Rector's Note: An opportunity for Public Prayer in Solidarity with Migrants-8.21.25

If God really answers our prayers as the Scriptures promise, why is the world as messed up as it is, and why do our own faithful parishioners suffer pain and hardship and loss?

That’s a common question, and it came up on Wednesday at liturgy as we discussed the day’s Gospel from John 15:7-11, which starts, ^“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”

Our little group of worshipers turned over what that might mean. How God answers prayer on a different timeline than ours, such as blessing humanity with the ability to create vaccines that are both an answer to prayer, and that also come too late for many. We talked about how God typically answers our prayer through the actions of other people, who have the free will to say “no.” And that may in turn affect how and when God’s response might manifest.

And sometimes God’s response is at work even before we ask, because the longing of a heart that houses God’s word is an echo of God’s own desire and loving will for our world. We don’t have to beg God for love and justice when God has been praying that divine longing into us from the beginning.

And so the ultimate call, when we struggle with the “not yet” of our desire for a healed, just and sustainable world, is to pray anyway. And to work to “remain in God” while we invite God’s words to remain in us.

In our Wednesday and Sunday worship and in other times of prayer and study, the Word seems to me to be jumping off the page. I find it to be a resonant resistance to the attack on the common good that is leaching out of the policies, legal interpretations and executive actions coming of our federal government. A biblical phrase that I’ve been thinking about lately is, “The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the native-born among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.,” (Leviticus 19:34).

This Scripture and others (Matthew 25:35, Hebrews 13:2, Deuteronomy 10:18-19, Jeremiah 22:3, Galatians 5:14 to name a few) have been prompting in me a need to pray on a large scale, especially as I read of nearby migrants and refugees who have been rounded up by ICE and placed in inhumane detention centers. In and around Norristown, our neighbor to the west, more than 40 people have been detained by ICE in the last few months, and sweeps are ongoing throughout our own county and region.

I think it’s time to pray in a more public way.

To that end, I invite you to join me in an Interfaith Procession and Prayer Service in Solidarity with Migrants and Refugees in Norristown on Sept. 14.  Sponsored by the Diocesan Anti-Racism Commission and planned by a group of clergy and local leaders, we will form a prayer procession leaving from St. John’s at Diocesan Center, 23 E Airy St. at 4 p.m. and return there for a prayer service in front of the church, followed by a reception. Gathering begins at 3:30 p.m.

This act of public prayer is an opportunity for allies whose citizenship is not under threat or scrutiny to lift our voices in prayer for our siblings who are from other countries and are not secure at this time.

To participate, please RSVP using  this link, so we can provide more details and updates.

Participants are asked to come with signs printed with Scriptures, sacred texts or prayers that call us to embrace the strangers and visitors among us as neighbors, and to protect those who are under threat. Here’s a nice starter list. The Prayer Procession is inspired by the joyful tradition celebrated by our Latin American siblings.

The following prayer service will include the anthem Refugee, which will be sung by a pickup choir led by ARC member and cathedral music director, Tom Lloyd. If you’d like to be part of the choir, you can indicate that on the RSVP form and you will be sent music ahead of time. A rehearsal will be scheduled on Sept. 14 ahead of the event.

We are living through times that challenge our commitment to the Common Good and that can be feel paralyzing and out of our control. Our tradition, and the spiritual traditions of our siblings of many faith, gives us the gift of prayer to strengthen us for the work, and to profess aloud the longing in our hearts.

The event on Sept. 14 is just one way to enter God’s prayer for a just and loving world. There are so many opportunities to pray and act in response to the events around us– and truly there always have been. Spending some time in prayer to discern how God is guiding you at this time is an essential first step.

 However you choose to bring your heart to this wide-ranging work, know that God is already walking and praying alongside you.