GOD OF WIND & FIRE
by Greg Jarrell
co-founder of QC Family Tree in Charlotte, NC

God of Wind and Fire,
At this season of Pentecost, we welcome your Spirit into this world, for we are barely hanging on.
At Pentecost, you sent forth a mighty wind, but this week our breath has been taken away by cruelty.
We have witnessed one of your beloved children begging for breath.
With our breath, we say his name: George Floyd.
We think of more than 100,000 dead, slowly suffocated by the novel coronavirus, gasping for another rush of air.
We think of the Holy Spirit, the heavenly dove, and the way the sin of white supremacy destroyed a birdwatching outing in New York City this week.
We pray for your fire, even as we have seen pictures of city blocks in Minneapolis on fire. We confess that long before this week, neighborhoods in that city and almost every other city had been looted by redlining, Urban Renewal, the war on drugs, and gentrification.
Won’t you send your fire today, O God? Refine us. Burn away the slag and dross of racism, of silent complicity, of lack of love.
Won’t you send fresh wind, and breathe us back to life? Restore those whose souls weigh heavy, whose bodies are under attack, whose neighborhoods are plundered by white supremacy.
Won’t you send fresh wind, and breathe us back to life? Restore those whose souls have been deadened by unexamined privilege, by the temptation to stay silent, by retreating to comfort when courage is required.
Come Holy Spirit, we pray. Come and trouble us with fire and wind, so that we might be prepared to receive peace.
Amen.

THE SPIRIT THAT
by Rev. Kaeley McEvoy
from The Resistance Prays e-newsletter

The Spirit that knows that 100,000 lives lost is too many.
The Spirit that knows that Blacks Lives Always Matter.
The Spirit that sets our souls aflame with justice, and our hearts ablaze with action.

LET THE FLAMES OF JUSTICE ROAR
by Rev. Kaeley McEvoy
from The Resistance Prays e-newsletter

Hear our cries,
Hear our laments,
Hear our grief.
Let the Spirit burn all that is death-dealing,
Let the flames of justice roar,
Let the people breathe.
Amen.

HERMANA ESPÍRITU
by/por Gerardo Oberman

Sorpréndenos, Espíritu,
una vez más, este Pentecostés.

Hazte presente en los aposentos altos
donde los miedos vencen los compromisos
con la vida plena que debemos honrar,
donde la calidez de la comodidad
le gana la pulseada al desafío
de anunciar el evangelio
que libera y sana.

Que se note el estruendo de tu presencia,
que nos “haga ruido” en el alma
y nos evoque los sonidos olvidados de
la solidaridad y la empatía,
la misericordia y la compasión,
la gracia y el perdón.

Sorpréndenos y sacúdenos, Espíritu.
Irrumpe como viento fuerte,
metete en los templos que se han encerrado,
vuela las liturgias frías,
rompe los ritos enmohecidos,
dale vida a la fe de tu pueblo dormido,
danos la música que nos haga bailar
al ritmo de los proyectos que salvan.

Conmuévenos las entrañas
ante el sufrimiento y ante lo injusto.
Límpianos los ojos que se han cegado al dolor
y a las heridas de tantas personas
en nuestro mundo quebrado
por la ambición y los egoísmos
de un sistema
que solo trae muerte y desolación.

Desempólvanos el alma insensible,
quítanos el velo que nos aísla
de las necesidades de tu pueblo.
Quiebra los muros que algunos construyen
para mantener sus privilegios
que excluyen a tantos y tantas.
Abre rumbos hacia la inclusión,
abraza a quienes el sistema desabraza,
bendice a quienes los poderosos maldicen,
renueva los cansancios de quienes
ya no tienen fuerzas para seguir luchando,
seguir esperando, seguir huyendo...

Espíritu hermana,
compañera de fuego, apasionada luz,
subversiva presencia de la divinidad
en medio del pueblo,
no vengas en palomas blancas
ni en lengüitas color naranja.
Ven como llama encendida
a darle lumbre a un amor que sirva,
para que amanezca la esperanza.

SOPLA FUERTE, ESPÍRITU DIVINO
by/por Inés Simeone y Horacio Vivares

THE PROMISE OF PENTECOST
A collection of worship materials for Pentecost Sunday. Includes a litany, prayers, a meditation, and more.

PENTECOST: A CALL TO REPENTANCE
by Greg Jarrell
Co-founder, QC Family Tree • Charlotte, NC