A Prayer about All the Peoples of God

Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” 1 Peter 2:10

Heavenly Father,

Psychologists say we need to belong

to someone or something,

but we resist losing our autonomy,

our individualism.

And yet, you have created us to belong to you,

and you have made us your people,

your peoples.

So many kinds of people belong to you:

people with purple hair,

people with poodles,

people with posh homes,

people with poor shacks.

People from Potatoville,

people from Paris,

people from Pripyat.

To us all, you have shown us your mercy

in your Son Jesus Christ,

and now we are your people,

your multicolored

multinational

multicultural

people.

You tell us who we are:

precious and chosen,

treasured and beloved.

As we wait for the day

when we will all gather together

in the new heavens and new earth,

send us out

to “proclaim the excellencies of him

who called [us] out of darkness

into his marvelous light,”

so that we might invite

even more kinds of people

to become your people.

Read 1 Peter 2:1-12.