God,

As we begin a new day, we ask that you teach us these three things,
To Listen
To Learn,
To Lift.

We ask that you remind us to listen,
To be silent rather than speaking,
To pay attention rather than proclaiming,

Jesus, your example was to listen authentically,
To understand and truly hear the voices of those
Who were demeaned, belittled, seen as “less-than”
For you saw their true worth.

So help us to listen,
To the voices of women,
To the voices of the BIPOC community
To the voices of the AAPI community
To the voices of the LGBTQIA+ community
That we might hear what we need to be told.

We ask that you open our minds to learn,
To take in what is said,
What is unsaid,
What is taught.

That we can better understand,
That we can better grasp the realities we have not seen,
That we have not had our eyes opened to,
So that in learning, we might better recognize
Our own personal roles in silencing those truths.
So that we might take the knowledge,
Look within,
And begin the process of repentance and rebuilding.

We ask that you move us to lift,
To promote and place at the forefront
The voices of women to share their stories of misogyny, of purity culture, of Traumas done to them by men and our male-centered society.

We ask that you move us to lift
To share and support
The voices of black, indigenous, and people of color,
To tell their stories of suffering, of bondage, of struggle and pain.
Pain caused by systemic and internalized racism

We ask that you move us to lift,
To welcome and embrace
The voices of LGBTQIA+ individuals,
To tell their experiences of rejection, of demeaning, of being outcast.
Outcasts from society and the walls of your church.

God, we have a long way to go,
But let us begin today with at least one step.

Amen.