Lisa Koons is 24-7 Prayer USA’s national director, and following the tragic killing of George Floyd last week in the USA, she writes this, on the ground from Minneapolis:

The killing of George Floyd was the tipping point that sent our nation into labor. Since his death, we’ve been experiencing the birth pangs of an America groaning from the pressure of something needing to be born.

The contractions are coming closer together now. As are the accompanying wails, tears, fears & the raw uncensored shouting from the painful transition, which signals the crowning of something new coming. Giving birth has always been messy work.

We believe the American Church is being called to midwife in this pregnant season of upheaval – to help birth a reformation in the arena of justice.

Shutdown and quarantine have given way to crowded streets filled with masked gatherers, holding riotous vigils, in the waiting room of hope.

The Church is being invited to leave the side-lines and take her place joining God on the front lines of racial injustice and inequality. 

To speak truth to power while working to dismantle systematic racism deeply rooted both in the world and in the Church.

To become peacemakers, bridge builders and agents of reconciliation in the long-ignored fields of pride and prejudice.

What if this is the beginning of the next great awakening? What if the revival we’ve cried out for looks less like spiritual euphoria from God’s manifested presence in a meeting?

What if it looks more like justice rolling down like rivers because of our presence in the streets of neighborhoods, boardrooms, prayer rooms, classrooms and halls of justice, working towards biblical justice and an end to racism – in all its forms?

This past week, some of the 24-7 National team have been in Minneapolis, where George Floyd was cuffed and pinned down whilst gasping out the words, “I can’t breathe.”

We started a prayer wall on the ground, and scattered chalk so that people could express grief and hope. In less than an hour, the ground was completely filled with justice-themed quotes, scripture, art, and promises to fight for change.

History brought us to this moment. If you’re asking what to pray right now, we invite you to join us: 

• Pray for Minneapolis, where the tenor is hopeful. People here are praying for those in the flash-point: George’s family, the hurting community, the officers involved, and for all government and civic leaders trying to lead in the midst of pandemic and protests.
• Pray for the Church to understand her role at this time as prophets, reformers and peacemakers in such times. That her heart would break for this deep rooted injustice. That she would live in the partnership of prayer and action in this arena.
• Pray for America, that this moment in history would be a leveraged for the long-awaited systematic changes needed and that the wounds of the nation would begin to be healed through humility, repentance and transformation in each of its racially biased institutions.

Photo credit: Renee Boucher, 24-7 Prayer USA