Overcoming Indifference

A Prayer for Overcoming Indifference

I watch the news, God.  I observe it all from a comfortable distance.  I see people suffering, and I don't lift a finger to help them.  I condemn injustice but I do nothing to fight against it.  I am pained by the faces of starving children, but I am not moved enough to try to save them.  I step over homeless people in the street, I walk past outstretched hands, I avert my eyes, I close my heart.

Forgive me, God, for remaining aloof while others are in need of my assistance.

Wake me up, God; ignite my passion, fill me with outrage.  Remind me that I am responsible for Your world.  Don't allow me to stand idly by.  Inspire me to act.  Teach me to believe that I can repair some corner of this world.

When I despair, fill me with hope.  When I doubt my strength, fill me with faith.  When I am weary, renew my spirit.  When I lose direction, show me the way back to meaning, back to compassion, back to You.  Amen.

Not on our Watch, Cheadle & Prendergast, p. 169