Prayer for Occupy

Here are two images that have gone ‘viral’ from the US Occupy protests that have made their rounds since Tuesday:

Probably like many folks, these images have been sitting heavy with me. The images are just the capstone of a long couple of weeks of interactions and conversations concerning occupy and a number of things peripheral to that movement. We’ve had increasing amounts of people calling the meetinghouse and needing help at, asking about adopt-a-families for Christmas time, wondering about assistance for rent. A couple of single moms struggling to survive are in need of help have recently been in contact, the have back rent due, utilities due, and face seeing welfare and unemployment benefits being cut. This Tuesday some of us are going to go to our Southwest Wa, Congresswoman’s office and pray that she votes on extending unemployment benefits, but that doesn’t feel like enough. Something needs to shift.

I was moved by the reason why the woman from Portland pepper-sprayed on Thursday:

Raised in Mountain Home, Ark., a town of about 1,600, she plans to stay in Portland as long as the Occupy movement is alive. She’s motivated to protest by the plight of her parents. Her mother has multiple sclerosis and her father was disabled by a back injury. They’re both surviving on his Social Security disability checks. She called her dad from the police van and talked to her mother this morning. “She said she’s proud of me,” Nichols said. Oregonian

I know this story all to well, not just with folks connected to our church, and those in Camas who are living in Cars and under our bridges, but some of my close friends and family are in this situation as well. May our voices be heard and may things begin to truly change.

Here’s a Prayer I offer to all of those in Occupy and those struggling to survive:

The LORD answer you in the day of trouble!
The name of the God of Jacob protect you!
May he send you help from the sanctuary, and give you support from Zion.
May he remember all your offerings, and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices.  
May he grant you your heart’s desire, and fulfill all your plans.
May we shout for joy over your victory, and in the name of our God set up our banners.
May the LORD fulfill all your petitions. (Psalms 20:0–5)