A Public Prayer for the Arrested, the Brown, the Forgotten, and the Furious

A Public Prayer for the Arrested, the Brown, the Forgotten, and the Furious (Created by Rev. Dr. Lorraine Ceniceros, Vice Moderator of Colectivo de Latinx Ministries UCC )

Holy Creator of the Unbordered Sky— 

We come to you today not in peace,

but in protest.

We come carrying names they won’t say on the news,
wrists red from zip ties,
hearts scarred from history,
and prayers thick with the sound of our ancestors
saying “Again?”

We do not ask you to “watch over” those detained unjustly.
We ask you to rise in us
like a storm they can’t translate,
like a scripture they can’t silence.

Let your presence fill the holding cells and courtrooms.
Let your breath move through the bullhorn and the back row.
Let your justice roll down—not like a trickle—
but like floodwater through ICE headquarters.

Bless the protestors.
Bless the undocumented and unafraid.
Bless the tired pastors with brown hands
who are still teaching Christ in colonized churches.

And bless us—
the ones who live far from the noise but close to the ache.
The ones who have been both assimilated and awakened.

Teach us how to use our voices
without needing permission.

Teach us how to live in the direction of light
without ever forgetting
who they keep trying to leave in the dark.

Let our work be loud with love.
Let our rest be radical.
Let our brownness be a sacrament.

And let us not stop until all are free.

In the name of justice that overturns tables,
peace that disrupts empire,
and Spirit who never called us illegal.

Amén.

"This prayer was created in conversation with 'Ever,' an AI language companion, and shaped by my own lived experience as a Mexican American minister. It is shared in the spirit of solidarity, truth-telling, and sacred witness."