In addition, multiple murders of black men and women by police officers, culminating with George Floyd, caused another spark in the racial justice movement that this time erupted into wildfire. All the while, we continue to watch many parts of the church take a defensive posture to shifting cultural norms while doubting, biting, and devouring one another.

This book of prayers is an attempt to invite us to envision, repent, heal, and experience deeper communion as we seek to dispense God’s love, justice, and mercy in the midst of a violent world.  We do all of this so that the world might taste and see God’s goodness among his people and know that he is truly God.

Below you will find links to some of the selections in the book. My prayer for those who spend time with these words and images is that both the words and art would create space to encounter beauty, conviction, healing, and longing for God’s kingdom to be visible on earth as it is in heaven. 

– Dennae Pierre

Table of Contents

INVITATION

Beloved Communion
Kingdom Vision
Can the Wealthy Follow Jesus?
Beauty
Sacred Union
Unity is Solidarity
Repentance

REPENTANCE AND LAMENTS

Jeremiah 5
Distractions of the Middle Class
Veils
Too Small a World
Plague
Do You love your White Family?
George Floyd
Hoarding Power
Lost Love
Black and Brown Solidarity
Preparing the Bold to Speak Truth to Power
Preparing the Timid to Speak Truth to Power
In Pandemic, the Church Needs Mothers
Confessing Contradictions
Forgive us for being a Disappointing Community
A Confession for Brothers and Sisters
When Pastors Abuse Their Power

HEALING JOURNEYS

Tender Strength
Story
Loneliness
Introductions
Father’s Day
Victimhood
Baptism
Prodigal Fathers
Discovery