The world feels like it’s burning down around us – things we have believed were set in stone, immovable, impenetrable, have changed in rapid times. Things like governmental checks and balances, like the existence of safety nets we have come to count on – social programs, foreign aid, the greater good, liberty for ALL, even the pursuit of happiness. WOW! Have things changed in a year – only a year.

This morning a friend asked:

 I know that God understands what comes from our heart, even when it sounds a bit mangled…but I wonder…how do we pray about this? My words that are most heartfelt would be along the lines of “Dear God, please save us from this evil spineless, d***less POS and all of his minions who are ruining our country and ( list of his most egregious acts and proclamations).“ I also range between something like “Lord, this man is evil. Please smite him” and “Lord help us. Jesus, please save us.” 

Can you help me, and others who wrestle with finding the right words, and perhaps also the right feelings, in these troubled times?

How do we pray – –

• When the world feels like it’s on fire.
• When our country is flirting with authoritarianism.
• When power is being hoarded instead of shared.
• When innocent moms are being murdered in the street by people who carry a badge and claim to represent the government.

What do you say to God then?

Because “thoughts and prayers” feel hollow.
And “God is in control” sounds like an excuse.
And silence feels like complicity.

Here’s what I know:
The Bible does not ask us to pray politely in moments like this.
It gives us permission—actually, instruction—to pray truthfully.

Pray Without Editing

If you’ve been taught that prayer has to sound calm, respectful, or theologically tidy, I want you to know: that’s not biblical.

Read the Psalms.

They are full of rage, grief, accusation, despair, and desperate hope tangled together. The psalmists say things like:

• How long, O God?
• Why are you silent?
• Wake up.
• This is wrong.

That’s not a lack of faith.
That’s covenant language.

Lament assumes God is listening.
Lament assumes God cares.
Lament assumes God can handle the truth.

If your prayer sounds more like yelling than whispering, you’re in good company.

Let Lament Come Before Hope

We rush to hope way too fast.

We tell people to “look on the bright side” when their hearts are breaking. We quote resurrection before we’ve acknowledged the crucifixion.

But Scripture doesn’t do that.

Lament comes first.

Lament says:

• This is not how the world is supposed to be.
• Innocent blood is crying out from the ground.
• We are tired of burying people while leaders protect themselves.

Lament refuses to normalize injustice.

And here’s the thing:
Lament is not the opposite of faith.
Lament is faith that refuses to lie.

Say the Names. Tell the Truth.

When innocent people are killed by those wielding state-sanctioned power, abstraction becomes another form of violence.

So don’t pray in vague language.

Say their name.
Name the systems.
Name the sin.

Pray like this:

God, we name police violence.
God, we name white supremacy.
God, we name systems that protect power instead of people.
God, we name leaders who crave control more than justice.

This is not partisan.
This is prophetic.

The prophets didn’t speak in euphemisms.
Neither should we.

When Words Fail, Pray With Your Body

Sometimes the grief is too heavy for sentences.

Then prayer looks like:

• Lighting a candle and sitting in silence.
• Walking a labyrinth.
• Standing in protest.
• Holding a baptism shell and remembering who God says we are.
• Weeping.
• Refusing to look away.

Jesus prayed with sweat like blood.

Your embodied grief—your shaking, your tears, your showing up—that is prayer.

Pray Resistance, Not Resignation

There’s a dangerous kind of prayer that sounds faithful but isn’t.

It says things like:
“Well, God must have a plan.”
“Everything happens for a reason.”
“It’ll all work out.”

Those prayers often function as surrender—not to God, but to injustice.

Faithful prayer does not say, “Oh well.”
Faithful prayer says:

Your kingdom come.
Your will be done.
Not theirs.

To pray “Your kingdom come” is to declare that dictatorships, violent systems, and badge-protected murder are not ultimate.

That prayer is subversive.
That prayer is dangerous.
That prayer gets Jesus killed.

A Prayer for When You Have Nothing Left

Sometimes we need borrowed words. Here’s one you can use:

God of fire and flood, the world feels like it is burning,
and the powerful keep pouring gasoline.

I am (We are) angry.
I am (We are) grieving.
I am (We are) afraid.

Innocent lives are taken, and those responsible hide behind uniforms, laws, and lies.

Do not ask us to be calm when your children are being slaughtered.
Do not ask us to be patient when justice is strangled in the street.

Break our hearts open—but not our spirits.
Harden us against despair—but not against truth.

Give us courage that costs something.
Give us love that disrupts.
Give us a faith that refuses to cooperate with death.

Let your justice roll, even if it rattles thrones or those who aspire to thrones.

If You’re Too Tired to Pray

Let me say this clearly:

If you are exhausted, numb, or out of words – you are not failing God.

Scripture says the Spirit groans when we cannot.
Groans are prayers.

Let others pray for you.
Let community hold you up.
Let your anger, grief, and refusal to accept the world as it is become holy.

You are not weak for feeling this way.
You are paying attention.

And paying attention is the beginning of love.

AND LOVING GOD AND EACH OTHER ARE THE GREATEST COMMANDMENTS!