Ninth Circuit
Holy God, tonight I want to pray for the judges on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. I ask you--God of justice, mercy, and gratuitous love--to bless these persons, in that mysterious way that you do, providing what is needed even before the lack is felt.
I've said that I will pray every evening for people who are resisting the destructive forces at work in the United States. I am wary that I might insult these judges by including them in these nightly devotions. I do not know them. Perhaps they would prefer not to be portrayed as taking a side in our current struggle. Perhaps they are clear that they are simply following the rule of law--which transcends partisanship--and their ruling today is the logical outcome. Yet such an attitude is, in these bewildering days, revolutionary. Abiding by the rule of law, having three distinct branches of government, attending to the expressed will and concerns of the people, separating the Presidency from business--so that business relations can't influence the president and the president can't influence business deals--these basic tenets of American governance are all under threat, such that anyone who sustains them is a resister. Whether these judges see their actions as resistance or merely competence, I am grateful to and for them. I pray for every person who refuses to be bought or sold. We live in a world in which anything can be commodified--even our attention--and financial transactions have become a dominant model for human interaction. I pray that our new administration is consistently denied an adequate source of people eager to be bought, eager to sell.Creator God, keep it at the forefront of our minds that we are yours in a much more grounded way. Your claim on us is not ownership, but rather creation and love. We are yours, because you made us. We are yours, because you love us. Unstoppable resistance can be grounded in this love. Amen