WASHINGTON – On Monday, July 29th, Bishop William J. Barber, II, president and senior lecturer of Repairers of the Breach, and a coalition of diverse clergy from various faith traditions, gathered in front of the U.S. Supreme Court for a prayer vigil as a part of the “Moral Monday Season of Prayer and Action.” The series of Moral Monday prayers are being held on the last Monday of each month to call on the 2024 presidential campaigns to center truth, love, and equity. Three additional prayer vigils will be held on the steps of the U.S. Capitol on August 26, September 30, and October 28.
During Monday’s vigil, clergy shared powerful prayers focused on issues of democracy, justice and voting rights.
“Prayer is prophetic,” said Bishop Barber. “Prayer says we will not have any idols. Prayer says we will not accept human beings telling us what is impossible when it comes to how we lift the poor and the least of these. Our prayers are rooted in a commitment to a moral and a just economic agenda.We cannot accept injustice,” he said.
“God, we know that this is an election with so much at stake,” said Rev. Adam Taylor, President of Sojourners. “And so we pray, God, that you would form your hedge of protection around every single election worker, every poll monitor, every poll chaplain, that we can indeed have a free, fair, and safe election in November.”
“Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh faith, says that God you are present in every heart,” said Dr. Rajwant Singh, Montgomery County Sikh Community. “Every life is living because you are in it. And we are all one. And the oneness is surrounding us. But give us the wisdom so that we can see beyond our differences. Beyond the skin color, beyond the ethnicity, beyond the religions. So that we can all see that we are all children of the same family, same mother,” he said.
“From these steps I invoke the Almighty with all his beautiful names and attributes,” said Imam Dr. Tarek Elgawhary, Resident Scholar at Islamic Community Center of Potomac. “I ask humbly and pray that we continue to hold these ideas and principles and that we protect our homeland from enemies foreign and domestic and that ultimately government of the people by the people for the people will not perish from this land,” he said.
“The text repeats again and again that it is for the widow, the orphan, the stranger and the poor, those who have the least protections — their cause is just,” said Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.
“We feel a fresh wind moving us toward greater and more sustained action as we look towards this election,” said Rev. Denise Anderson, Presbyterian Church, USA. “Help us, O God, to organize and vote in ways that show love for our neighbors as ourselves,” she said.
Clergy in attendance included:
- Bishop Allyson Abrams, Empowerment Liberation Cathedral
- Rev. Denise Anderson, Presbyterian Church, USA
- Bishop William J. Barber II, national co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign; President and Senior Lecturer of Repairers of the Breach; Professor of Public Theology and Public Policy and Founding Director of the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale Divinity School
- Rev. Dr. Sofia Betancourt, President, Universalist Unitarian Association
- Rev. Kazimir Brown, Executive Director, Repairers of the Breach
- Pastor Brenda Brown-Grooms, New Beginnings Christian Community Church
- Deacon Daryl Branson
- Rev. Dr. Leslie Copeland-Tune, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
- Imam Dr. Tarek Elgawhary, Resident Scholar at Islamic Community Center of Potomac
- Rev. Dr. Jerry Foltz, Second Reformed Presbyterian Church
- Rev. Jimmy Hawkins, Presbyterian Church, USA
- Rev. Dr. Alvin O’Neal Jackson, National Faith Convener, Keeping the Faith Campaign, Repairers of the Breach
- Rev. Abhi Janamanchi, Universalist Unitarian Church
- Rev. Dr. Nicole Douglas Johnson, AME Zion Church
- Anne Kanengeiser, Kunzang Palyul Choling, Buddhist Template
- Rev. Stephanie Kendell, Senior Pastor, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
- Elder George Kerr III, Westminster, DC
- Rev. Mansfield “Kasey” Kaseman, United Church of Christ
- Rev. Theresa Lewallen, Deacon, Episcopal Church
- Rev. Karyn Marsh, Universalist Unitarian Church
- Rev. Dr. Robert Perry, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
- Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
- Dr. Rajwant Signh, Montgomery County Sikh Community
- Rev. Adam Taylor, President of Sojourners
- Wilma Young-Jones